According to a recent Reuters report, the US will be banning the sale of Kasperkey software due to its ties with Russia. So from the 24th July in the US, business and consumers will no longer be able to purchase Kaspersky products.
This decision follows a two year probe by the Department of Commerce, based on concerns that Kaspersky Anitvirus has links to Russian intelligence operations. It also follows a 2017 recommendation from the UK National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), that warned against using Kaspersky products for systems relating to National Security. [“More must reconsider Russian antivirus software use, UK warns – BBC 2022]
So as Germany’s cybersecurity authority the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), also issued a similar statement back in 2022. [Germanys Cyber Authority tell public to stop using Kaspersky Antivirus – PC Pro 2022] If you use any Kaspersky products, maybe now is a good time to uninstall them, and replace them with something else.
A good alternative that will not use a lot of system resources is Eset’s NOD32 Antivirus. However, as Microsoft Defender Antivirus, is free and is included with Windows 10 and 11. You might be best advised to uninstall Kaspersky, and revert to Microsoft Defender until you find something better.
Update your Asus Router
Staying on the topic of security. It was reported by Ars technica, that high severity vulnerabilities currently affect a wide range of Asus router models. So while these vulnerabilities have been patched by Asus. You do need to double check that your Asus router is up to date.
However while Asus have provided patches for a large number of their line of routers. They have not offered patches to every model of router they have ever produced. So if you own an older model of Asus router. You may need to consider replacing it with a new one.
Our current projects
Currently we are still working on optimising our website. However, this is proving harder than we first thought. As we use WordPress, there are a lot of optimisation plugins we can use. However so far each one we have tried has either been too complicated to use, or in some cases actually broke our website.
So we are trying a plug in called Hummingbird, which seems easy enough to use, while giving us the performance boosts we need for Search Engine Optimisation. The only problem is that we have to slow implement the settings, then wait and see what impact it has on the site. So this may be a long process. Especially when it comes to minifying CSS and java scripts.
While still at the script writing stage, the next video in our Synology NAS series, will be looking at making our Synology NAS secure. Something that is very important if you intent to make your NAS accessible over the internet.
However we currently are not sure how long this video will be. So if this video looks like it will be longer than 20 minutes. We may look to make supplementary videos that you watch independently to keep run times down.
We also recorded footage for a video, where we look at how you turn a Synology router into an Apple Time Capsule. So we are currently tweaking that script, and will hopefully start voice recording at the end of the month.
Early Access content
Sorry this update is so late. It turns out that I have had a bout of Novo Virus. So as I still have not recovered and am only able to concentrate for short periods of time. This month’s schedule is very much in doubt.
So rather than over promise and then under deliver. I have decided to concentrate on releasing three short videos to Early Access, which look at how you access network shares from various operating systems.
This months video releases
If you have a Asus router that needs to be replaced, then it might be worth taking a look at one of the models of routers produced by Synology. Not only are Synology routers relatively easy to setup. They often contain features that are not included with other makes of consumer router.
For example a prerequisite for any modern router should be the ability to create isolated networks. The main premise being that by having isolated networks. You can protect specific devices on your network from other wireless devices that might be less secure. For example you should keep your computers isolated from Internet of Things devices like security cameras, as they may be easily hacked.
So because this is something that can be done on most models of Synology router. This month we will be releasing a video demonstrating how you create an isolated network. Then for the second video this month we will be releasing a video that takes a look at 10 terminal commands. While these commands mostly provide diagnostic information. These commands can be useful, and will allow you to safely practice with SSH.
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