Summer Edition 2008 In this issue   ►Greetings   ►The Authentication Factor ►Business Interruption Planning ►Sit Up Straight   ►Sage 25 Challenge Winner Wesley Community – SAGE 25 Challenge June 2, 2008 I am exceptionally pleased to have the opportunity to share the impact that Sage Computer Associates has had on our organization. I am a corporate officer with the Wesley Community in Saratoga Springs. We are a six corporation long term care community, housing over 600 senior citizens on our campus on any given day. We also are the employer of choice for over 600 staff members. As our organization continues to evolve, we find ourselves increasingly reliant on IT services. That being said, several years ago, we found ourselves in a desperate IT situation. Our entire IT knowledge base was encapsulated with one individual. When our corporation lost this individual, we were instantaneously without anyone to operate our IT systems. As a result, we found ourselves with disjointed systems, low user confidence, a narrow strategic vision and no clear path for the growth necessary in this critical arena. We were at a complete competitive disadvantage. We clearly needed direction and FAST! With one phone call from our CEO to Jeff Cohn, this was immediately remedied! Jeff and his exceptionally capable team, came in, set up shop and took over our IT operations. The Sage Team first and foremost safeguarded our current assets and valuable patient information. Next, they evaluated our hardware and software, created schematics and immediately put an operational team in place to function in our Facility on a day to day basis. Once the immediate crisis was under control, Sage assisted us in creating a Strategic Plan and Vision and assisted us in not only finding but also hiring our Current IT Director. He has been a fantastic fit for us and we are truly lucky to have him. It doesn’t stop there though! Sage Computer Associates continues to have a very large presence on our campus. They provide assistance from a server, hardware and overall maintenance perspective. They assist us in buying new equipment, updating our software and also implementing it. They continually look for the best pricing structure and always keep our bottom line in mind with regard to their suggestions. In handling all of these tasks, we are able to save a great deal of money in that we don’t have five or six specialists on staff. . .  i.e. hardware, software, programming, etc. We are able to rely on Sage for all of these things as they are needed. Read more 1 Computer Drive South Albany, NY 12205 518-458-9300 info@sagecomputer.com www.sagecomputer.com

Greetings, Welcome to the late Summer edition of our Making Business Smarter E-Newsletter! Has it been wet enough for you this summer? Even with near record rainfall, none of our clients has reported a water related disaster this year. We hope the rest of the summer will give us sunshine and warm weather, with just enough rain. The other big news this month is the Olympics. We had our own events and have chosen the winners for the SAGE 25 Challenge. First, we want to thank all of the participants for taking the time to remind us how good our employees are. We are especially proud that all the members of our current technical staff were singled out for special mention by the clients who described outstanding service provided by SAGE. The winners in the three categories are: (1) SAGE staff going way beyond expectations: Wesley Community (2) The implemented solution greatly increased client productivity: Scotia Glenville Family Medicine (3) SAGE pulled our company chestnuts out of the fire (or flood): T. M. Byxbee (4) And, a special award for the SAGE employee who exceeds your expectations: Bill Morrissey Some of the entries were humorous and many others reminded us how important our service can be when the chips are down. See the sidebar for the winning entry in the “SAGE staff going way beyond expectations” category. Again, THANK YOU to all of you who took the time to prepare an entry. You will hear from us in early September about a SAGE 25 Challenge luncheon. Finally, we want to keep you up-to-date on the latest security issues affecting your technology assets. In August one of our client’s web sites was hacked. The hacker uses a technique called “SQL Injection” to gain access to the web database and server. Visitors to the site were redirected to a site in Russia which attempted to load a particularly nasty virus on your computer. It took many hours to clean up the problem and prevent its recurrence. We don’t develop web sites or databases, but we do know how to find the problems and fix them. Enjoy the rest of the summer. The Authentication Factor Jason Appel CISSP, CCSP, CSSA, INFOSEC, MCSE Security Practice Manager SAGE Computer Associates Inc. SAGECareSecurity@SAGEComputer.com With the increasing sophistication of malware and other security threats, it has been obvious for a while that the standard “locks” we are using to secure our information may not be up to the task. The venerable “username and password” combination is generally used for everything from securing firewalls to stop intruders; to locking down our servers to secure our files; to logging into websites to do our banking. Since these passwords are the keys to the kingdom, they have been the targets of innumerable hacks, trojans, worms and keyloggers. There are, reasonable and secure alternatives. Passwords are considered to be a single factor authentication mechanism, something that you know, to prove you are who you say you are. The problem with this is that others may find out that password, and then have your access. A much more secure authentication scheme is to use two factor authentication (or multi-factor authentication): something you know + something you have or something you are, or another something you know. Read more Business Interruption Planning Not Just for Big Business: 10 misconceptions about disaster recovery Paul Sullivan has seen it all. A 25-year veteran of disaster recovery and business continuity management, Sullivan witnessed the growth of continuity planning among the Fortune 1000 in the 1980s. He watched, first hand, the successes and failures of business continuity plans following the events of September 11, 2001 and in 2005 throughout the most active hurricane season in recorded history. Today, Sullivan is helping small and medium-sized companies plan for and recover after significant business interruptions. “Continuity planning has always been associated with big business,” said Sullivan, Vice President and General Manager, Agility Recovery Solutions. “We’re using the same knowledge, strategies and tactics we developed with the Fortune 1000 and implementing them among small and medium-sized businesses across North America.” Agility Recovery Solutions, a former division of General Electric, focuses planning and recovery efforts on small and medium-sized businesses, though the company continues to do work with giants such as IBM and HP. Why Business Continuity? Why now? Sit Up Straight and Keep Your Wrists in Neutral By Monte Enbysk Reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center Ergonomics is not a four-letter word — even though many business owners may think otherwise. That's because when business people hear the word ergonomics, they immediately think of dollar signs — as in what it will cost to outfit employee workstations with new setups to prevent sometimes crippling injuries. But the money needed may be minimal, and your employees' health should be the overriding concern, says Dan Eisman, vice president of marketing and product development for HealthyComputing.com, an ergonomics consultant. Painless simple adjustments to a computing environment, such as getting a better chair or raising a monitor, may cost little but makes a huge difference in injuries and employee absences. Read more