Author Archives: Paul Bonathan

What happened when sextortion scammers targeted a BBC Trending reporter?

Information from BBC ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-46323625/what-happened-when-sexto) Thousands of people all over the world have been receiving sextortion emails from scammers. They’re different from garden-variety scam emails because they often include a hacked password as part of the message. BBC Trending reporter Jo Whalley received one of the scam emails. Despite having no worries about her browsing… Read More »

Office 365 issues

We have seen a few customers experiencing issues with Office 365 today, primarily gaining access to Exchange online mailboxes. Microsoft are currently not showing any issues, although Down Detector is showing a different picture…. Update…

Microsoft will continue Skype ‘classic’ support after negative customer feedback

Microsoft originally announced the classic Skype would be discontinued on 1st September 2018 and encouraged users to upgrade to version 8. Skype 8, first introduced last year, features a total design overhaul that has not been popular with some customers, which led some Skype users to be unhappy with Microsoft’s announcement. Microsoft has changed its… Read More »

SonicWall Capture Client

The ever-growing threat of ransomware and other malicious malware-based attacks has proven that client protection solutions cannot be measured based only on endpoint compliance.  Traditional antivirus technology uses a long-embattled signature-based approach, which has failed to match the pace of emerging malware and evasion techniques.   SonicWall Capture Client is a unified endpoint offering with… Read More »

Microsoft will end the final free Windows 10 Upgrade program on the 31st December (2017)

Microsoft offered Windows users a free upgrade to Windows 10 back when the operating system was released. The official free upgrade offer hasn’t been available for more than a year, however customers who use assistive technologies were still able to upgrade. The ongoing free upgrade offer was implemented for anyone who wanted Windows 10 for… Read More »

Bad Rabbit Ransomware

On Tuesday 24th, a new strand of ransomware named ‘Bad Rabbit’ appeared in Russia and Ukraine and spread throughout the day. The “ransomware” virus is spreading via compromised websites, downloading a fake Adobe Flash Player installer. Please DO NOT click on links or execute any downloaded files which look similar to Adobe Flash Player installer.… Read More »

SonicWALL Advanced Gateway Security Suite

Complete network security in a single integrated package SonicWall Advanced Gateway Security Suite (AGSS) is a complete suite of security services for SonicWall firewalls.  An upgrade over SonicWall Comprehensive Gateway Security Suite (CGSS), which features Capture Advanced Threat Protection, a multi-engine sandbox that runs and inspects suspicious files and code in an isolated cloud-based environment. … Read More »

Readycrest becomes a SonicWALL SecureFirst Silver Partner

    Readycrest are proud to have been certified as a  SonicWALL SecureFirst Silver partner. For over 25 years, SonicWall has been the industry’s trusted security partner protecting millions of networks worldwide.  In 2016, SonicWall earned the highest rating of “Recommended” in the latest version of the NSS Labs Next-Generation Firewall Security Value Map for… Read More »

General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR

Data protection law in the UK is undergoing the most significant changes since the Data Protection Act (DPA) in 1998.  The new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in May 2016, and you have until 25th May 2018 to become fully compliant. The government has confirmed that the UK’s decision to leave… Read More »

Microsoft Office – Installer compatibility ‘Click-to-Run’ and ‘Windows Installer’

Unfortunately, you can’t have Office products of the same version (like 2013 or 2016) that use two different installation technologies installed on the same computer. This also applies to standalone applications like Access, Visio, Project, Skype for Business, or OneDrive for Business. https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Office-installed-with-Click-to-Run-and-Windows-Installer-on-same-computer-isn-t-supported-30775ef4-fa77-4f47-98fb-c5826a6926cd?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US   In some cases, you also can’t have two different versions of… Read More »

Signature Manager Exchange and Outlook Edition

Exclaimer Signature Manager Outlook and Exchange Edition allows professional standardisation of email signatures and disclaimers across your business.  The Outlook edition automatically adds signatures which are visible when creating, replying or forwarding emails from within Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Web Access.  In addition, Exclaimer Exchange Edition allows emails and disclaimers to be all emails, meaning… Read More »

Microsoft BitLocker

    BitLocker is Microsoft’s proprietary encryption program for Windows, that can encrypt your entire drive as well as help protect against unauthorized changes to your system such as firmware-level malware.  Data on a lost or stolen computer/laptop is vulnerable to unauthorized access, either by running a software-attack tool against it, or by transferring the… Read More »

WannaCrypt attacks

The ransom is $300 and you’ve got 3 days to pay before it doubles to $600. If you don’t pay within a week then the ransomware threatens to delete the files altogether.  Note the “Wana Decrypt0r” title on the window below: the three terms WannaCry, Wcry and WannaCrypt are all referring to the same piece… Read More »

Microsoft Safety Scanner

The Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free downloadable security tool that provides on-demand scanning and helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It works with your existing antivirus software. Note: The Microsoft Safety Scanner expires 10 days after being downloaded. To rerun a scan with the latest anti-malware definitions, download and run the Microsoft… Read More »