DEV Community: Alina Joris

Everything You Need To Know About Securing Your Email

Alina Joris — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 06:19:22 +0000

Despite the various types of new technology to enter the business world in the past few decades, good old-fashioned email remains the hacker’s favorite when it comes times to try and gain access to a network. Email is still the main method used by attackers. All businesses are at risk from this, but small businesses have the highest level of risk.
Imagine, if even SONY can be hit by an email hack, what chance does a small business have. But in fact, although small businesses may be more vulnerable, it is actually easier for a small business to address its email security thoroughly. While a large corporation may have hundreds or even thousands of machines to secure across multiple networks and even multiple countries. A small business often only has a few machines in a single location, making it easier to organize a coordinated cybersecurity.
Here are some tips and ideas on how to properly secure your email.

1.Remember the Cybersecurity is not optional
This is less of a tech tip and more of a philosophy to live by. At your business, you’d never dream of not paying your office rent for a week, cancelling your insurance or turning off the heating during a snowstorm to save money. Think of cybersecurity in the same way, not as an afterthought but as an essential part of your business. Don’t cut corners, don’t leave things “until later”, don’t hope for the best.

2. Encrypt your emails
By encrypting your emails, only the sender and recipient are able to read their contents (unlike regular emails which are sent unencrypted and can be intercepted and read).
There are a variety of ways to encrypt your emails. Some email clients have it as an option which can be toggled on or off, others require additional software in order to encrypt them.
Be aware though that an encrypted email should not be seen as completely safe just because it is encrypted. If the sender or recipient's machine itself, an attacker may still be able to read the contents of the email.

3. Secure Your Passwords
Is your password secure? How long have you had it? Do you use it for any other services? Passwords alone are also insufficient to secure an account properly. For example, if your machine has already been compromised and an attacker has installed a keylogger, then they know your password. Solutions like a password manager (LastPass and OnePassword are good choices) help by storing and randomizing passwords for you so you never have to remember them (and if you can’t remember them, you can’t accidentally give them away).

Another solution is Multi Factor Authentication where a second method of authentication, like a code sent by SMS to your cell phone, is needed to access your account. That way, even if an attacker gains access to your password they cannot gain access to your account unless they also have physical access to your cell phone at the very moment they are trying to hack in.

4. Have a sensible email policy
Misuse or poor management of company email systems also leads to vulnerabilities. You should have a clear and simple email policy governing such issues as:
· The use of company emails for personal matters
· How long to retain emails

5. Train And Educate Your Employees
People will not follow rules that do not make sense so make sure to not only remind your employees of your security policies frequently and fully explain the risks to them, so they understand why it is important.
Employees should be educated about which kinds of actions they should refrain from and what the most common types of email threats are.

Even businesses that spend a lot on cybersecurity will often overlook employee training. This is unwise as no matter how good the technological solutions you employ, human error will always be the biggest risk factor. If you could only take one action to better your cybersecurity, properly training your staff would be your best option.

Some managed IT providers will offer penetration testing and fake phishing emails to test your employee’s readiness.

6. Use Additional Email Security Software
While encrypting emails is a good start, additional measures will bring additional layers of security. Software like Mimecast can sandbox suspicious emails into a cloud environment for you to inspect safely before they ever reach your network.

7. Protect Every Machine
Cybersecurity is like vaccination, the more people are protected, the better the entire system/network is protected. Some businesses will only bother to secure management or the CEO’s machine. This is as good as useless, if a single machine on your network is unprotected then your entire network is unprotected. Think about your cybersecurity holistically.

We hope this has been a good introduction to the basics of email and network security. If you are struggling with getting to grips with your network security, consider calling in the services of a managed IT provider who specializes in cybersecurity for businesses.

A Step By Step Guide To Setting Up An SIP trunk?

Alina Joris — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 04:29:31 +0000

An SIP trunk is a virtualised phone line which replaces the need for physical/analogue phone lines, they connect your existing PBX system to the wider internet allowing you to make and receive calls via IP.
In this guide, we’ll give you step by step instructions on how to install and set up your own SIP trunk. If you do not have the time or technical skill to complete this yourself, consider contracting the services of an enterprise telecoms provider.

How to set up a SIP trunk
It is possible to set up a SIP trunk on your own, although it may be a bit of a challenge. In order to do it correctly, you will need to have a good understanding of IT networking and some rudimentary coding skills. It should be easy enough if you have worked in the development of IT or software.
In order to set up an SIP Trunk, you will need:
• A computer with an internet connection
• Details on your PBX, your SIP trunk and the account details for your existing VoIP phone system
• Your static IP address
Follow these steps:

Access your PBX system’s dashboard.
You should see an option for ‘Trunks'. Select it.
Add a new SIP Trunk and give it a name
Assign an outbound caller ID (this will normally be your business phone number). 5.Set your maximum number of channels. 6.Complete the SIP peer details.
Register the SIP Trunk – if you use an external VoIP provider, you may need to register directly with them (this is known as a ‘register string').
Save your changes and apply your new configuration. Your SIP Trunk should now be connected and live. If all has worked correctly, you should be able to make & receive calls through your PBX.

What does SIP peer details refer to?
The SIP peer details refer to the system governing how your SIP trunk and your IP system communicate. This exists as a section of code. You can write this code from scratch yourself or use existing code snippets if they suit your requirements.
Depending on your level of coding skill and the level of functionality which your business requires, you can set specific rules and exceptions for how the systems connect.

Should I set up the SIP trunk myself?
Before you install your SIP trunk, it is worth considering the following questions. Depending on the answers, it may be best to have an expert contractor or business telecoms provider install on for you.

How are your IT and coding skills?
If you are skilled in IT, with a good knowledge of both coding and IT networking, installing and configuring an SIP trunk should be within your ability. Follow the steps listed in this article.
Using a professional will cost more but is likely to be a more secure and reliable long-term solution unless you are supremely confident about doing it yourself.

When do you need your SIP trunk?
The urgency with which you need to have your SIP Trunk operational should play a role in deciding whether or not to bring in outside help as should how much available time you have to spend on the task.

If you have the time to learn and experiment by doing it yourself then that may be the best option. However, if time is of the essence, you should contact an external IT and telecoms expert and explain to them how you would like your SIP trunk setup.

What is your budget?
How much budget you have available to spend on your telecoms as a whole and on SIP specifically is an important consideration to make. If you install and configure an SIP yourself it is technically “free”. However, if you do it incorrectly, its malfunctions could cost you money in the long run through lost earnings and you may have to pay to get a professional to fix it for you in the end anyway (which will also cost money).

What is the purpose of the SIP trunk?
You should consider the reasons you need an SIP trunk. The needs of a business with 1 or 2 SIP Trunks (like a start-up) will be different to those of a corporation with an inhouse call centre who may need dozens or even hundreds of SIP trunks.
The best method of installation will therefore depend on your reasons for needing SIP trunking, you may be specifically looking to cut your overall call costs, to update your phone system and add more features, or help unify your communications across your organisation. Many of these goals can be more easily reached with the assistance of a third-party enterprise telecom provider.

Various methods to pay your tuition fees in a foreign university

Alina Joris — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 07:53:15 +0000

It's a major accomplishment to study abroad at a foreign college or university. The whole transition process should have required a great deal of work and thousands of hours.

After all of this work, it would not be great if you are having issues while trying to pay the tuition fee at a foreign college. Various nations have universities accepting various types of payment.

Just to safeguard the whole process, you can get in touch with your university to decide the best way to consider transfer for your tuition fees. There are several ways that the fees can be paid. We have tried to list the most accepted payment methods that you can use:

1. Paying tuition fees via forex cards: A forex card is similar to a prepaid card i.e. Debit card. A forex card gives you the luxury to fill funds in a foreign currency. It is accepted internationally, so you can either use your forex card to pay for your tuition fees, bills or withdraw money at an ATM in foreign currency.

One of the types of forex card is single currency cards and another one is multicurrency cards. Now let’s understand both types of these forex cards.Single currency Forex card is one which you can load a single currency with a specific foreign currency. When you are travelling to a specific country or more importantly if you are visiting just one country, you can use that country's currency to load this card.

Multi-currency forex cards are the type of cards which you can pre-load the wallet with various currencies, as the title indicates. There is nothing better and safer than a forex card. The forex cards possess a chip and pin technology. This creates another form of security which gives you a sense of safety and much needed relief. In addition, in case if you lose your forex card, to prevent any abuse of the card, you can get your card hot listed in no time.

You can use an online service for buying a forex card from online forex remittance marketplaces. A lot of these platforms charge absolutely zero for issuing a forex card unlike banks. Also, when you reload or unload your forex card, some of the platforms let you do that for free which is great and can save you on tons of charges.

2. Paying tuition fees via wire transfers: This is also an extremely secure and efficient way of doing a money transfer. Paying tuition fees via wire transfers is one of the most popular ways used by students.

It only takes between 12 to 48 hours or so for international money transfers, which is remarkable given how much money you can manage at once. A fee will be charged while doing wire transfers but if you do it via online money transfer platforms, your service fee can come down significantly low.

If the university accepts this type of payment method, it will be a cakewalk for you as the whole process is easy to understand. The whole procedure is convenient and should not be of concern to the transferor or recipient.

3. Paying tuition fees via demand drafts: This is another way to pay your tuition fees, but it is not very common. The first move is to go to a bank with a working account. For the sum of money, you want to transfer to the university, you are expected to make a demand draft. The balance will be deducted until the rupee value has been translated into a certain foreign currency that you wish to pay in. The cost for the commission is not oversized, but minimal, so you don't have to fret.

However, whenever it falls to paying fees via demand draft, there are some annoyances. The biggest issue is that demand draughts takes up anywhere between 10 to 15 days. As soon as the demand draft is ready, it will now be shipped to the university which will take a lot longer and there's a certain risk of the demand draft getting torn or misplaced/lost which will be an even bigger issue to deal with.

4. Paying tuition fees via money order: These are basically a payment order for a certain sum of money. It is a secure way to pay your tuition fees via money order. This enables the receiver to collect cash at the authorised source on request. As well as it may be decided to cash in another nation even when the money order is made in a different nation.

Only one thousand US dollars can be sent through one money order. In case the fees exceed this amount then you would have to get a number of money orders made or you can use a different payment method to pay the tuition fees. A major upside of using money orders is that because your personal information is not included, it is virtually undetectable which makes it very secure. These orders can also be deposited in a bank or may even be used if you want that.

There are other payment methods to pay the tuition fees as well such as online money transfer platforms or doing a SWIFT transfer. You can go with the option that fits best according to your requirements.