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January 11, 2018 – As many of you know, there has been a large issue discovered which affects virtually all modern processors.   The exploits which can take advantage of this are called Spectre and Meltdown.  The details and scope of Spectre and Meltdown are outside the scope of this update, but if you would like more information on them, you can read it here: Spectre and Meltdown Explained

The fix for these issues is applied at the operating system level.  Microsoft, Apple, and Linux have all developed fixes and those are currently being deployed.   However, the fix which Microsoft has developed affects some third-party antivirus products.  To make sure that your currently installed antivirus is compatible, Microsoft has developed a registry key which must be set before your system will resume Windows updates (any future update – not just Spectre and Meltdown – because all Microsoft updates are now cumalative).

Network Solutions, Inc. is currently using Bit Defender, Trend Micro, and Panda Antivirus for our customers.  In the past, we’ve also used Vipre.  We wanted to share the impact of these updates on these products for our customers.

Bit Defender  – This is provided to our MSP clients.  Currently, this antivirus solution is still undergoing testing.  However, if you are currently an MSP customer,  no action will be required on your part as our technicians and patching solution will take care of everything.

Trend Micro – The majority of our customers (home and business) are currently using this solution.  Currently, Trend Micro has stated that their software IS compatible with the patches provided by Microsoft.  However, they have not yet automatically added the registry key necessary for these patches to be automatically deployed to all of their products.  Most of our business customers currently use Worry-Free Business Security Services which has NOT yet automatically deployed the registry key for updates.  Our consumer or standalone version of Trend Micro is Trend Micro Internet Security.  We have tested the product in-house and determined that it *does* deploy the registry key and therefore will allow Microsoft patches to be received.  Their official statement can be read here:  Trend Micro Security Update

Panda Antivirus – Some customers have opted to stay with Panda Antivirus and we do fully support this.  Panda has stated that all of their products currently automatically add the registry key when updated so Microsoft patches will continue normally without user action (as long as the antivirus is up-to-date). Read their statement here:  Panda Advisory

Vipre Antivirus – This is a legacy solution which we are no longer actively selling.  Currently, Vipre is still in testing for some of their products but have deemed most compatible.  They have stated that once a product is determined to be compatible, they will automatically set the registry key.  Their full statement can be found here:  Vipre Blog

If you have any questions or concerns about your antivirus or system updates, please contact us at support@internetpro.net or call 256-547-6817.

Our office will be closed from 12:00pm to 2:00pm on Friday December 15, 2017 for our staff Christmas party.  Calls will be routed to voicemail during this time but will be returned immediately after the office reopens.  The front office will be closed to walk-in traffic.   We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

November 6, 2017 – 12:00pm – We are experiencing some issues with our phone system.  Calls are coming in, but communication is very rough.  We have traced the problem down to an issue between Comcast’s network and that of our SIP provider (phone provider).   The issue is about 10 hops away on the internet and is nothing happening locally.   We have made the phone provider aware of the problem and they are looking into a solution.   In the mean time, you may be better served by emailing support@internetpro.net rather than calling our office.  As always, we will continue to post updates here as we get more information.

Update 12:45pm – This issue is affecting a lot of the internet, so many sites/services are not working.   It seems to be a larger Comcast issue.

Update 2:00pm – It looks like all connectivity issues have been resolved.

October 17, 2017 – 12:30am  – Comcast is experiencing an outage at the edge of their network in the Atlanta, Ga area.  Internet traffic from Gadsden is routed through this area when going to sites outside of Comcast’s network (including visiting this site).  As a result, our websites, email, and other services are currently unavailable for Gadsden area Comcast customers.   This is a Comcast issue, and they are aware of the problem.   Currently, the estimated time to repair is 3:00am.

Update –  1:05am – The Comcast issues seems to have been resolved.  Traffic from the Gadsden area is now able to reach our network.

October 16, 2017 – A new vulnerability in the modern Wi-Fi encryption protocol WPA2 has been found.  This security vulnerability basically affects ALL Wi-Fi installations and implementations.  The issue is with the WPA2 protocol itself.   The announcement was just made this morning and some manufacturers have already release firmware updates.  However, many routers and access points will probably NOT be updated at all resulting in an unpatched vulnerability on affected networks.  This is a very serious issue and makes it almost trivial to view unencrypted data on a Wi-Fi network.  There is a published attack called KRACK which exploits this vulnerability.

Network Solutions, Inc. will be reaching out to our customers with the most sensitive data (medical offices, accounting, legal, etc.) to make sure they are informed about this issue.   Right now, the only solution for many networks is to disable Wi-Fi access completely.   This will change as more manufacturers make patches available.  If the equipment in an office is something that will remain unpatched, the only other solution will be equipment replacement.    We will NOT be contacting residential customers about this issue for logistical reasons, but will do our best to get the word our through this web page and social media.

For more information about this serious flaw in WPA2, please visit this link.  The KRACK attack is outlined on this website.

Update:  Here is a link with a list of vendors who have released a fix for this issue:   https://www.windowscentral.com/vendors-who-have-patched-krack-wpa2-wi-fi-vulnerability

If you have any questions or concerns or would like to contact us about upgrading/patching your network, please contact us at 256-547-6817 or email support@internetpro.net.

September 12, 2017 – 11:30am – We are in the process of improving internet bandwidth for our datacenter. This process may result in some interrupted connections briefly while IPs migrate to a new circuit. This should be almost unnoticeable. However, if there are large downloads in process, they may be stopped. We do apologize for any inconvenience, but in minutes our service will have much more capacity.

12:00pm  – Migration is complete and tested.   Total time of interruption was about 10-15 seconds.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email support@internetpro.net or call 256-547-6817.

August 15, 2017 – 1:15pm – We’ve had a failure with one of our web servers which is affecting some customer sites.  We are working on the issue, but some sites are currently unavailable.   We will post updates here as soon as we have more information.   If you have any questions, please email us at support@internetpro.net.

1:43pm – Service has been restored.  We do apologize, but this outage was due to an administrative error.  I’m not going to call any names, but he’s not writing this post.  Just saying.

June 26, 2017 – We will be performing a planned maintenance of our mail system on July 5th starting at 12:00pm.  We do understand that this is outside our normal maintenance window, but due to the way the upgrade is being performed, the downtime will only be two instances of 10 minutes or less.  Due to the nature of this upgrade, we are working with a support company to insure a smooth transition and that company does have limited availability.

The maintenance we will be performing is a major update to the operating system which will allow us to improve performance and security.  Users will see improved spam detection as well.   No email will be lost during this planned maintenance, although there will be two windows of time (expected to be less than 10 minutes each) where your mailbox and webmail will be unavailable.  We expect these two windows to be about an hour apart with the first one coming around noon and the second around 1:00pm CDT.  We do apologize for this inconvenience.   We will be posting updates here as the upgrade proceeds on the 5th of July, so check back here to get the latest status updates.

Update – July 4, 2017 –  The maintenance for July 5th has been put ON HOLD due to the long uptime of our systems and due other technical issues uncovered during the preparation for the work.  We will be performing additional maintenance (filesystem check) which will require <10 minute downtime.

Update – July 4, 2017 – The filesystem check has been completed and the other technical issues have been cleared.  We *may* be able to continue as scheduled originally, but we are waiting on word from the company we are working with.

Update – July 5, 2017 11:55am – We are going to be slightly delayed on the start of the upgrade.  We will be doing the first part starting at 1:00pm instead of 12:00pm as previously scheduled.  Phase two will be approximately 1 to 1.5 hours later.  We’ll be posting announcements here.

Update – 1:45pm – The first phase of the updates is complete.  We’ll be restarting services at approximately 3:00pm at which time service will be interrupted for a few minutes.

Update – 3:00pm – The restart has started.  Services will be down for a few minutes.

Update – 3:15pm – The upgrade did not run as planned.   Services are back up and running.   We are going to be making another attempt at about 4:00pm and we will continue to post updates here.

Update – 3:30pm – After some miscommunication, it seems that we made another attempt a little early.  Services are up and running at this time and the upgrade is proceeding correctly now.  We should experience one more short interruption and expect that to happen within the next hour.

Update – 3:38pm – SMTP port 465 is down at the moment.  We do *strongly* recommend the use of port 587 with TLS encryption instead of port 465.  If your email client will support that, please change your settings.  If you need help, please contact us.   If your email client will NOT support 587, then your outgoing SMTP service will be down for the duration of the upgrade. Please use webmail at https://webmail.internetpro.net if you need to send out an email.

Update – 3:56pm – SMTP port 465 has been restored.

Update – 4:37pm – Services are going down for an expected less than 10 minute downtime.  Once they are back online, the upgrade process should be complete.

Update – 4:46pm – Services have been restored.  We do not expect any more interruptions.

Update – 4:55pm – SMTP port 465 is down again.  We are working on resolving that.  In the meantime, webmail is available at https://webmail.internetpro.net or if your email client supports  port 587 TLS encryption, please change to that.

Update – 5:13pm – SMTP on port 465 has been restored.  At this time, we believe all services are operational, but we are continuing to test.

Update – 5:30pm – The upgrade has been completed. If you see any additional issues, please contact us at the email or phone number below.

If you have any questions regarding this upgrade, please email us at support@internetpro.net or call 256-547-6817.

June 2, 2017 – We’re having sporadic phone issues today.  Our system utilizes VOIP (voice over internet protocol) and our upstream connection (not related to hosting) is dropping our calls sometimes.   We are working with our provider to determine the issue.  If you receive a voicemail message immediately upon calling us,  please leave a message and we will return it promptly.  The issues are only lasting 5-10 minutes at a time, but many tech support and other calls are being interrupted when it happens.   We will post updates here as we get them.

Update 11:00am – Comcast has informed us that the signal strength going to our cable modem which is connected to the phone system is very low.  They are sending out a truck between 1:00 and 3:00pm to fix the issue.   Normally, we do have a redundant connection on our phone system, but we loaned out the equipment to help with the storms from last week.   We apologize for being nice. 🙂

Update 3:30pm – Comcast has come by and put an amplifier on our line.  Right now, it seems like everything is working OK.   We’ll keep an eye on things and if we have additional problems, we’ll post them here.