Paradigm Consulting Co., a leading provider of information technology and security services, is seeking an Information Systems Technician – Level I. Duties include working as part of a team to provide technical support to a diverse range of clients with Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.

Associate in Info Tech or equivalent experience required. A+, Network+, Security+, MCSA, MCSE, or GIAC certs (GSEC) desirable.

Strong customer service skills and outstanding written and verbal communications skills are a must. If you love providing end-users with the solutions to their technical problems, this may be the job for you. This job can be fast-paced, so applicants must be able to very quickly adapt to new situations and learn new skills. Applicants must be able to very quickly adapt to new circumstances and surroundings, to provide quick responses to client issues. As part of a small company, you’ll be expected to work closely as part of a strong team, so prepare to exercise and develop those mental muscles!

Local travel within central Vermont required. Occasional overtime/after hours work required.

Paradigm Consulting Co., a leading provider of information technology and security services, is seeking an Information Systems Technician – Level I. Duties include working as part of a team to provide technical support to a diverse range of clients with Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.

Associate in Info Tech or equivalent experience required. A+, Network+, Security+, MCSA, MCSE, or GIAC certs (GSEC) desirable.

Strong customer service skills and outstanding written and verbal communications skills are a must. If you love providing end-users with the solutions to their technical problems, this may be the job for you. This job can be fast-paced – applicants must be able to very quickly adapt to new situations and learn new skills. Applicants must be able to very quickly adapt to new circumstances and surroundings, to provide quick responses to client issues. As part of a small company, applicants will be expected to pull their own weight and then some, so prepare to exercise and develop those mental muscles!

Local travel within central Vermont required. Occasional overtime/after hours work required.

According to the Internet Crime Complain Center, fraud involving online banking credentials of small businesses continues to increase. From this November 3 article, they write

“…the attack vector is a “spear phishing” e-mail which contains either an infected file or a link to an infectious Web site. The… recipient is … a person … who can initiate funds transfers on behalf of the business… Once the user opens the attachment, or navigates to the Web site, malware is installed on the user’s computer…, which harvests the user’s corporate online banking credentials. Shortly thereafter, the subject either creates another user account from the stolen credentials or directly initiates a funds transfer masquerading as a legitimate user.

More than ever, anyone doing any sort of online banking needs to be very certain of the security of their computer, network, and the server on the other end of the transaction. Sadly, my personal experience has shown that most people banking online don’t know the first thing about online security, or are concerned for the wrong reasons.

My recommendation is that if you must do online banking, have a computer dedicated to this task. (I usually lose people around here, but bear with me.) The problem is that today some malware can be so insidious that it can remain undetected for long periods of time. A solution is to take an old computer, put a light Linux distribution onto it, and use Firefox or another alternative web browser instead of Internet Explorer on Windows. Readers of my personal blog may think that I am starting to sway toward this becoming a rant, but my recommendation is purely pragmatic. Linux and alternative browsers pose a much smaller attack vector, and, without getting into a religious Windows vs. open source debate, as a result they are more secure.

Think carefully the next time you log on to your bank or credit union account online and ask yourself “If a hacker got access to this account and drained all of the funds available, what would I do?” Is mitigating this risk by recycling an old computer with some free software worth the additional protection that this would afford? My answer is “absolutely.”

Welcome to Paradigm Consulting Company’s official blog. This blog’s target audience will be current and (hopefully) future clients of Paradigm, mostly small and medium-sized businesses throughout New England, but we offer our services to clients as far away as Florida and California.

We hope that this blog will provide you with useful information to help you make the most of your information technology investment. We will periodically review software and hardware, discuss relevant issues that pertain to our target market, and offer tips and tricks for end-users to help keep their systems more secure and running smoothly.

We hope you find something useful here, and if you do, please spread the word.

Peter Nikolaidis, President
Paradigm Consulting Co.