Archive for the ‘Security’ Category

Creating groups for email lists within Google Applications

Sunday, March 30th, 2014

Creating groups in Google Applications can create a group for documentation collaboration and email. Creating a group for email means that the members will not be visible to the recipients

  • Log into your Google Applications account using an Administrator account.
  • With the new Dashboard find the Groups – “Manage groups of users and mailing lists”
  • Click on the Groups section
  • Click on the shortcut located towards the upper right hand corner of the page to create a new group.
  • On the Create new group page enter the following:
  1. Name of the group – A name to call the group.
  2. Group email address – Email address that the group will use. This cannot be an email address that already exists within the Google Applications domain.
  3. Access Level – I generally keep this at the team level so that users can send email to the group but cannot see the members.
  4. Click Create
  • Once the group is created you will be redirected to the group’s application page.
  • To add users to the group click on Manage users in (name of group)
  • In the Add new members section entry the email addresses you want in the group. The email address does not have to be a member of the domain.
  • Once you have added the members press the Add button.
  • NOTE: At any time you can add all members of the domain to the group. This is very important if you are considering adding an email group for all employees or students if the domain is for a school.
  • Once the users have been added you can exit the group and test within an email client by sending email to the group email address.
  • You can also add other groups to the new group by adding the group email address to the newly created group.
  • Restrict Ability to Send Email to the Group – You can restrict the ability to send email to the group by setting the owner as the only one who can send email. What that does is restrict the ability to “Reply to” and for unauthorized personnel from using the group email address to spam the members of the group.  This can be set up by clicking on the new group – Role and permissionsCustom and removing the check mark from all by the Owner group. Click Save changes

Hope you enjoyed this brief overview of creating groups in Google Application. If you have any questions please let me know and I will be happy to answer them.

Working with Linux and UNIX sudo

Saturday, January 26th, 2013

Sudo is a great security feature found in Linux and Unix. Linux and UNIX has a super user called root. Instead of providing users full root authority, sudo allows the system administrator to grant root access on a narrow scope.
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Securing a new and installed WordPress blog

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

Danger: Ensure to back up the WordPress database and files before making
any changes or installing updates to avoid website down time.

Danger: Do not use the same password and user name for administrator and
database accounts.

Tip: These changes are designed to help secure a WordPress blog. If you feel your website has already been compromised additional steps might be required to fully secure the website.

Securing a WordPress blog is an ongoing activity. Constant vigilance is required to prevent and intervene to secure the blog. While many of us work 8 – 12 hours a day, malicious scripts are working 24/7/365. These steps are not hard to follow and were actually implemented to an active WordPress blog.
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