Introduction to Intrusion Detection

Types of IDS's, overview and usage of the Snort IDS, Snort modes and various run options.

Network Ninjas

Hosted Server and Infrastructure

Hosted Server and Infrastructure

Outsource your Infrastructure

Take your server to the cloud and reclaim your office space while eliminating management and hardware expenses.

Everybody has heard of ‘the cloud,’ but many businesses are unaware of the many benefits that cloud hosting can offer small and medium-sized businesses.

Hosted Desktop

Virtualize your Desktop

Let Network Ninjas host your desktop environments from our datacenter and help take the worry out of your IT.

With Network Ninjas Hosted Desktop, your entire office can be virtualized, granting your employees access anywhere to their desktop and applications.  By centralizing your desktop environment, you can access your files and programs from anywhere on virtually any device with a web browser, and the cost of management and support is minimized.

IT Vendor Management - Funnel Your IT Support

Stop Dealing with Third-Party Support

Manage your business relationships, not your hardware and software vendors.

Get better, faster support through a single point of contact.

Ever deal with a computer issue for days because you don’t want to make the commitment to spend hours on the phone with the manufacturer’s support?  We understand completely.  Third-party technical support can run you around in circles before getting anywhere when you really need things to be back up and running so your staff can operate normally.

Cloud IT Solutions - Hosted Technology Solutions

Cloud Solutions - Welcome to the Cloud

Cloud IT is the future of small and medium business technology management that greatly reduces the cost of setup and  IT management overhead, letting you focus on your business and not your IT.

Imagine being able to expand your company's capabilities without needing to purchase expensive hardware or worry about running and maintaining it in your office.  With the cloud, it is possible to get the benefits of a secure, expertly managed data center without the costs required to purchase and run your own equipment.

Managed IT Services for Small and Medium-sized Businesses

Proactive Maintenance Plan

Reduce downtime, increase profitability, and make your technology work for you.

Network Ninjas is dedicated to keeping your technology investment up and running smoothly so you can focus on your business.  You can relax knowing our partnership with your organization means we take your IT personally, and strive to keep your staff productive with the tools they need to drive your business forward.
Change the way you think about IT with Network Ninjas.

Network Security - Network Monitoring and Proactive Maintenance

Protect your Business Inside and Out

How Secure is your Network?
Are you at risk?
It's time to get proactive.

The Internet offers significant benefits to small and medium-sized businesses, but with it comes many potent security issues.  From Malware to Data Theft, layering protection into your current IT infrastructure is becoming more and more important every day.  We can help you by reviewing your company's needs and finding a solution that works best for your business.

Server Care - 24/7 Managed Monitoring and Maintenance

Proactive Managed Server Support

Flat-rate, fully-managed, 24/7/365 Server monitoring, maintenance, and remediation

Get comprehensive support that includes remote & on-site server remediation services at a flat monthly rate, meaning there are no 'per-incident' charges. We utilize proactive maintenance in order to prevent downtime before it affects your bottom line.
Let us give you peace of mind knowing your servers are being watched 24/7/365.

Desktop & User Care -  IT Support for your Staff

All-You-Can-Eat Helpdesk Support

End-users are human.

Shouldn't their IT support be too?

Your end-users' time is best spent working for your organization, not managing IT issues. We make it simple by offering fast and reliable 24x7x365 support for your users, as well as Proactive Desktop Remote Management and Maintenance for your workstations.
Now your end-users don't need to worry about racking up bills whenever they need support.

Data Backup & Disaster Recovery - Bullet-proof Data Protection

Network Backup and Business Continuity

Is your data secure?  Would it survive a disaster?
Can you afford to take a chance?

Any seasoned computer technician will tell you, there are two types of hard drives - those that have failed and those that will fail.  The only question is when.  With Network Ninjas Backup & Disaster Recovery, you can have peace of mind knowing all of your data is continuously archived, redundant, and ready to restore at a moment's notice, even after a major disaster.

Web Filtering & Firewall - Enterprise-level Security

Improve Productivity with Content Filtering

Protect your employees and network by preventing questionable and unsafe content.

Block inappropriate website content from your employees effectively without keeping your staff from the sites and services they need.  With Network Ninjas cost-effective Content Filtering Solutions, you can have precise control over the sites your users can go to to keep productivity up and promote a safe, appropriate work environment without bogging down user workstations.

Mobile Office - Stay Connected from Anywhere in the World

Your Business at Your Fingertips

On the road, out of town, or at the beach;

Stay connected to your business at all times

In today's world, running a business is more than a full time job.  Fortunately, the technology exists so you can stay connected with your business no matter where you are.  From mobile smartphones to remote access, there is a wide range of capabilities you can take advantage of, and even give your staff the luxury of as well.  Today, it's more cost effective than ever.

Spam Protection - Regain Control over your Inbox

How Much does Spam Cost Your Company?

You'd be surprised how much time is lost company-wide for junk mail.  Reclaim your Inbox today

According to a recent study, 78% of all email sent is classified as spam.  Other reports have claimed that US companies lose $712 per employee each year due to spam email despite the software spam filters that come with most email clients.  Ask yourself if you'd like to continue sifting through spam and let junk email clog up your inbox and exchange server.

VoIP – Voice over IP Phone System Solutions

Expect More from Your Phone System

Simple, Flexible, and Cost Effective;

VoIP is the future of voice communications for businesses.

You’ve probably heard about VoIP – voice communication that transmits over the Internet. VoIP can save 30% to 50% compared to traditional phone bills, and empowers your business to go far beyond the restraints of a typical phone system solution. Network Ninjas can evaluate your needs and pair the best-fit VoIP solution for your small business. Our solutions are scaleable to accommodate your company’s growth.

Printer Management for Businesses

Stop Losing Money on Your Printers

Reduce your printing cost, increase your efficiency, improve your document security, and reduce your carbon footprint

Do you know the total cost of printing in your organization? Do you have the experience and knowledge to control your print spending? Network Ninjas dedicated printer management will help reduce your printing cost .

NSA’s Denial to its Own Secret Documents

Compare the NSA’s Facebook Malware Denial to its Own Secret Documents

A top-secret NSA presentation reveals how the agency used Facebook to hack into targeted computers for surveillance.

On Wednesday, Glenn Greenwald and I revealed new details about the National Security Agency’s efforts to radically expand its ability to hack into computers and networks across the world. The story has received a lot of attention, and one detail in particular has sparked controversy: specifically, that the NSA secretly pretended to be a Facebook server in order to covertly infect targets with malware “implants” used for surveillance.

This revelation apparently infuriated Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg so much that he got on the phone to President Barack Obama to complain about it. “I’ve been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behavior of the US government,” Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post Thursday. “When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government.”

That wasn’t all. Wired ran a piece saying that the NSA’s widespread use of its malware tools “acts as implicit permission to others, both nation-state and criminal.” Slate noted that the NSA’s hacking platform appears to be “becoming a bit more like the un-targeted dragnets everyone has been so upset about.” Meanwhile, Ars Technica wrote that the surveillance technology we exposed “poses a risk to the entire Internet.”

In response, the NSA has attempted to quell the backlash by putting out a public statement dismissing what it called “inaccurate” media reports. The agency denied that it was “impersonating U.S. social media or other websites” and said that it had not “infected millions of computers around the world with malware.” The statement follows a trend that has repeatedly been seen in the aftermath of major disclosures from documents turned over by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, in which the NSA or one of its implicated allies issues a carefully worded non-denial denial that on the face of it seems to refute an allegation but on closer inspection does not refute it at all.

Prior to publishing our story, we asked the NSA to explain its use of Facebook to deploy malware as part of a top-secret initiative codenamed QUANTUMHAND. The NSA declined to answer all of our questions or offer context for the documents. We went into meticulous detail in our report, which went through a rigorous fact-checking process because of the gravity of the revelations. What we reported, accurately, was that the Snowden files showed how the agency had in some cases “masqueraded as a fake Facebook server, using the social media site as a launching pad to infect a target’s computer and exfiltrate files from a hard drive.” The source for that detail was not plucked from thin air; it was rooted in multiple documents that refer to the technique in action, including the internal NSA animation that we published.

A particular short excerpt from one of the classified documents, however, has taken on new significance due to the NSA’s statement. The excerpt is worth drawing attention to here because of the clarity of the language it uses about the Facebook tactic and the light it shines on the NSA’s denial. Referencing the NSA’s Quantum malware initiative, the document, dated April 2011, explains how the NSA “pretends” to be Facebook servers to deploy its surveillance “implants” on target’s computers:

It is difficult to square the NSA secretly saying that it “pretends to be the Facebook server” while publicly claiming that it “does not use its technical capabilities to impersonate U.S. company websites.” Is the agency making a devious and unstated distinction in its denial between “websites” and “servers”? Was it deliberate that the agency used the present tense “does not” in its denial as opposed to the past tense “did not”? Has the Facebook QUANTUMHAND technique been shut down since our report? Either way, the language used in the NSA’s public statement seems highly misleading – which is why several tech writers have rightly treated it with skepticism.

The same is true of the NSA’s denial that it has not “infected millions of computers around the world with malware” as part of its hacking efforts. Our report never actually accused the NSA of having achieved that milestone. Again, we reported exactly what the NSA’s own documents say: that the NSA is working to “aggressively scale” its computer hacking missions and has built a system called TURBINE that it explicitly states will “allow the current implant network to scale to large size (millions of implants).” Only a decade ago, the number of implants deployed by the NSA was in the hundreds, according to the Snowden files. But the agency now reportedly manages a network of between 85,000 and 100,000 implants in computers systems worldwide – and, if TURBINE’s capabilities and the NSA’s own documents are anything to go by, it is intent on substantially increasing those numbers.

The rapid proliferation of these hacking techniques in the past decade, under cover of intense secrecy, is extraordinary and unprecedented. The NSA insists in its denial that its hacking efforts are not “indiscriminate.” Yet how the agency defines “indiscriminate” in this context remains unclear. The Intercept asked the NSA to clarify some of these issues for this post. Does the agency deny that it has used the QUANTUMHAND method to pretend to be a Facebook server in order to deploy malware implants? How does the NSA distinguish “indiscriminate” from “discriminate”? In what specific legal, policy, and operational context does the implants system function? The agency declined to answer all of these questions. Instead, spokeswoman Vanee’ Vines said that the NSA stood by its original statement, adding only that “unauthorized and selective publication” of the documents “may lead to incorrect assumptions.”

The NSA’s outgoing chief has claimed that the agency supports increased transparency in the wake of the Snowden leaks – but its response to the latest disclosures illustrates that it is failing to live up to that commitment. If the NSA truly wants to gain citizens’ trust, it should rethink its slippery public relations strategy. A good first step would be to stop issuing dubious denials that seem to sit so starkly at odds with what its officials were saying in secret when they thought nobody would ever learn about what they were doing.

By Ryan Gallagher15 Mar 2014