Lanit Updates 2/2020

Happy February! 


We touched on Lanit's cloud facility last month so this month I would like to dig into that subject a little more to give you a better understanding of what that entails.   


Our primary cloud facility is located in Kansas City Missouri and is part of the Netrality Data Centers family. We lease physical space from them but use Lanit owned technical equipment to provide the actual cloud service. Similar to leasing a house or apartment but providing your own furniture. 


This facility is also home to Socket, AT&T, Cogent, Verizon, and Century Link to just name a few. We chose this facility due to it's security, reliability, and infrastructure. Of all the facilities we researched and visited prior to making this decision this was by far the best choice for Lanit and our great customers.


We have access to an onsite staff of 200+ people that are available 24/7 to support our equipment as needed. Every piece of equipment that we put into that facility starts with dual power supplies, each power supply plugs into a different surge protector, each surge protector plugs into its own battery backup system, each battery backup system has a dedicated and redundant generator farm, each redundant generator farm is fed from different commercial power companies. Seems like a little overkill but the result has been a perfect 100% up time for our hardware for over six years and counting. The cooling system is also redundant and the entire facility can be self contained and continue to run without commercially fed utilities for several months.


How about security? The physical security of this facility is just as ridiculous. To gain entry into the building requires a key card. That key card only allows lobby and elevator access. Once you're in the elevator the same card only allows access to the floor that contains your equipment. Once you exit the elevator you then enter a dead room with two doors, the first door has to close before the second door will open and that door requires a separate number combination to open. Once inside you make your way to your equipment which requires yet another combination lock to access. The entire time each location entered is being logged and while in the facility you are under video surveillance with onsite security. This facility is SSAE16 SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and meets all PCI and HIPPA requirements. Click here if you want to know more detail about the SSAE 16 standards. 


This facility also provides additional items like direct connections to Azure, AWS, and other data centers across the country that are part of the Netrality family along with other amenities that can get a little "techy". Although this facility is great, we also utilize Microsoft Azure for redundant services along with the redundant data center. We have always held the philosophy of what's best for our customers which reflects in our service and believe this type of facility is better to house your data and applications opposed to your HVAC closet or storage room. Please let us know if you would like any additional information in regards to our hosting facilities and I would be happy to provide it.  
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APEX ONE Update

Lanit has implemented APEX One into our cloud services in a limited fashion. So far we have been impressed with it's performance and new capabilities it provides us with feedback and reporting. We will continue to test and update as we progress. 


If you're interested in the more "geeky" info you can click here to read further. 
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Google

If you have worked with Lanit for any period of time there are two things that you may have realized that we are heavily opinionated on...but for good reason. 


The first is that although it has its place, don't depend on wireless for production systems. The second is don't use Google for business. 


Let's focus on Google this month and I'll touch on the wireless next month. 


Google is a quick and easy way for people to share data, send email, and even collaborate on projects for little or even no cost. But remember that nothing is for free. A lot of us normally accept the annoying terms of service pop-up or agree to whatever terms they throw our way to use services on many things including Google. But have you ever actually read their terms of service? 


There's an interesting section under "Your Content in our Services" that states the following - 

 "When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content."

Granted I'm not a lawyer but what they are saying is that anything you store in their G Suite services or email you send through GMail becomes their property and they can do with as they please for not only Google but also "those who work with Google" so your data instantly becomes their owned property to do with as they please and for the extra kick in the head they also add the following - 

"This license continues even if you stop using our Services..."


The next time a Terms of Service of Agreement pops-up you may want to take the time to browse through it prior to agreeing. 
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Security Awareness 

Social Media Privacy


Overview

Most people would never consider walking into a crowded room and loudly broadcasting to total strangers all the details of their private life—from their health issues to their family and friends’ names, ages, jobs, or school locations. But often these same individuals won’t think twice about posting that same information on social media. The ramifications of sharing too much can have an impact not only on your personal and professional life but also the lives of your family and friends.


Social media is a great place to reconnect, share, and learn. However, just ensuring that your social media privacy settings are strong isn’t the only way to protect yourself. Once you post anything online, you have lost control of it. You need to understand what is being collected and how it is being used. Here are some privacy concerns you should have when using social media:


Privacy Settings: Carefully create and frequently review privacy settings for all of your social media accounts, especially when changes in terms of service and privacy policies take place. Remember that even if you have secured your settings for who can view your postings, all of your information is being collected, mined, and stored on the social media platform servers—perhaps forever.

Privacy Tree:Social media settings can’t protect you from friends, relatives, and co-workers who view your postings and then have the ability to share those postings with their circle of friends and so on.

Family Sharing:Everyone loves to talk about their friends and family. But posting silly birthday cake pictures or health and behavior problems can lead to bullying, especially for those who are younger, and could impact their personal lives.

Information Sharing:If a service is “free,” then you are the product. Investigations have found that what you are doing online may be sold to others.

Location Services:Check-in data can be added to other personal data to create a profile of your life and habits, which can lead to stalking and open you to other harassing events. In addition, be aware of any location information included in any pictures or videos you post.

Artificial Intelligence:AI, social media, and marketing are the perfect combination. Marketers now use information gathered from your habits online to feed you ads focused on your last search or purchase, and thereby continue to learn even more about you.

Digital Death:When a person dies, their online presence becomes more vulnerable to malicious individuals if their accounts aren’t being maintained or eliminated by their survivors. The privacy of an individual is not just about that person alone; it also can impact extended family and friends.

Unintentional Disclosure:The information you post about yourself may reveal much of your personal history, and thus the answers to your online secret security questions.


Privacy is far more than just setting the privacy options in your social media accounts. The more information you share, and the more others share about you, the more information that is collected and used by corporations, governments, and others. One of the best ways to protect yourself is to consider and limit what you share and what others share about you, regardless of the privacy options you use.
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