Add Cozi Gold to your school auction table

Cozi is a personal/group calendar/task/list management system that my wife and I could function without. One of the nice features is that it has the ability to work with Alexa to add both shopping and to do items into their ecosystem. Works quite well. Has both Android and IOS apps as well as working through a browser on your PC. So use this to get organized.

A new promotion for School Organizations to be able to schedule and coordinate tasks and lists is available from Cozi. This is available as a 3 year licnese for fundraising auctions. See promotion text in the next paragraph.

Add Cozi Gold to your school auction table

Learn more

Did you know that Cozi will donate a three-year subscription to Cozi Gold for fundraising auctions? If you’re in charge of planning or just a PTA parent in need of items, we’re here to help you tick something off your to-dos.

Notice of Recent Security Incident

Dear valued customer, In keeping with our commitment to transparency, we wanted to inform you of a security incident that our team is currently investigating. We recently detected unusual activity within a third-party cloud storage service, which is currently shared by both LastPass and its affiliate, GoTo. We immediately launched an investigation, engaged Mandiant, a leading security firm, and alerted law enforcement. We have determined that an unauthorized party, using information obtained in the August 2022 incident, was able to gain access to certain elements of our customers’ information. Our customers’ passwords remain safely encrypted due to LastPass's Zero Knowledge architecture. We are working diligently to understand the scope of the incident and identify what specific information has been accessed. As part of our efforts, we continue to deploy enhanced security measures and monitoring capabilities across our infrastructure to help detect and prevent further threat actor activity. In the meantime, we can confirm that LastPass products and services remain fully functional. As always, we recommend that you follow our best practices around the setup and configuration of LastPass, which can be found here. As is our practice, we will continue to provide updates as we learn more. Please visit the LastPass blog for the latest information related to the incident: https://blog.lastpass.com/2022/11/notice-of-recent-security-incident/. We thank you for your patience while we work through our investigation. Sincerely, The Team at LastPass

Sophos's Reflexion is reaching EOL 3/31/2023

If you are using either Reflections RTC or Encryption both products are reaching End of Life at the end of the first quarter next year (2023). 

Sophos Central Email Advanced has been created as the new email product to replace these two products at a much better price point. See Information below:

Sophos Central Email Advanced

• Product Description & Specs: Datasheet
• Sophos Email Tour (4 mins): Watch   Video Here
• Free Trial (part of Sophos Central): Sophos   Central Online Demo - including Email
• Sophos Central Email Advanced: Admin/Set-Up   Guide

Call us for either term or monthly support pricing. 

724-838-7526

or

email: bappleby@paconnect.com

Skype for Business online contacts retirement

MC349675 · PA COMPUTER CONNECTIONS INC1

With Skype for Business Online retired on July 31, 2021, Microsoft will soon be commencing the decommissioning process of the supporting infrastructure no sooner than June 30, 2022. Key points: Timing: June 30, 2022 Action: review and have upgraded users take action as appropriate How this affects your organization: Any users in your organization that were upgraded from Skype for Business (either online or on-premises), may need to take one or both of the following actions: Actions Required: If these upgraded users had contacts in Skype for Business Online and have not yet logged into Teams since being upgraded, they must log into Teams at least once before June 30, 2022, to ensure any contacts from Skype for Business are migrated to Teams. If these upgraded TeamsOnly users still have Skype for Business Online meetings that they organized before they were upgraded to TeamsOnly, then before June 30, 2022, these users must either reschedule their remaining Skype for Business Online meetings as Teams meeting, or an administrator in their organization must convert these meetings to Teams meetings using the Meeting Migration Service. After Microsoft removes the Skype for Business Online infrastructure for a given TeamsOnly user, any remaining Skype for Business Online meetings organized by that user will no longer exist and hence will not function. For additional information, please refer to the following documentation:   Skype for Business Online retirement View this message in the Microsoft 365 admin center

In July 2020, Sophos announced the End of Sale (EOS) and End of Life (EOL) dates for several products.

Updates since July 2020 include:

•  All those products have now reached End of Sale and can no longer be purchased by new customers
• Existing customers of these products can renew until the End of Life date
• Some products have already reached their End of Life date and are no longer supported or operational

For many of the remaining products, only 2 years remain until they reach their End of Life date. We strongly suggest you start planning a migration strategy and start your move to the recommended Sophos products.

Given the aggressive nature of attacks that we continue to see across the industry, along with the ever-increasing pace of cybersecurity, customers should ensure that they have regular patching and upgrade plans.

The list below details the products included in the announcement from July 2020 with a reminder of their End of Life date and migration path. 

Product	End of Life (EOL) date	Migration Path
Endpoint Products
Endpoint Protection, Server Protection and Enterprise Console products (managed on premises)	20-Jul-23	Intercept X Advanced or Intercept X Advanced for Server
Sophos Mobile as a Service	30-Sep-21	Sophos Mobile managed in Sophos Central
Sophos Mobile (managed on premises)	20-Jul-23	Sophos Mobile managed in Sophos Central
SafeGuard Enterprise	20-Jul-23	Sophos Central Device Encryption
Network Products
Remote Ethernet Device (RED) 15	31-Aug-23	SD-RED 20
Remote Ethernet Device (RED) 15w	31-Aug-23	SD-RED 20 plus Wi-Fi Module or APX
Remote Ethernet Device (RED) 50	31-Aug-23	SD-RED 60
Sophos Web Appliance	20-Jul-23	XG Firewall
Sophos Firewall Manager	30-Jul-21	Firewall Management in Sophos Central
Legacy SATC Client	31-Jul-21	XG Firewall and Intercept X for Server
Email
PureMessage for Exchange	20-Jul-23	No migration option
PureMessage for Unix	20-Jul-23	Sophos Email
Sophos Email Appliance	20-Jul-23	Sophos Email
Reflexion Total Control	31-Mar-23	Sophos Email
RTC Encrypt and Radar Lite	31-Mar-23	Sophos Email

In July 2020, Sophos announced the End of Sale (EOS) and End of Life (EOL) dates for several products.

Updates since July 2020 include:

•  All those products have now reached End of Sale and can no longer be purchased by new customers
• Existing customers of these products can renew until the End of Life date
• Some products have already reached their End of Life date and are no longer supported or operational

For many of the remaining products, only 2 years remain until they reach their End of Life date. We strongly suggest you start planning a migration strategy and start your move to the recommended Sophos products.

Given the aggressive nature of attacks that we continue to see across the industry, along with the ever-increasing pace of cybersecurity, customers should ensure that they have regular patching and upgrade plans.

The list below details the products included in the announcement from July 2020 with a reminder of their End of Life date and migration path. 

Product	End of Life (EOL) date	Migration Path
Endpoint Products
Endpoint Protection, Server Protection and Enterprise Console products (managed on premises)	20-Jul-23	Intercept X Advanced or Intercept X Advanced for Server
Sophos Mobile as a Service	30-Sep-21	Sophos Mobile managed in Sophos Central
Sophos Mobile (managed on premises)	20-Jul-23	Sophos Mobile managed in Sophos Central
SafeGuard Enterprise	20-Jul-23	Sophos Central Device Encryption
Network Products
Remote Ethernet Device (RED) 15	31-Aug-23	SD-RED 20
Remote Ethernet Device (RED) 15w	31-Aug-23	SD-RED 20 plus Wi-Fi Module or APX
Remote Ethernet Device (RED) 50	31-Aug-23	SD-RED 60
Sophos Web Appliance	20-Jul-23	XG Firewall
Sophos Firewall Manager	30-Jul-21	Firewall Management in Sophos Central
Legacy SATC Client	31-Jul-21	XG Firewall and Intercept X for Server
Email
PureMessage for Exchange	20-Jul-23	No migration option
PureMessage for Unix	20-Jul-23	Sophos Email
Sophos Email Appliance	20-Jul-23	Sophos Email
Reflexion Total Control	31-Mar-23	Sophos Email
RTC Encrypt and Radar Lite	31-Mar-23	Sophos Email

Sophos: EOL Products

The following products were included in the July 2020 announcement and have already reached their End of Life date. These products are no longer supported or operational. 

Product	End of Life (EOL) date	Migration Path
Cloud Web Gateway	30-Jun-20	Intercept X Advanced or XG Firewall
Cyberoam Central Management Console (CCMS)	31-Dec-20	Firewall Management in Sophos Central
Cyberoam iView NR	31-Dec-20	Central Firewall Reporting
Cloud Firewall Manager	31-Dec-20	Firewall Management in Sophos Central
iView	31-Dec-20	Central Firewall Reporting
Cyberoam Network Security Appliances	31-Mar-21	XG Firewall
Cyberoam Central Console (CCC)	31-Mar-21	Firewall Management in Sophos Central

[ Security Advisory ] Critical Security Notice for Unpatched SonicWall Devices

// Overview  

SonicWall has published an urgent notice indicating a ransomware campaign targeting End-of-Life (EOL) SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 100 series and Secure Remote Access (SRA) devices. Details are currently limited, but we are monitoring the situation and will provide additional guidance as new information is disclosed.

The announcement listed below in the references section has all the current publicly known information regarding this activity. 

// What you should do 

If you use a SonicWall SMA and/or SRA devices running unpatched EOL firmware 8.x, the current guidance from SonicWall PSIRT is as follows:

• ·                 Disconnect device from the network
• ·                 Reset Credentials
• ·                 Enable/Implement MFA 

Currently, SonicWall devices running firmware 9.x and higher are not impacted. 

// References 

• §     SonicWall Notice -- https://www.sonicwall.com/support/product-notification/urgent-security-notice-critical-risk-to-unpatched-end-of-life-sra-sma-8-x-remote-access-devices/210713105333210/ 

Introducing PowerPoint Live in Microsoft Teams

PowerPoint Live transforms your presenting experience - only in Microsoft Teams 

PowerPoint is used around the world to share compelling stories—from personal to professional. As the world shifted to working remotely, we all faced new challenges presenting without a live audience. Reading the room, seeing people’s expressions, and natural interactions all became more difficult to do from behind a screen.  

We created an entirely new remote presenting experience with PowerPoint Live in Microsoft Teams. This exclusive and unique experience benefits both presenters and audience members, offering the rich presenting capabilities of PowerPoint and the collaboration of Microsoft Teams. 

 see more

Out of Office

Let others know that you are not available by scheduling an Out of Office message in Teams. This helps set expectations with your colleagues, letting them know that you won’t be able to respond during this time and allows you to take the time off. During this time, your presence status is changed to "Out of Office" and your status message is displayed when someone reaches out to you via chat. Additionally, your Outlook calendar and automatic replies are updated accordingly.

250 GB file size support in Microsoft teams

We have now increased the upload file size limit for Microsoft Teams from 100 GB to 250 GB. This also applies to all other Microsoft 365, services including SharePoint and OneDrive. You are now able to easily share large files like a 3D model of a new building, a client commercial shot in 8K video, a large dataset for a vaccine trial or research projects or large videos for educational projects. Learn more

Press Release: Exciting learning news and opportunities at Microsoft Ignite, March 2-4

Tech capability is more crucial than ever in driving productivity, innovation, and growth. As we rise to meet each new technological challenge, our continued mission is to empower you with essential skills for digital transformation today and the future. At Microsoft Ignite, you’ll have the opportunity to learn, connect, and explore new tech. Register and join us today for a two-day digital experience and learn about our new training and certification announcements, along with engaging opportunities at the event’s Learning Zone.

Our commitment to closing the security skills gap

With complex cyberattacks increasing and more employees working remotely, the need for cybersecurity professionals is growing by the day. With the struggle to fill security skills gap, there’s an estimated global shortage of 3.5 million security professionals. To help close this gap, we’re dedicated to getting you up to speed on Microsoft security, compliance, and identity solutions with training and certifications on Microsoft Learn. And wherever you are with your learning journey, expand your knowledge and validate your skills with four new certifications:

• Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals. Validate your foundational understanding of security, compliance, and identity across cloud-based and related Microsoft services.
• Microsoft Certified: Information Protection Administrator Associate. Prove your expertise in planning and implementing controls to meet organizational compliance needs.
• Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate. Certify your knowledge of core identity governance principles and your ability to ensure a proper identity lifecycle.
• Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate. Validate your skills in threat mitigation using Microsoft security, compliance, and identity solutions, in addition to performing proactive threat-hunting activities.

In addition, find relevant content based on your needs in the Microsoft Security Technical Content Library, and sign up for Microsoft Virtual Training Days – free in-depth virtual training events available in multiple languages and time zones. Learn more about these additional resources to help you expand your knowledge and skills on security and compliance solutions.

New Windows Virtual Desktop specialty certification

Over the past year, we’ve witnessed a worldwide surge in the remote work economy, and organizations around the globe are looking for reliable productivity tools for their remote workers. Along with the burgeoning growth of remote work comes the urgent need and great demand for administrators with subject matter expertise in planning, delivering, and managing virtual desktop experiences and remote apps—for any device—on Azure. That’s why we’re excited to announce the release of a new certification to help validate those skills. Get ready for the upcoming Microsoft Certified: Windows Virtual Desktop Specialty certification, available at the end of March.

Certification renewal features are now available on Microsoft Learn

In December 2020, we shared our new approach to renewing role-based and specialty certifications for free on Microsoft Learn. We’re happy to announce that this feature is now available for 19 certifications, with more following shortly. If you have a certification that expires within six months, you can take a certification renewal assessment online—at no cost and on your schedule—and extend your certification for an additional year. Learn more about renewing your Microsoft Certification.

Get in the zone at Microsoft Ignite

Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned professional, you’ll find the perfect way to expand your digital toolkit in the Learning Zone at Microsoft Ignite. We’ve designed Learning Zone experiences for every learning style and skill level:

• Cloud Skills Challenge. Self-starters will enjoy diving into this challenge, where you can learn and earn a free certification exam to help you validate your skills.
• Learn LIVE. If hands-on learning is your preferred style, tap into these self-paced modules while you’re guided by subject matter experts.
• Intro to Tech Skills. If you’re just getting started in a tech career or looking to make your next move in tech, you’ll feel right at home in these sessions. Build new skills using Microsoft technologies and get started on your chosen path to success.
• Ask the Experts. During these Q&A sessions, pick our experts’ brains about your specialty or role and their accompanying Microsoft Certifications.
• Learn at Ignite. Continue learning with us after the event. Find your way to deeper content, training options, communities, and certification details across Microsoft cloud solutions from one place.

Now that you’ve learned about what we have in store for you, what are you waiting for? Register for Microsoft Ignite and join us today at the Learning Zone so you can build your journey to having greater tech confidence.

New file sharing experience in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft is updating the file sharing and access control experience in Microsoft Teams to make it similar to the experience with other Microsoft 365 apps. We had announced this feature last fall but delayed the rollout to ensure the best customer experience. We apologize for any inconvenience that this delay may have caused.

Key points

• Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 51230 
• Timing: mid-March through mid-April 2021
• Roll-out: tenant level
• Control type: admin control
• Action: review and assess

How this will affect your organization

With this update, when users share a file from within Teams (desktop/web), they will have the option to create sharing links that provide access to:

• anyone
• people with existing access
• people within your organization
• specific people, including those in a 1:1 chat, group chat, or channels.

Before users share a file in a chat and channels, they will be notified if recipients don't have permission to view the file. The user can change permissions before they share the file (if they have permission to do so).

What you need to do to prepare

Teams honors the sharing controls defined in SharePoint. For example, if external sharing is disabled in SharePoint, then it is disabled in Teams as well.

The default file link permission in Teams will be the same that is set at tenant level, unless that setting has been overridden at the respective SharePoint site level.

Review your file sharing options in the SharePoint admin portal to ensure that they align with the requirements in your tenant.

Learn more

• Manage sharing settings in SharePoint and OneDrive
• Sharing files in Microsoft Teams

Sophos Managed Threat Response (MTR) Video Overview

Sophos Managed Threat Response (MTR) Overview from Sophos on Vimeo.

Sophos News: MTR Casebook: Uncovering a backdoor implant in a SolarWinds Orion server

A real-world story from the Sophos Managed Threat Response team

This is a great read and worth your time if you have any interest in security and this shows the what you can expect from a strong MTR engagement experience.

Setting the scene

The organization in question came to Sophos Rapid Response after falling victim to a Ragnar Locker attack in early 2020. A ransomware payload was delivered manually by a highly capable group at around 2 a.m., while admins were asleep, hitting as many computers as they could in quick succession.

They hit hundreds.

Sophos Rapid Response was brought in to help identify, contain and neutralize the threat. It took the team less than two days to resolve the active threat and over the following days incident responders were able to ascertain the threat actor had entered the network two months prior to the ransomware attack.

With the Ragnar group removed from their network, the customer transitioned to the full MTR service in Notify mode with our security operations team watching over them 24/7.

While the pressing threat of Ragnar Locker was out of the picture, in November 2020 another threat actor stepped into view…

Logitech: Bringing People Together with Video

Logitech put together a little brochure that describes their focus on video conference systems. We use Logitech cameras in quite a few of our solutions and we are quite happy with their quality and over function with many of the video conferencing software packages that are out their. If you are interested in seing this brochure you can download it here.

If you are interested in one of our team members working with you on creating a video conference solution for your organization please don't hesitate reaching out to us at sales@paconnect.com or call call us at 724-838-7526.

Snagit 2021 - Great Screen capture tool

airSlate Added to Pax8 Vendor Roster

Product Release

airSlate signNow an advanced e-signature solution that boosts workflows and takes contract management to a new level, is now available for all PAconnect Customers. With signNow, ussers get access to useful tools that can help close deals in hours instead of days by signing PDFs, invoices, contracts, and much more with legally binding signatures right from your desktop or mobile devices.

signNow makes it easy for recipients to sign documents in seconds. Upload .pdf, .docx or .ppt files and add signature fields anywhere you need, and assign the fields to teammates and partners while defining their level of access. Recipients can securely approve your documents in seconds.

Sign and collect e-signatures, build online fillable templates, automatically send documents to multiple recipients and much more with signNow. It enables you to create secure and intuitive e-signature workflows on any device, track the status of documents right into your account, and build online fillable forms, all within a single solution.

The signNow API allows you to create e-signature requests and build complex e-signature workflows, without having to write code, and you can test signNow API features in a development environment before going live.

Sophos Alert: End of Support for Sophos Enterprise Console Managed Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Sophos has now ended standard support for all Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 devices managed by Sophos Enterprise Console (SEC). Extended support is available for purchase for both operating systems.

Without an extended support license, all Sophos updates will be disabled for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 devices managed by SEC commencing February 1, 2021. 

Lifecycle Milestones 

Windows 7 

• Standard Support End Date - December 31, 2020 (Expired)
• Extended Support End Date - March 31, 2023

Windows Server 2008 R2 

• Standard Support End Date - December 31, 2020 (Expired)
• Extended Support End Date - March 31, 2023

A full list of supported platforms and operating systems with retirement dates can be found in KB34756.

About Sophos Enterprise Console

Sophos Enterprise Console is a single, automated console that manages and updates Sophos security software on computers running Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and UNIX operating systems, and in virtual environments with VMware vShield.

Sophos Enterprise Console enables you to do the following:

• Protect your network against malware, risky file types and websites, and malicious network traffic, as well as adware and other potentially unwanted applications.
• Control which websites users can browse to, further protecting the network against malware, and preventing users from browsing to inappropriate websites.
• Control which applications can run on the network.
• Manage client firewall protection on endpoint computers.
• Assess computers for missing patches.
• Reduce accidental data loss, such as unintentional transfer of sensitive data, from endpoint computers.
• Prevent users from using unauthorized external storage devices and wireless connection technologies on endpoint computers.
• Prevent users from re-configuring, disabling, or uninstalling Sophos security software.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

PAconnect Premium Security Package

When you have been attacked and are down with Ransomeware, where do you turn? Our company has the people trained and the right partnerships in place to help you get your company back up and running as quickly as possible. We have the right tools that help to prevent this in the first place but if you have not decided to implement them then we have other solutions that we can draw upon.

Our new CyberSecurity Product Premium package includes a 24x7 component that tracks and mitigates CyberAttacks to your network. If you need a higher degree of security or just want to feel more secure about your network we have the products that will take you to that next level. 

Firewalls are essential for securing the network perimeter and separating trusted from untrusted connections. They will protect network resources and infrastructure against unauthorized access.  Firewalls also provide a means to secure connections between office locations and to connect employees more securely from remote locations. This is our first layer of protection we suggest that you put in place.

Email Security is a prime attack vector for security failures. Providing a means to secure your system from these attacks takes a multi-layered approach through training to increase awareness of what these attacks look like, as well as providing barriers to help prevent the attacks from ever succeeding. Using scheduled training, advanced email protection software, email encryption products and more we help you to lock down your security on this attack path.

DNS Protection: Providing an additional layer of protection between an employee and the internet by blacklisting dangerous sites and filtering out unwanted content. By using secure DNS servers both at home and at work, employees can avoid unnecessary risks and the potential for malicious attacks.

Endpoint Security Solutions add another layer to our security stack. Our products provide automated patch management on your systems and AI and Machine learning level security to protect your system from malware, trojans and ransomware attacks. Our premium package also provides active threat hunting and remedial diagnostics for those of you who require a more critical security stance and ability to document any intrusion/attack attempts to your network. Our goal is to provide the right level a protection at a price that you are able to afford and take advantage of.