HubWise Technology has been around for about a year and we have been growing rapidly.  We are always looking for the right people to come join our team.  If you like helping people and interacting with technology, then drop your name in the hat and let’s talk.

When we started HubWise we set out with a goal to change the idea of what a technology provider could be.  We’ve been in the business for 20+ years , so we’ve seen the good and the bad.  Finding people who share our same beliefs and ideals is key to changing the industry.

What’s a HubWiser?

We are looking for folks who enjoy being challenged everyday, learning and participating in a rapidly changing environment, and want to grow with the company.  Successful HubWisers are self-motivated, challenge the status quo, and enjoy helping with technology.

If you think this describes you, head over to our Career Page and check out our open positions, don’t see something that fits, but still want to work here, fill out our contact page.

Tech doesn’t have to be a cost center

I expect the next few years to bring a lot of change and transformation to the technology industry.  The migration and drive towards the cloud is changing the requirements for businesses to run.  Now, a new company can startup and get running with a limited amount of capital by utilizing cloud and web based services.  Spending OPEX vs CAPEX money makes is easier to start and grow and reduces requirements for liabilities and taking on investors.  It’s reducing the cost of entry not just for technology based business but also traditional business.  Entrenched business in certain industries may start to feel some increased pressure from low-cost startup competitors and existing competitors that have embraced a change in how to conduct business.  Technology and the use of it doesn’t have to be relegated to the basement.  Technology can be used to provide strategic advantages and help to increase productivity, profitability, and give back time to employees and management.

In an ever changing landscape (yep, I did it), businesses need help ensuring that their technology is one step ahead.  HubWise Technology is helping one business do just that.  The company, which has been in business for over 40 years, is looking to transform the way they use technology to help drive productivity, profitability, and time savings.  HubWise was selected to help with the day-to-day support of the existing technology needs while also providing a strategic look at how technology can help to reduce lost time and increase productivity.  Some of the current initiatives involve reducing the amount of paperwork generated on a day-by-day basis, while others are more encompassing involving sales and project management.  HubWise is looking to show that money can grow on trees!

The company, which has both a physical office and many traveling employees, has a unique document management need that was met with HubWise Technology solutions and Office 365.  A majority of the documents and files that were being accessed both in the office and on the road were move to SharePoint Online.  This allows everyone to take advantage of the benefits of an online storage solution.  Before the migration the employees that were on the road were often calling into the office to have the necessary files emailed to them.  Now anyone can access the files anywhere, any time, and on any device.

HubWise also worked with the company to upgrade the internal network and servers.  There is still a need for local storage to run a few apps, and the wireless network was upgraded to support up to 100 people.  With a large conference room often being used to present to potential and existing clients, it was important that the guests had access to a secured wireless network.

Finally, given the sensitive data the business may need to deal with while working with clients, it was paramount that the technology security was taken into account during the process.  HubWise configured Office 365 with the latest security offerings to ensure that data was protected.  Advanced Threat Protection and Email encryption were both enabled to ensure the inbound and outbound emails were protected.

HubWise is supporting the organization ongoing in both day-to-day technology support and ongoing help defining business needs and how technology can enable them.

Having used Microsoft Surface devices from the release of the initial Surface Pro (I’m typing this on a Surface Laptop), I’m excited that we are now an authorized reseller of the Surface line.

We have already had some clients placing orders for some of the newest equipment including the incredible Surface Studio (Link).  The screen on this desktop is amazing and you have to see it in person to believe it.  It is movable to almost any position from 15 degrees off the desk to almost 90 degrees and provides 3000×2000 pixels in a 28′ display.  Watching hi-def video and editing photos is so easy and enjoyable.

Along with the Surface Studio, we can also get almost anything in the Surface line including the Surface Pro, the Surface Laptop, and the Surface Book 2.

If you have been looking at a new laptop or desktop, now might be the time to take a look at the Microsoft Surface Line.  We are happy to talk about our experience with the devices and compare them to the other laptops and desktops we sell.

What are Meltdown and Spectre?

Meltdown and Spectre are new security exploits that have been discovered.  These exploits operate on the CPUs of PCs and Servers.

What do they do?

Google described the attacks in the following way.

Meltdown breaks the most fundamental isolation between user applications and the operating system. This attack allows a program to access the memory, and thus also the secrets, of other programs and the operating system.

Spectre breaks the isolation between different applications. It allows an attacker to trick error-free programs, which follow best practices, into leaking their secrets. In fact, the safety checks of said best practices actually increase the attack surface and may make applications more susceptible to Spectre.

What  does this mean?

Essentially if these exploits were used, a potential attacker could gain access to very secure low-level information inside a system.  Passwords and keys could be compromised.  They way these attacks work also makes it very difficult to detect and mitigate.

What is to be done?

Operating Systems around the world will need to be updated to prevent against this attack.  Right now most OS vendors are delivering and pushing updates out for their respective products.

For our customers that are subscribed to HubWise Technology Managed Services:

These updates will be pushed out automatically tonight to ensure that you are up-to-date.  At this time there is no action for you to take beside leaving your PC on to ensure that it gets updates.  This update will most likely need a reboot and you will receive a pop-up indicating when to do that.

For our customers that work with us on an hourly basis:

Please contact us about helping you with these updates and ensuring that they are installed.

What are the current risks?

We believe these to be pretty limited right now.  The exploit itself is still under embargo from being show in the public, so not many people know how to take advantage of it.  This should give everyone enough time to properly patch their systems.

OS Specifics

Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 – Windows Update KB4056892
Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 – Microsoft Update KB4056898
Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 SP1 – Windows Update KB4056897

Mac OS – 10.13.2 is already patched – HT208394
iPhone – 11.2.2 available – HT208401

Android Devices – Google says updates were pushed to manufactures in December, but it will be up to the device manufacturer to release the update for the device.  Pixel and Nexus devices will receive updates in the coming weeks. – Android Security Bulletin

We will be keeping this post up-to-date as more information becomes available.