The North Carolina Conference is experiencing an increasing reliance on electronic data systems and a growing cloud-based system presence online. After conducting a review of this increasingly important business need, the Information Technology Office will be undergoing a period of transition and change of focus. Effective 12/31/2019, the Information Technology (IT) Office will transition to… Continue Reading→
Equifax
THe IT Office has received requests for information on the Equifax hack from a few weeks ago. We will list a few resources below that you can use to respond to this incident. Comprehensive online resource https://securingthehuman.sans.org/blog/2017/09/08/awareness-officers-what-to-communicate-about-the-equifax-hack What is a security freeze? https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/06/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-embrace-the-security-freeze/ Phishing scam prevention tips. https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2017/09/14/Potential-Phishing-Scams-Related-Equifax-Data-Breach We hope you will find these resources… Continue Reading→
Digital Security for Churches: Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks
You should take time to become familiar with the important concepts Social Engineering and Phishing to better protect your home or church network. Attackers will try to use these concepts to exploit your computers and steal or damage your data. Increasing your computer security starts with education. We’ll talk about what you can do to… Continue Reading→
Digital Security for Churches: Data Breach Recovery and Prevention
A Data breach occurs when private or secure data is disclosed (intentionally or unintentionally) to an untrusted network. What happens if a company that you entrusted your personal information suffers a data breach? Suddenly your personal information is available for sale to the highest bidder through no fault of your own. What should you do?… Continue Reading→
Digital Security for Churches: Ransomware
Ransomware is increasingly common malware that infects computers and holds them hostage. Once a computer is infected the malware will encrypt every file it can find including your Documents, Desktop, and Download folders, shared network drives, and portable thumb drives. All of your work that you have created could be instantly encrypted and inaccessible with… Continue Reading→
Apple releases critical security updates
Apple released a series of critical security updates last night (1/23) for nearly their entire product line. Please take a few moments today to update all of your Apple products (iPhones, iPads, Macbooks, Mac Minis, etc.). We maintain an Apple update server on our local network. Your devices will download updates faster here than anywhere… Continue Reading→
Digital Security for Churches: Start with Security
The Information Technology (IT) Office is starting a series of posts on the topic of Digital Security for Churches. This series seeks to inform and equip our local churches on the best ways to secure their computer networks from various threats. These same principles may be applied to personal equipment and systems as well. You… Continue Reading→
Network Maintenance Scheduled for November 11th
We will be switching to a new internet/phone service provider on Friday, November 11th. The maintenance window is scheduled to begin between 10 AM and noon. We expect the Conference network and phone systems to be offline for a few hours while we work to cut over to the new network. Please note: The Online… Continue Reading→
How to Recognize and Avoid Phishing Attacks
Digital Guardian has released an interesting infographic detailing how to avoid phishing attacks. Phishing attacks are one of the most common ways that computers are compromised and information is stolen. Be careful when clicking links on pop-up windows, disclosing personal information over the phone, or attachments/links in email messages! Phishing attacks are by no means… Continue Reading→