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Google+ Accounts Closing in April 2019

Sometimes, even the big companies can create a flop, which is why all Google+ Accounts are closing in April 2019.

In December 2018 Google announced the decision to shut down the Google+ platform due to low usage from members. This means that from the April 2, 2019 all content and accounts will be deleted.

But what does this mean for you?

Most people won’t be too affected by this shut down, however if you or your business have used G+ you could lose:

  • Photos, videos and other content
  • Comments on your website
  • Your current login methods on some sites

What do I need to do about my Google+ Account Closing in April 2019?

Any content you want to save, such as photos and videos, you will need to download and save (click here for instructions).

If you’ve used Google+ for comments on your website, this feature will be removed. However, if you are a community owner or moderator you will be able to download additional data, for all posts, including the author, body and photos posted.

Signing in to accounts might be different – if you’ve using the Google+ sign in button you will no longer be able to use this. It will instead be replaced by a google account sign in button.

Google+ for G Suite accounts will remain active. Google are also planning updates for this feature for all G Suite Customers.

Key Dates – Google+ Accounts Closing in April 2019

If you have been using Google+, here’s the timeline of key dates ahead of the closure:

  • 4 February: No Longer able to create Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events
  • 4 February: Google+ Commenting feature will be removed from Blogger
  • 7 March: Google + commenting feature will be removed from other sites
  • Early March: additional date will be available for download by community owners or moderators
  • 2 April: Comments on all sites will start being deleted
  • 2 April: Accounts will be shut down and google will begin deleting content

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5 ‘Ignore at Your Peril’ Reasons You Need to Run Regular Updates on Your Website

In this blog, we share the 5 ‘ignore at your peril’ reasons you need to run regular updates on your website.

This includes using the latest version of WordPress, and regularly deploying theme and plugin updates.

Not sure how to do this on your own? We can help! Find out more about our Client Care Plan below and we’ll take care of it. It’s a small outlay for peace of mind and to keep your website secure and functioning at its optimal! Call us on 07 3889 2977 or enquire here.

Why you need to be using the latest version of WordPress

Here’s why you need to run regular updates on your website – and keep your theme and plugins up to date!

1. Security

It might sound obvious, but it’s sheer madness to see the volume of business owners who don’t bother to switch to the latest version of WordPress.

Especially given it’s free and takes less than 2 minutes.

WordPress powers almost one quarter (23%) of the world’s websites. And thanks to its popularity, it is often the target of hackers, data thieves and malicious code distributors.

Sounds scary, but the good news is that ensuring your website is using the latest version of WordPress means you’ll significantly reduce the risk of getting hacked.

With each new release, developers fix bugs and known security vulnerabilities.

Hackers can even search for websites running outdated versions of WordPress. So, no matter the size of your business – simply running an old version of WordPress can mean you’re at greater risk of a sophisticated attack.

And we’ve seen it happen time and time again – even on websites for small Aussie businesses.

2. Fixes Bugs

It’s not just the major WordPress updates you should be keeping on top of. Despite rigorous testing in the lead up to a major update, it’s not uncommon for a few bugs to slip through the cracks for a short period of time.

This means minor releases (which are shown by X.X.X) are equally important and shouldn’t be ignored. To give you an example, WordPress update 4.2.3 fixed 20 bugs from the 4.2 major release.

The key takeaway – always ensure you’re run both major and minor WordPress updates once they become available.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, running your WordPress, theme and plugin updates also have some positive perks…

3. Access to New Features

Using the latest version of WordPress means you’ll be able to leverage the latest and greatest features and software changes – designed to make updating your website even easier.

And if you do hit a roadblock, because you’re using the latest version you won’t have any issues finding WordPress help online. Steps for troubleshooting is typically based on the latest version

4. Improved Performance and Speed

WordPress developers are always pushing the limits to make things faster. Each new release will have several performance updates to improve efficiency and speed.

And given speed is a crucial factor in SEO, updating to the latest WordPress theme is a no brainer.

5. Compatability

While we’ve mostly addressed WordPress themes updates above, it’s just as important to use the latest theme and plugin versions – and for many of the same reasons. To protect against security vulnerabilities and eliminate any bugs in the software.

This will ensure that all the software – and your website – keeps functioning smoothly.

It’s not uncommon for issues to arise when your plugins are out of date, but you’ve got the latest version of WordPress – due to an incompatibility.

How to Update WordPress, Theme and Plugins

True to form, WordPress has made it easy to see and install a new WP, theme or plugin update.

Simply login to you Dashboard and look for the in-built “UPDATES” notification field. If new updates are available, you’ll see a round orange circle displaying the number of updates available.

Not comfortable navigating the back end of your website (your WordPress Dashboard) – we can help!

Brisbane Hosting Client Care Package

While some business owners may find it easy to run their WordPress, theme or plugin updates – others may not have the time, energy or confidence to do it on a regular basis.

Our Client Care Package not only ensures your website updates are up to date, we also take a full site back up and check for irregular hacker files, that will save you a lot of headaches (and money) should the unforeseeable happen.

To sign up for our Client Care Package, recommended on a quarterly basis at minimum, but can also be monthly – email us here. 

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Why do I need a SSL Certificate?

Wondering why you need a SSL Certificate? Heard about SSL Certificates but not sure what it is? Have you noticed that internet browsers now show ‘Not Secure’ beside the URL?

In short, SSL Certificates are now required by google, or you risk having your organic SEO rankings drop.

What’s more SSL Certificates protect (or encrypt) the data that passes between a user’s internet browser and your website server. They are not only essential for e-commerce sites but strongly recommended for all websites.

Brisbane Hosting & Website Design is encouraging all of our clients to get an SSL Certificate installed on their website as a priority. Request a SSL Certificate and installation today.

What is a SSL Certificate?

Simply put, SSL Certificates are small data files that digitally link or authenticate your organisation’s details. Once installed, it enables secure connections from a web server to a browser. Think of it like a padlock being applied to encrypt and protect data exchanges.

Once a SSL Certificate has been installed, visitors to your website will see the URL showing HTTPS, the secure version of HTTP.

A SSL Certificate is connected to your web hosting, but it is an additional charge and requires specific steps to install correctly. See below for two different SSL package options currently available through Brisbane Hosting & Website Design.

What does a SSL Certificate do?

Here are three reasons why you need a SSL Certificate urgently:

  1. Maintain or Improve Your Google Rankings. Google is already ranking secure pages (HTTPS) better than insecure pages (HTTP). If you don’t get a SSL Certificate, expect your organic search rankings to take a hit.
  2. Your website URL will show “NOT SECURE”. Internet browsers such as Chrome and Firefox have already introduced stronger visual cues making it clear which websites don’t have a SSL Certificate. Expect consumers to catch on quickly and only do interact with those sites that are secure.
  3. Data protection. A SSL Certificate encrypts the data passing between your site’s server and a user’s internet browser – and it isn’t limited to credit card details. We’re also talking about all data collected in forms such as street address, phone number, mother’s maiden name, income details or other login details.

According to Sitesell.com over time you can expect your clients and potential customers to become conditioned to only interact with those websites that have a SSL Certificate.

Free SSL Certificates – A Warning

Don’t fall into the trap of opting for a free SSL certificates as these are not acknowledged by all browsers and are usually only temporary.  Even if you can get a Free SSL Certificate, you still need to pay for installation so be wary.

Speak to us today about getting a reliable SSL Certificate installed. A small outlay now will ensure your website continues to perform well and attract new customers because it’s secure.

What types of SSL Certificates are available?

Brisbane Hosting and Website Design offers two different SSL Certificate options:

  1. SSL Certificate for your primary website only
  2. SSL Certificate that covers your primary website PLUS email, subdomains and cpanel.

Both packages include installation. Need to get a SSL Certificate installed? Contact us today via email or call 07 3889 2977.

 

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Australia’s NBN rollout a global embarrassment

Australia’s disastrous roll-out of the high speed National Broadband Network (NBN) has continued to make global headlines in the last 24 hours – including coverage in the New York Times – and for all the wrong reasons.

According to this story on TechGuide, not only does Australia rank well behind the US, Western Europe, Japan and Korea but we also “embarrassingly” fall below countries such as Thailand and Kenya, ranking number 51 on the Akamai ranking of internet speeds. And perhaps most disparagingly, this is despite a $50 billion investment over the last 8 years.

So why have we become the laughing stock of the world – and as the TechGuide writer so aptly put it, a ‘technology backwater’ despite boasting a rich resources market and enviable lifestyle?

What should have been a consistent roll-out of the latest and greatest technology has been chopped and changed more times than one can recall.

The original plans for Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) have been replaced with a mish mash of Fibre to the Node (FTTN) or Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) coupled with existing copper wire infrastructure – and in some areas, now reportedly wireless connections via dedicated NBN towers.

One Australian NBN provider, Telstra has even been forced to start offering existing NBN customers their money back due to unacceptably slow speeds as reported below on Channel 10’s The Project.

So what impact will these continued NBN issues have on small businesses trying to effectively operate in the digital age, and will Australians ultimately get the high speed internet speeds originally promised? Only time will tell.

Click here to read the full story TechGuide or New York Times article here.

 

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Aussies clueless that NBN will be compulsory

Are you one of 6 million Australians who didn’t know it will be mandatory for you to switch to the new NBN network?

According to a new survey from Finder.com.au and a story published on msn.com here, more than one in three Australians (37%) have no plans to switch to the NBN or don’t know what it is.

What is most surprising about the research is that so many people mistakenly believe the NBN is optional, and haven’t twigged to the fact that their existing telephone and internet will be cut off if they don’t make the transition.

In short, the NBN will be the new universal communications infrastructure network, completely replacing the existing copper network that landline telephones and many home broadband connections rely on.

And this changeover is not that far away with the Government imposing a deadline of 2020 for all 11.9 million Australian premises to switch over to the NBN network.

So how come 6 million Aussies could be left in the dark, disconnected? 

Of the 2004 Australians surveyed, 17% said they would not make the switch, while 18% didn’t know what they would do or didn’t understand what the NBN was about.

Even a small percentage of those who did plan to move across to National Broadband Network aren’t in a hurry – claiming they would take 18 to 24 months to make the transition. Little do they realise that their phone and internet would be cut off during this time with telecommunication companies obliged to deactivate existing copper within 18 months of NBN arriving in their area.

Click here to read the full article.

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Data deluge obscuring real cyber threats warns SAS

Australian businesses are drowning in a deluge of cyber security data, causing genuine threats to get lost in a sea of false positives, a top executive at multibillion-dollar business intelligence, analytics and data management firm SAS has warned.

In Melbourne last week to visit Australian clients, SAS cyber security vice-president Stewart Bradley said his company had joined the pantheon of vendors selling security services, as it believed greater use of analytics was required to analyse the unfathomable amount of threat data being generated.

“Organisations have largely tackled the security challenge through many different solutions that solve only small fractions of the problems they face,” Mr Bradley said.

“They have created a patchwork quilt of solutions … now they’re trying to get a better understanding of where their greatest risks are, and need a holistic view.”

Mr Bradley has spearheaded the growth of SAS’ cyber security division since it launched its first cyber security software suite in November last year.

SAS is one of the world’s largest private software firms and dedicates about a quarter of its $4.1 billion of revenue to research and development. It is poised to start offering its cyber security technology in Australia for the first time at the end of the year.

Its technology works by analysing how a machine should behave, thereby more accurately detecting significant security threats, even when the attack uses new security flaws or methods.

SAS will be targeting its Australian financial services clients, including the big banks, which already use SAS’ fraud detection software.

Converging threats

Mr Bradley said that in the past five years the threat to banks had transformed from one where individuals’ accounts were being fraudulently taken over, to mass compromises of user information and the sale of that on the dark web.

“The ecosystem of fraud and cyber has converged over the last five years. Now we’re seeing cyber events … where the ultimate monetisation of the breach is fraud,” he said.

“One of the biggest issues is that the environment is changing so rapidly from an attack perspective. All organisations are struggling to keep up … and the proliferation of bring-your-own-devices and the internet of things is eliminating the perimeter that was around organisations.”

Already the big four banks are said to be spending up to $100 million on cyber security measures each year and late last year Commonwealth Bank of Australia director Harrison Young said there was “approximately no chance that banks or even armies could keep hackers out of their systems”.

Mr Bradley said businesses would always be behind the cyber criminals, but by changing the approach to detecting cyber criminals to one that was less reliant on humans and more driven by computer analytics, it was possible to minimise their head start.

“We’ll always be in a situation where we’re trying to keep up with the cyber criminals. That’s the reality of the game we’re playing,” he said.

“Historically the protection of an organisation’s corporate assets has been focused on building a thicker and wider moat, but that’s no longer valid with the connectedness we have through the internet of things. It is shifting what organisations are doing from protection, to detection and response.”

Sector consolidation

The cyber security sector has become a hot spot for investors in recent times, leading to the creation of numerous players in the space.

Mr Bradley said that in 2015 more than 125 new cyber security vendors entered the market, and he tipped a consolidation of the sector.

“When the older players in the market are developing enterprise security platforms that allow integration across an organisation’s ecosystem, that’s what will drive vendor consolidation,” he said.

“Our role is to be the analytics fabric that can support the integrated security platforms to be able to make sense of the data that is being shared.”

By: Yolanda Redrup

Posted On: http://www.afr.com/technology/web/security/data-deluge-obscuring-real-cyber-threats-warns-sas-20161108-gskham

 

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PayPal users can now use their voice to send cash via Siri

PayPal users can now send money to friends and family using just their voice, after the payment service announced it was to integrate into Apple’s Siri.

Siri is the voice-based virtual assistant embedded into the iPhone, and can be used to set reminders, answer questions and help with tasks.

From Thursday, PayPal said users running iOS 10 on their iPhone will be able to use commands such as “Hey Siri, send John STG25 using PayPal” to transfer money as an alternative to using the official app.

Apple’s software uses voice recognition so only the known owner of the device can use the voice commands.

PayPal’s Meron Colbeci said consumers in 30 countries would be able to use the new service.

“Sending and receiving money from friends and family has long been one of the most popular activities on PayPal. In fact, last year we did $US41 billion in peer-to-peer (P2P) volume across PayPal, Venmo and Xoom,” he said.

“And, with the holidays around the corner, PayPal predicts more than 17 million P2P transactions in the month of December alone.

“With so many P2P transactions happening during such a busy season, we’re excited to give our users an early holiday present: starting November 10, Siri will be integrated with PayPal. For iPhone and iPad users running iOS 10, making a payment has never been easier – PayPal users can now send and request money via a voice command with Siri.”

The use of voice-based assistants is a growing trend in technology, with both Amazon and Google having recently launched speaker hubs which use voice commands to control other smart, connected appliances around the home, while Microsoft also has its own assistant, called Cortana, built into Windows 10.

Posted On: http://www.afr.com/technology/paypal-users-can-now-use-their-voice-to-send-cash-via-siri-20161110-gsmuvh

 

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NBN achieves ‘lightning fast’ speeds in promising lab trial of XG.FAST technology

EMERGING technology that promises to dramatically increase internet speeds over copper wires has been successfully trialled in the lab by the National Broadband Network (NBN), the company said.

NBN co has concluded its trials of high-bandwidth technology known as XG.FAST which commenced last month, claiming to have achieved “lightning fast” peak aggregate speed of 8Gbps over 30m of twisted-pair copper, it said in a statement Tuesday.

The mandated minimum speeds to be provided under the NBN is 25Mbps. According to the latest Akamai State of the Internet Report the average Australian broadband speed currently comes in at 8.5Mbps. As NBN co points out, the XG.FAST trials provide speeds which are 900 times faster than the current national average.

The NBN also said it achieved peak average speeds of 5Gbps over a 70m copper line.

A number of technologists and media commentators have lamented the NBN’s commitment to using Telstra’s ageing copper network (which will eventually need to be replaced) to help build much of the giant infrastructure project, but the company is keen to prove there is plenty of life left in copper with new technology allowing for greater performance.

“Although XG.FAST is still in its very early stages of development the lab trials we have conducted demonstrates the huge potential that the technology offers,” NBN’s chief technology officer Dennis Steiger said in a statement.

“XG.FAST gives us the potential ability to deliver multi-gigabit speeds over copper lines — virtually on a par with what is currently available on Fibre-to-the-Premises — but at a lower cost and time to deploy.

“While our core goal remains to connect eight million premises to the NBN by 2020 we are keeping a close eye on new technologies like XG.FAST to ensure we can meet the future bandwidth demands of Australian broadband users,” he said.

The lab trials were conducted at the NBN headquarters in northern Sydney in conjunction with vendor Nokia.

NBN co is the third operator in the global market to trial the technology, after the UK’s BT last year and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom in February.

SO WHAT IS XG. FAST?

Simply put XG.FAST is the next version of a Nokia-owned technology known as G.Fast which provides a way to send information across the end of a digital subscriber line (DSL) with much greater speeds.

G.Fast is seen by some as the answer to the copper versus fibre debate because it allows copper to be given fibre-like abilities, and is rolled out over the final 30 to 100m of copper wiring.

Chief executive Bill Morrow has always maintained the building of the NBN has been about getting the network to Australians as quickly as possible while ensuring a clear path to upgrade its potential.

During a site trip outside of Brisbane in March, Mr Morrow told news.com.au that with the emergence of new “techniques that are further advanced, that further reduce the cost … then we’ll push the fibre down the street to give people what they need, when they need it.”

The trial of XG.FAST technology is about ensuring he is able to make good on that promise.

The company recently announced it will abandon much of Optus’ cable TV network and instead opt to roll out fibre-to-the-distribution-point (FttDP) for an extra 700,000 premises, meaning fibre will be run closer to the final connection at the home.

While the rollout of XG.FAST in the field is still many years away, such FttDP connections could be the ideal place to start introducing the technology, and ultimately provide Australians with the broadband capabilities we will desperately require in the future.

By: Nick Whingham

Posted On: http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/nbn/nbn-achieves-lightning-fast-speeds-in-promising-lab-trial-of-xgfast-technology/news-story/5db03b8b3581b956322af638574a1652

 

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Here’s How to Keep Your Computer Safe and Secure

I’m sure you’re aware there are hackers and viruses out there looking to wreak havoc and steal your hard-earned money, sensitive data and personal identity. But please don’t let this scare you away from using computers and technology.

Arming yourself with some knowledge and putting some proactive and defensive tools in place can go a long way. So here I share a few ways you can keep your computer safer and more secure.

Don’t call any phone number your computer tells you to.

A common method scammers use to reel you in is to display fake virus alerts on your computer and say you need to call in order to get your computer cleaned, or you need to download or buy some software that can fix it. These are completely false. I know these scammers are good at sounding convincing, but don’t listen to them.

Ignore phone calls out of the blue about your computer.

Another method scammers use to reel in victims is to cold call random people, say they have computer problems, and offer help or point you to someone who can help. Don’t trust anyone who calls out of the blue about your computer, even if they say they’re from Microsoft or some other big organisation. Legitimate companies don’t cold call people like that.

Be cautious of remote computer support.

Not all remote computer support companies are out to steal your money or data, or infect you with viruses, but they may not have qualified technicians either. Even if you don’t think they’re scamming you, ask yourself why you trust them with your computer. Perhaps find a local computer support company with good reviews that you can also see face to face and learn to trust.

Use good antivirus and anti-malware.

Although no one single antivirus or anti-malware program can catch or fix all the viruses and malware out there, you should still use one that’s proven to be good. I suggest Bitdefender Internet Security (www.bitdefender.com) and Malwarebytes Antimalware (www.malwarebytes.com).

Don’t use unsolicited cleaners or boosters.

There are many PC cleaners and boosters out there, but many don’t help that much, and especially aren’t worth paying for. If you have these types of programs on your computer and you don’t remember installing them, I suggest not using them unless you’re certain they’re legitimate. If you’d like to check out a legitimate cleaner, try the free edition of Glary Utilities (www.glarysoft.com) or CCleaner (www.piriform.com).

Back up your important documents and photos.

Just in case your computer becomes infected or it crashes, I suggest backing up anything you don’t want to lose. Though we can sometimes recover files after an incident, sometimes it’s just not possible or feasible. Backing up to an external hard drive or flash drive is a start, but you might want to consider paying for online backup, like CrashPlan (www.crashplan.com), so your data is safe even if there’s a fire or other physical disaster.

Use content filtering if you have children around.

The internet has tons of useful information and then has tons of worthless information and inappropriate content as well. Children can even stumble upon this when they aren’t looking for it, so it’s a big idea to be proactive. Though content filtering can’t block all inappropriate content, it can certainly help. I suggest using OpenDNS (www.opendns.com) along with adult supervision.

Eric Geier is the owner of On Spot Techs, which provides on-site computer repair and IT services at homes and businesses in the Dayton area. This article first appeared in The Dayton Daily News.

The New York Times

By: Eric Geier

Posted on: http://www.afr.com/technology/web/security/heres-how-to-keep-your-computer-safe-and-secure-20160927-grpxp9

 

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NBN Co Revenue Jumps as National Broadband Network Users Rise

The company in charge of rolling out the national broadband network says it is well on track towards its long term goals after adding about 338,000 new homes and businesses to the system in the September quarter.

Most of the growth came on the back of a lift in the number of Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) connections.

The fast-to-implement technology, introduced in September 2015 despite criticism of its relative performance, is currently helping drive overall footprint expansion, NBN Co said.

The federal government-owned NBN reached 3.2 million premises by September 30.

Chief executive Bill Morrow said that number had now reached 3.4 million, representing nearly 30 per cent of the company’s overall 2020 target.

“This quarter’s result is further evidence that we are on track to achieve our long term targets,” he said over a conference call on Tuesday.

The corporation earned revenue of $181 million for the three months to September, more than double from a year ago, driven by a jump in active end- users.

Active users rose to 1.38 million at September-end, chief financial officer Stephen Rue said, compared to about 611,000 a year ago.

The user base rose more than 25 per cent in the three-month period, he said.

Average revenue per user – a key figure for the telecommunications industry – was steady at $43 a month over the year.

NBN incurred $1.48 billion in capital expenditure during the September quarter.

“We are adding more than 100,000 homes and businesses to NBN every month and I expect this number will only increase,” Mr Morrow said.

NBN said in September it would implement the new fibre-to-the-distribution-point (FTTdp) technology for 700,000 homes and businesses, as this would be cheaper than using the legacy Optus cable network.

About 400,000 of theses sites had been slated to get the more expensive HFC connections.

Posted on: http://www.afr.com/technology/web/nbn/nbn-co-revenue-jumps-as-national-broadband-network-users-rise-20161108-gskv3f

 

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