We are on the Move

First Stop IT are moving to larger offices. After more than 4 years in our current location we can no longer be contained. We are moving from our current location in Waltham Cross, to Hoddesdon. Our new offices are in a recently refurbished office in the centre of Hoddesdon. During this transition there should very little disruption to our support services and the support desk will still be available on 0845 129 8394.

Its during this time we realise how difficult it is for most companies to undertake an office move. Just simple things like moving internet connections, telephones and computer systems can end up as organised chaos. Even simple things like the installation of new telephone line never works out simple.

In preparation for our move I met a BT engineer to install our new phones lines. Within 5 minutes he had given me a list of reasons why he couldn't install the lines in the new office, for example, he could not move ceiling tiles, it would take longer than 2 hours, he would need help etc etc. In the end I had him install the lines where he could and we finished of the job ourselves!

We do more office moves than most as part of providing a service to our clients so if you have a move planned give me a shout and let us help you with the planning and moving.

By Grant Peck

Windows smartphones to integrate with Active Directory

Windows Mobile devices are to be integrated with Active Directory, which will enable enterprises to manage smartphones using the same policies and infrastructure already used to control Windows PCs, according to Microsoft.

The Active Directory integration will come in 2008 with a new version of the Windows Mobile platform, plus a new server product called System Centre Mobile Device Manager 2008 (MDM). As well as providing end-to-end security and management, this will include a VPN to allow secure mobile access to enterprise resources such as line-of-business applications.

Microsoft UK's Mobility business manager Jason Langridge said that Windows Mobile will effectively become part of the corporate domain, enabling devices to be managed through group policy just like PCs.

"You can set policies to turn off the camera or Wi-Fi, enforce encryption, and provision applications over the air," he said. More importantly, it means that any handset bought through a retail channel or a mobile operator can be turned into an enterprise managed device.

The new VPN channels all traffic from the handset through a company's existing firewall and security infrastructure and is optimised for mobile use. "If the connection gets dropped, the VPN will quickly re-establish it, and any open session is maintained," Langridge said.

Enterprises currently have to deploy a number of third-party point solutions to manage and secure communications with mobile devices, according to Langridge, whereas MDM will cover everything. "It delivers on the need to manage all clients in a single solution," he said.

Support for MDM will come with the next version of Windows Mobile, codenamed 'Photon' and due in the first half of 2008 along with MDM itself. Microsoft said that other versions of Windows Mobile will not support the Active Directory integration, but stated it is working with partners such as HTC, Motorola, Palm and Intermec to enable devices to be upgraded to the new platform.

Microsoft already provides some basic mobile management functions in Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007, but the new capabilities go above and beyond these, according to Langridge.

"It's giving customers the breadth of options to choose the solution that suits them best. If they only want mobile email, and have no need to deploy applications or a VPN, then Exchange is fine. Mobile Device Manager fills the gaps around management and security for customers that have these needs," he said.

By Daniel Robinson

Nasty PDF exploit runs wild

A day after Adobe patched a serious security hole in its Reader and Acrobat programs, miscreants are flooding email inboxes with malware-tainted PDF files that try to remotely hijack vulnerable computers.

The malware, identified by Symantec researchers as Trojan.Pidief.A, is included in PDF files attached to a "fair number of emails," according to this blog entry. The spam typically targets specific businesses or organizations.

Adobe issued a patch for the vulnerability on Monday. The revelation of in-the-wild exploits underscores the importance of updating immediately. A patch for Reader is available here; an Acrobat update is available here.

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GMail shakes IMAP out of coma

Google has slipped IMAP support into its GMail service, allowing users to manage their mail on the server and access it using different clients, with the status of their messages maintained.

IMAP is a vast improvement over POP3 - the more popular protocol for collecting email - though it seems GMail will continue to support both. The feature was reported by DownloadSquad, which says not all users have access to the functionality yet, though it is spreading.

Users can try logging off and reconnecting, or use the newly available help pages.

The POP3 user connects to the server, downloads their mail, and disconnects. Once they've downloaded their mail they can sort it into directories and see which messages they've read, or not. IMAP provides that same functionality, but on the server, so the user can create folders for their mail, read messages, and see the messages they've sent from any IMAP client.

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Developer deploys graphics cards to accelerate password cracks

Nvidia's GeForce 8 series of graphics chips can be used to crack Windows NT LAN Manager (NTLM) passwords 25 times more quickly than was previously possible, security software developer Elcomsoft has claimed.

The Russia-based company this week announced the second major release of its Distributed Password Recovery application, a tool designed to recover forgotten or lost passwords for a wide range of application and document types, including PDP-protected ZIP files, Adobe Acrobat PDFs, Lotus Notes ID files and Microsoft Office documents.

Elcomsoft admits its software uses "brute force" to crack a file's password, thus exposing the lost key to the user. The technique essentially tries all possible password combinations until it finds the one that fits. It works, but it's time time-consuming.

"Using a modern dual-core PC you could test up to 10m passwords per second," Elcomsoft said, "and perform a complete analysis in two months."

But use a GeForce 8 series card and Nvidia's Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) tools to run the cracking algorithms on the GPU rather than the CPU, and you can finish up in 3-5 days, the developer claimed.

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