Like other secure systems, Office-Logic requires users to enter a user ID and password to gain access. Passwords protect your account and your information. So what’s in a password? Is it really secure? Could someone easily guess yours?

 

To change your password in Office-Logic Groupware, log in and select User/Group Maintenance. Then select Password from the top menu. Then select User. Enter your old password, your new password, and confirm your new password. Click OK

A secure password consists of a string as reasonably long as the system will allow (Office-Logic allows 10), consisting of characters selected from all those allowed by the system and in a manner that provides no redundancy – in other words, totally random selection. But we do have to be able to remember our password. 

 Tips for choosing a strong password you can remember include the following:

• Use a mix of characters (alpha and numeric).

• Do not use a word found in the dictionary.

• Change your password from time to time and never share your password with anyone.

• Use the first letters of a phrase that is easy for you to remember. For example, “My favorite vacation was Orlando in 04” (MfvwOi04) or “My daughter Stephanie is 14 years old” (MdSi14yo).

• Write it on a piece of paper – but be sure to keep the piece of paper in a secure place, such as the back of your wallet or purse. Once you can remember the password, destroy the piece of paper you wrote it on.

Organizations need to take the first step to ensure that their employees or students have a clear understanding that the entire e-mail system belongs to the organization, and not the individual. There should not be any doubt to the individual that ALL content that is created, received, or stored on the organizations e-mail system is the sole ownership of the organization, and the employee has no right to its ownership or have an expectation of privacy.

There are steps that the organization or company needs to take to limit their liability against an employees abuse of their e-mail system. Some suggestions are:

1. Establish written e-mail rules and policies.

   • In writing, define a clear set of rules and policies that explain how your e-mail system should be used, with specific guidelines to address corporate and personal e-mail, e-mail content, and proper e-mail etiquette.

2. Educate all employees, from the part-time intern to the owner. 

   • Written e-mail policy coupled with an effective employee education program may help your organization defend workplace lawsuits and other risks.

3. Address ownership issues and privacy expectations. 

   • Use your e-mail policy to advise employees that the e-mail system, including all content, messages and passwords, are the property of the organization. If you monitor e-mail (YOU SHOULD!), tell your employees. Let employees know they have no reasonable expectation of privacy when using the company's e-mail system.

4. Address personal use. 

   • Use your policy to let employees know how much, if any, personal e-mail use is allowed. Be specific. Leave no room for individual interpretation. Remember, an employee's interpretation of "appropriate" personal use is likely to be significantly different from your own. Spell out exactly when, for how long, with whom and about what topics employees may communicate.

5. Incorporate an overview of your sexual harassment and discrimination policies within your e-mail policy. 

   • Because of e-mail's relaxed, informal nature, some employees will put in writing comments they would never say aloud. Make sure employees understand that regardless of how a message is transmitted, an inappropriate comment is an inappropriate comment. All it takes is one offensive remark to land the employee or the company in trouble. Having an e-mail policy in place will help protect the company if any legal issues arise. Consult your appropriate legal advisors if you have any questions.

6. E-mail creates a written business record that can be traced.

   • The employees need to understand that all e-mail correspondence and content is a reflection of themselves and the company in general. They also need to understand that e-mail content is not guaranteed to stay between the sender and receiver of the message. It is very easy for e-mails to be forwarded to others that the original sender may not have intended to share that information with.

7. Enforce e-mail policy with a combination of monitoring and discipline.

   • Most industries require companies to keep a record of all e-mail correspondence that is stored in a searchable format. Whether your industry requires such a policy or not, it is in your best interest to have an Archiving policy in place. Office-Logic InterChange has built in Archiving features that make it easy to enforce such a policy. Office-Logic InterChange v4.x also has a feature to send copies of all user's sent and received mail to another user for monitoring. It is not only important to have an Archiving policy in place, but to make sure that all employees are aware that such a policy exists and is monitored. 

8. Insist on employee compliance. 

   • Be sure every employee understands each e-mail policy and procedure and is clear on what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate use of the organization's e-mail system. Require each employee to sign and date a copy of every e-mail rule and policy, acknowledging that the employee has read, understands and will comply with the policy, or accept the consequences, up to and including termination. Create continuing education activities and tools to reinforce training and ensure e-mail rule and policy compliance.

Office-Logic has the capability of adding a disclaimer to the bottom of every outbound message. Change to the GLOBAL user, go to the e-mail module, select Options->Personality. Create a personality, such as "DISCLAIM". Create a RichText personality that contains the logo, text, etc. that you want on the bottom of RichText messages. Plain text messages will get the text but not the graphics. 

Once it is created and saved, edit the OL.INI file which is located in your LOGIC directory on the file server, and place the name of the disclaimer, in this case "DISCLAIM" in the following field:

[Email]

;Global signature to be appended to all outbound email messages

; create a global personality and place name here

GlobalSignature=DISCLAIM

Some example Disclaimers:

To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, please be advised that if any 

advice concerning one or more U.S. Federal tax issues is contained in this communication 

(including any attachments), such advice is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be 

used, for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or 

(2) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter 

addressed herein.

This e-mail message is sent to the intended recipient for their confidential use, and as such 

may be protected from disclosure. If you received this message in error, or are not the intended 

recipient, please reply immediately to the sender and delete immediately from your system.

**************************************************************************************************************

**************************************************************************************************************
THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY 

TO WHOM IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED, 

CONFIDENTIAL AND EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. 

IF THE READER OF THIS MESSAGE IS NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE 

HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION, OR COPYING OF THIS 

COMMUNICATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS E-MAIL IN 

ERROR, PLEASE IMMEDIATELY DELETE IT AND REMOVE IT FROM YOUR COMPUTER. 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND CONSIDERATION.
**************************************************************************************************************

**************************************************************************************************************

CONFIDENTIALITY: This email contains privileged and confidential information 

intended only for use of the intended recipient and is the property of MYCOMPANY. 

Any review, use, distribution or disclosure by others is strictly prohibited. If you are 

not the intended recipient of this email, please immediately reply to sender and 

delete all copies of this email along with all attachments.

NONBINDING NATURE OF TRANSMISSION: Nothing contained in this email 

message or any attachment hereto constitutes a binding offer, acceptance, 

agreement or legal commitment on behalf of MYCOMPANY, unless both 

(i) specifically so stated, and (ii) evidenced by a hand written signature or genuine  

photocopy or facsimile thereof executed by an executive officer of MYCOMPANY 

having authority to bind MYCOMPANY.
**************************************************************************************************************

**************************************************************************************************************

Any U.S. tax advice contained in the body of this e-mail was not intended or written 

to be used, and cannot be used, by the recipient for the purpose of avoiding penalties 

that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code or applicable state or local tax 

law provisions.

The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected 

from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an agent or 

employee responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby 

notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly 

prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by 

replying to this message and deleting it from your system.

**************************************************************************************************************

**************************************************************************************************************

This notice is required by IRS Circular 230, which regulates written communications about 

federal tax matters between tax advisors and their clients. To the extent the above contains 

an opinion on one or more federal tax issues such opinion was not written to be used and 

cannot be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties.

**************************************************************************************************************

**************************************************************************************************************

New IRS rules, which govern the way we conduct our tax practice, dictate
that we give you the following notice: Any tax advice or opinion herein
contained is not intended to be used, and cannot be used, by anyone to
avoid the imposition of any federal tax penalties.

This e-mail and the accompanying documents, if any, contain PRIVILEGED
AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION intended only for the use of the Individual
or Entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, or the
employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended
recipient, you are strictly prohibited from any dissemination,
distribution, copying, use or delivering of the information contained in
this e-mail and the accompanying documents, if any.

If you have received this e-mail in error:
(1) Please notify the sender immediately by telephone or e-mail.
(2) Please delete this e-mail and the accompanying documents, if any,
from your computer system's memory and all electronic, optical or
magnetic data storage media and devices.
(3) Please return all print-outs of this e-mail and the accompanying
documents, if any, to the sender.

If you or your employer does not consent to Internet e-mail messages of
this kind, please advise us immediately. Thank you.

**************************************************************************************************************

**************************************************************************************************************

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE MAY BE SUBJECT TO AN
ATTORNEY/CLIENT PRIVILEGE AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION INTENDED ONLY FOR
THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY NAMED ABOVE. IF THE READER OF THIS
MESSAGE IS NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY
DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION OR COPYING OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS STRICTLY
PROHIBITED. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS COMMUNICATION IN ERROR, PLEASE
ERASE ALL COPIES OF THE MESSAGE AND ITS ATTACHMENTS AND IMMEDIATELY
NOTIFY Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe, PC, BY TELEPHONE (000) 555-1234.
THANK YOU.
**************************************************************************************************************

Office-Logic Groupware has a feature called Logic-Safe that will allow you to enable your defined Windows screen saver quickly for when you need to step away from your desk.  It is always a good policy to ensure that your PC is secure when it is unattended, and Logic-Safe makes it easy.

First make sure that your PC is configured for a screen saver, and that it has a password defined.  From your Windows Desktop, Right-Click your mouse pointer in any open area (not on top any of your shortcut icons) and select the Properties option.  Go to the Screen Saver tab menu, and define which screen saver you would like to use.  Enable the On resume, password protect option.  Click the OK button to save your settings.

Many of your e-mail messages contain links that when clicked on will open your web browser and bring you to a specific location on the internet.  It is a common practice for the "Bad Guys" to trick people into clicking on these links that could  potentially collect personal information about you, or infect your environment with a virus or worm.

A Rich-Text or HTML e-mail message has the ability to disguise the actual location of the link.  As an example, you could see the words  Click Here in your message, and not be aware of exactly where clicking on this link will take you.  However, Office-Logic will display the actual link location on the Status Bar when you position your Mouse Pointer over the link in your e-mail message.  The Status Bar is located at the bottom left hand corner of your Office-Logic window.  The Status Bar option can be toggled On or Off in Office-Logic, so you will want to make sure that this option is enabled by clicking on the Options\Status Bar option located on the Menu Bar at the top of Office-Logic.

This feature is also helpful when you need to verify the actual link location if clicking on the link does not take you to the location you were expecting to go.

Messages that you receive in Plain Text format do not have the ability to disguise these links.  Any links within Plain Text messages are easy to see exactly where it will take you if selected.

It is a very smart practice to use the Status Bar to verify the link location before clicking on any link within an e-mail message.  If you are not sure that this is a safe link, then you might want to write down the link location that is displayed on the Status Bar and contact your Network Administrator.  It is better to be SAFE!!!

April 27, 2007 - Can I import my Outlook e-mail and address books into Office-Logic?

April 20, 2007 - How do I turn on the feature in Office-Logic InterChange to Detain Junk Mail?

April 13, 2007 - Should I disable the E-Mail Preview Window in Office-Logic Groupware?

If your Consultant / Network Administrator / Security Administrator / Guest IT Speaker / Conference  Speaker / Friend / Neighbor / or even Brother-In-Law tells you to turn OFF the Preview Window for viewing e-mails because it is not safe, what they are telling you is that they are a Microsoft Outlook bigot⁽¹⁾.  Any Microsoft Certified Egomaniac (MCE) will make that same claim simply because they know that the Preview Window in Outlook is truly NOT safe.  By their (MSoft) own design, Outlook has many vulnerabilities that spammers and viruses target.  Many of these attacks are executed by Outlook by simply displaying a message from within the Preview Window.

However, Office-Logic Groupware has taken several precautions to keep our users as safe as possible from these forms of attacks.  

• First, Office-Logic Groupware does NOT run any embedded macros from the preview window, or even when an e-mail message is opened, as Outlook will do.  

• Second, Office-Logic Groupware Sanitizes richtext (HTML) messages before the user either previews or opens the message.  Sanitizing the message is done by removing harmful code from richtext (HTML) messages that are designed to send personal information back to the "Bad Guys", install Spyware software, or execute a virus/worm.  These harmful codes are disabled before the message can be displayed, and does not change the appearance of the message.

• Third, because Outlook is such a visible and prolific target for "Bad Guys", Office-Logic Groupware has stayed "below the radar" of these malicious attacks. 

Therefore, the viewing of messages from either the Preview Window or Opening A Message using Office-Logic Groupware is pretty safe.  Of course, you may still be vulnerable if you choose to view any pictures.  Hopefully you have Office-Logic InterChange to scan your e-mails for Bad Stuff before the messages are delivered to the users mailbox.  It is also highly recommended that your workstations and servers are protected by a reputable Anti-Virus solution such as Norman, McAfee, or Symantec.  

March 16, 2007 - Can Office-Logic InterChange be configured to send only encrypted e-mail to specific domains?

By default, all e-mail that is sent from Office-Logic InterChange to a server that supports TLSSTART (SSL for SMTP) is sent encrypted using the TLS protocol.  Any message that is sent to a server that does not support TLSSTART is sent in plain text with no encryption. 

You can restrict mail from being sent to any server that does not support TLS based on domain names. In other words, if you want messages to be encrypted to GoodDomain.com and not sent if the server does not support TLS, then you can add GoodDomain.com to the list of security required servers.

To add domains to the list of security required servers, you will need to do the following:

1. From your Office-Logic InterChange server, select the Help\Support\Explore application directory option.

2. This will bring up Windows Explorer in your default Office-Logic InterChange directory.  i.e. C:\INTER

3. Open the CLEAN directory, and then double-click on the SECURE.TXT file.

4. This will open the SECURE.TXT file with Windows Notepad, or whatever application you have associated with TXT files.

5. The SECURE.TXT file is a list of domain names that are required to use TLS or SSL for sending and receiving mail to\ from your Office-Logic InterChange server.  Each line contains a domain name or host name which can contain a wildcard * asterisk character.  Be very careful when using an *

6. As an example:  If you want Office-Logic InterChange to only send and receive encrypted mail from domains LAN-ACES.com and GoodDomain.com then you will want to add the following domains on a separate lines in your SECURE.TXT file:

*LAN-ACES.com

mail.GoodDomain.com

 

7. In the examples above, the *LAN-ACES.com has been added using a wildcard * character to only allow TLS encrypted communications from any domain that ends with LAN-ACES.com 

8. Save your SECURE.TXT file and exit Windows Notepad and Windows Explorer.

March 9, 2007 - Make sure your Windows Servers and Workstations are ready for the new Daylight Savings Time?

As stated in our February 2, 2007 Tip-Of-The-Week article, Office-Logic products will not be effected by the new Daylight Savings Time changes, however, you will want to make sure that your Windows Servers and Workstations have been updated to handle the new date changes.

Important information on the Microsoft Daylight Savings Time update patch can be found on the Microsoft Support Knowledge Base, and identified as KB931836.  Click Here to view document KB931836.

You can check to see if your Windows Server or Workstation already has the Microsoft Daylight Savings Time update patch installed by the following steps:

1. Open the Windows Control Panel.

2. Double-Click on the Add Remove Programs utility.

3. Make sure that the Show Updates option is enabled.  This option is usually located at the top of the window.

4. Look for Update for Windows xxx (KB931836)

5. If this update is listed then there is nothing more that you need to do.  If it is not listed, then please refer to the KB931836 document for instructions and download information for your operating system.

You will also want to make sure that your Windows Servers and Workstations are set to automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time.

1. Open the Windows Control Panel.

2. Double-Click on the Date and Time utility.

3. Click on the Time Zone tab menu.

4. Check the box to enable the Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes.

5. Click the OK button to save your settings.

This document and information applies to the following operating systems:

• Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs 

• Microsoft Windows Embedded for Point of Service

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit x86) 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (32-Bit x86) 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition (32-Bit x86) 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Premium Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86) 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86) 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86) 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems 

• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional 

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition 

• Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 

• Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 

• Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 

• Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 

• Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002 

March 2, 2007 - Can Office-Logic InterChange BLOCK all e-mail from specific regions?

Or, you can enter the IP Address ranges directly into Office-Logic InterChange one at a time.

1. From your Office-Logic InterChange server, go to the Configure\Lists\Block SMTP IP Addresses menu.

2. This will display the Blocked SMTP IP Addresses window.  Click on the Add button to enter the IP Address ranges that you would like to block.

3. The Edit IP Address Range window allows you to enter IP Address ranges one at a time.

   • Enter the beginning IP Address that you want blocked in the First IP Address field. i.e: 58.0.0.0

   • Enter the ending IP Address for that range that you want blocked in the Last IP Address field.  i.e.: 61.255.255.255

   • In this example, any IP Address between 58.0.0.0 and 61.255.255.255 are from Asia and will be blocked by Office-Logic InterChange.

4. Click on the OK button to save your IP Address range.

5. Repeat this procedure for the other IP Address ranges for that specific region, or all the regions listed above.

   • This method does not allow you to enter the comments about a specific range.

February 23