Tag Archives: Networks

Message from the Director

To our valued clients, customers and friends,

As we continue to navigate through these uncharted waters, I want to share some additional information with you about Concepte of Illinois.

First a little history, we have been around, soon to be, 37 years of providing only high professional technical service and support to you and we are still doing just that. Concepte is providing government, manufacturing, medical, banks and our communities long term success and well-being stories year-after-year.

I will begin in what has not changed for our customers and friends, our attitude to continue to bring you the level of service and support that is right for you and insure that your high tech needs are met to help make sure your future is good and productive. We are humbled by the trust you place in us. It is important you know that whatever the future brings, Concepte is here to help you.

Expert Monitoring: Our experts continue to monitor your servers and networks when you are being distracted by the health and welfare of your employees and customers. We are helping maintain that data security when the bad actors are trying to take advantage of that distraction.

Service Options: We have a variety of channels to help you in ways that make the most sense for you: whether it is data backup and monitoring, data security and service of you tech equipment. We can and will be there for you. Just Call our service professionals to show you the path that is needed in today’s fast change world to help ensure you data is protected.

1:1 Guidance: It is important to try and stick to you technology plan as best you can. If your plan has changed, we can help you review your data protection and disaster preparedness to help keep you on-track to meet tomorrow’s needs today!

In these trying times, please know that our dedicated client service professionals are committed to getting to your questions as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience if it takes us a bit longer than usual to get to your call. But, I promise we will and that we are here to help.

Lastly, in a period as tumultuous as this, it may be natural to wonder about the firm that is helping you stay on track with your high tech needs. If you are, let me assure you that Concepte is in excellent financial health with one of the strongest balance sheets in the area. Despite the volatile situation with the Coronavirus and the Shelter-in-Place orders our company is profitable and we have the resources necessary to ensure we remain strong.

As always, I am ho9nroed that you have placed your trust in us. If there is anything we can do to help meet your needs, please visit us online at CEILLINOIS.com or contact us at 800-267-4052 or find us on Facebook

Sincerely

Larry D Christy

Larry D Christy
Director, Concepte of Illinois, Inc.

New Location – Marion Illinois

Come see us at our newest location in Marion, Illinois
Concepte of Illinois
Visit our Service Center

2300 W Main St – Suite A
Marion, Illinois 62959

800-267-4052

 

Flaws in computer processor chips

Authorized Information Released 1/5/18 by Concepte of Illinois, Inc. 618-438-5005, coi@ceillinois.com

What you need to know because of found flaws in computer processor chips

There are times when you just need to know. You might have heard about the computer chip flaws on the news.

Because you are one of our valued clients, we want you to know that we are following this worldwide industry problem with great interest. We want to make sure we can minimize any effect upon your computers and network.

On Wednesday (Jan. 3rd 2018) two security flaws that may affect nearly all microprocessors, which is the brain of your computers and networks were found. These two security flaws which are called ‘Meltdown’ and ‘Spectre’ might allow hackers to lift passwords and other important data from your computers and that includes smartphones, PCs, laptops, tablets and any other devices that contain microprocessors.

The industry is working on fixes to fix the flaws or provide a means to stop the exploitation of these flaws. Some researchers have stated that the Spectre is not completely fixable because of the way the fundamental flaw in the processor have been built over the last decades. (Stated by Paul Kocher, which is one of the researchers who discovered these flaws. The ‘‘Meltdown’’ is connected to processors made by Intel, which is a company that provides the chips for more than 90% of the computers and servers that have been sold over the past 20 years.

‘Spectre’ is much more difficult for hackers to exploit and affects Intel chips, microprocessors from another company that is a major producer of computer chips. AMD is a rival of Intel. These two chip producers cover about 98% of all computers produced in the last 20 years.

Companies around the world are working to find a fix for these chip flaws. ‘‘Meltdown’’ can now be fixed by installing a software “patch” on each computer. Microsoft has released a patch for PCs that use its Windows operating system and Apple is said that it has already released patches for their operating system.

Remember, the computer industry is scrambling to patch a massive security vulnerability that’s present in the processors used in almost all of the computers in the world. The widespread vulnerability could allow a hacker to steal information stored in the memory of the chip itself, including things such as passwords and cached files. It could also pave the way for attackers to weaken other security features. Although there are no known exploits for the problem yet, the problem is alarming because it could affect so many computers.

Concepte of Illinois is aware of the flaws and is working with industry vendors to ensure that when patches are released they will be available to us. Please contact our office to schedule a time for these patches to be installed or to obtain more information.

Professionally Yours
Erick Christy, President

Business of the Month

Business of the Month

Concepte has a shout out – April 2014 Business of the Month. This is the second time we have been honored with the Business of the Month award by the Benton-West City Chamber of Commerce. We also was awarded the Business of the Year the first time. Everyone at Concepte wishes to thank all for their recognition and we will always strive to excel as a business partner.

Concepte has always been a proud member of Benton’s Chamber of Commerce and has been recognized by them as follows:

  • 2014 May’s Business of the Month
  • 2004 Business of the Year
  • 2004 October’s Business of the Month