Hot to the search engine scene with over 4 million users is Presearch which offers users a privacy-focused experience backed with cryptocurrency. One of the current initiatives is ‘Key Word Staking’ which is intended to incentive holding the community token ‘PRE’ and allowers users to advertise based on particular search terms for as little as $10.00US .

The search engine has made a video outlining this process:

To put the claim to the test we created 3 keywords listing for one of the web tools we manage ‘whatsmyip.net.au‘ to drive traffic to the site whenever anyone types “what is my ip address”.

Surprisingly no one was running a stake on this phrase and we were able to create the add for ‘100 PRE’, if someone had created one we would have to outbid them. At the time of writing this is only a ‘stake’ and you can withdraw at any time with the balance being untouched.

Within 10 minutes our advertisement was live on the search engine to a global audience!

We created similar listing’s with different keywords and within minutes we could see our advertisements were getting views and clicking through to the site. Unlike Google Adwords you are not currently charged per view or click.

With this information we not only drive traffic to our site, but also get real-world data on how successful different search engine keyword combinations are before launching into other more expensive marketing channels.

We will update this article once we have long-term data on this project.

Do you use Presearch or have thoughts on Keyword Staking? Let us know in the comments below

The post Keyword Staking With Presearch first appeared on Air-Gap.

Without a easy to use password management solution in place, it’s almost inevitable at least 1 of the following will occur:
– You will use weak passwords
– Passwords will be reused
– Passwords will not be cycled out on a regular basis

One clever and simple product is QWERTY CARD, priced at ~$7aud each it allows virtually anyone to make a secure unique password for any service.

For example to generate passwords for Facebook and Youtube, I would use the card shown below to generate

Space Bar Code + AIRGAP + Site Name
Facebook: sh(/J3Hq.Q2s.o”.mA*qq1
Youtube: sh(/J3Hq.Q2s.o<q9&9*A

As no two cards are unique, the ability to choose your own secret passphrase, and the trailing ‘site name’ unique for each password makes this a very secure solution. Even if the card was compromised, without the personal secret, the password is still secure, and can be rotated on a regular basis by changing the secret.

What are your thoughts on the QWERTY card? Do you have a different solution in place?

The post Generating secure password’s with QWERTY Cards first appeared on Air-Gap.

Ransomware is quickly becoming one of the largest threats to organisations of all shapes and sizes, and the stuff of nightmares for both IT professionals and business owners.

McAfee reports that ransomware attacks have doubled in 2019 and the reality is it’s a threat you’ve likely already experienced before or will in in the future in some form or another. If you’ve experienced ransomware before, the first thoughts are often denial, shock, helplessness, followed by anger. By the time you find out your network is infected by ransomware, it’s probably too late to stop it and you’ve been presented with a “pay up, or lose it” screen.

Before continuing, if your experiencing an active ransomware attack make sure you have completed the following steps:

1. Isolate the network to stop the attack spreading. Shutdown network switches, routers and modems
2. Call your IT Provider and executive manager, you may need to start your disaster plans.
3. Check your backups are intact, if they are secure the servers and start copying them onto an offline storage device (ie USB hard disk)
4. Start anti-virus scans, file search to identify how far the infection has spread
5. Identify ‘patient zero’ (source of the infection) and how it entered the system, ie clicking on an infected email

If you successfully caught the infection in time, cleaned up the infection with your anti-virus and restored lost files from backups, well done.
If your not so lucky your in for a rough ride.

One of the first objectives ransomware attacks when targeting your network is destroying your backups and restore points saved on both the local computer, and saved on network shares/devices.
If you’ve signed on and found everything gone, I’ll save you the ‘pep talk’ and leave it at your not the first and certainly won’t be the last.

Moving forward with no backups you have only 3 options;

1. Kiss your data goodbye and start wiping disks
2. Attempt to decrypt your data
3. Pay the ransom

The official rule is “never pay a ransom”, the funds will most likely be used to fund crime or terrorism and you have no guarantee the data will actually be decrypted. This is all high and mighty, but not when it’s your irreplaceable data!

How to proceed; (This is general advice)

1. Identify the type of type of ransomware that has infected your network.
   
   You might be able to restore the files for free.
   Some variants may have weaknesses that can be exploited to unlock the files and their may be notes from other unlucky individuals that have been successful/unsuccessful at recovering their files by paying the ransom.
   
   Online Ransomware Detection Tools:
   https://www.nomoreransom.org/en/index.html
   https://id-ransomware.malwarehunterteam.com
   
   
2. Determine what files are missing and calculate the value/disruption of business for each file in dollars.
   If the files are only low value reference material that can be recreated or re-downloaded you might be able to write it off. On the other hand it’s irreplaceable or costly to reproduce you might want to consider paying the ransom
   
   
3. Call a local ‘Ransomware Recovery specialist’.  Once you know the type of ransomware, damage and have determined you need recovery you are best off contacting a specialist for assistance. They may be able to recover lost files without resorting to paying the ransomware or assist you through recovery process.
   
   
4. Consult with business owners, legal team and insurers on the legalities on paying the ransom. This is a very high risk transaction and may be against company policy or local laws to complete. Your insurer may refuse to reimburse you or might be able to provide additional resources.
   
   
5. Try to establish a dialogue with the attacker. Many attackers will decrypt a file as proof that they have the decryption key.
   If possible try to decrypt a single file for a smaller amount before paying the full amount.
   Paying an attacker does not guarantee the files will be decrypted, you are gambling and the odds are quiet literally 50/50.
   
   
6. Calculate and obtain the required bitcoin. Take note of the currency they expect it in. ie $5000usd of bitcoin.
   When transferring the money take extreme care that the transaction address is 100% correct, it’s impossible to reverse an incorrect transaction.
   
7. Wait. Automated schemes may send you the decrypt tool instantly, other days, weeks, months or not at all.
   
   

Don’t trust the attacker not to re-infect your network. Take lessons learned from the attack immediately to secure your network. ie Implement mail scanning, reducing access permissions, re-evaluating AV vendor, improving backup

Do you need help securing your network or recovering from a malware event?
Give us a call on 1300 733 240 or by sending us a message.

The post Ransomware: Should you pay? first appeared on Air-Gap.

Error Codes

Below are the possible error codes generated by the SDK from the b-PAC 3.1 SDK help document.

Source: Brother BPAC User Guide v3.1 (Compiled HTML Help file ‘.chm’)

Common Issues

• When creating a new bpac.DocumentClass you get the following or similar error message:
  
  Error Message ‘System.IO.FileNotFoundException: ‘Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {B940C105-7F01-46FE-BF41-E040B9BDA83D} failed due to the following error: 8007007e The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E).”
  Possible Cause: Incorrect bPac architecture installed for project, ie x64 Project and x86 b-PAC version installed.
  Solution: Install x64 b-PACSDK or Vice Versa
  
• No SDK Error, but print job not appearing in print que.
  Possible Cause: Printer not supported by x64 b-PAC SDK.
  Solution: Confirm if using x64 SDK, if so confirm if your printer is supported. Some older printers only have x32 support.
  https://www.brother.co.jp/eng/dev/bpac/environment/index.aspx
  

Did you find this article useful or do you have different issue?
Leave us a comment below

The post Brother B-PAC SDK Error Codes first appeared on Air-Gap.

• Files stored in SharePoint shouldn’t be emailed between staff, only the URL to the document. This just leads to duplicates of the same document and potentially it being accessed by someone who shouldn’t have permission.
  In most cases if you right click on the document there is a ‘share’ button which will automatically send the link to the file to a nominated person.

• Use the ‘Principle of least privilege’ and assign the least privileges to users or groups (ie Read Only) as opposed to ‘Full Control’ of the document or SharePoint site. Multiple user groups can be assigned to the resource and the permissions are cumulative meaning that if a individual user has additional higher permissions they will be used.

• Individual Sites should be created for each department to store files related to them.
  This helps simplify permissions, relevant communications and compartmentalise information.

• Consider creating new file libraries for each type of file instead of a new folder, this will simplify what tags will be available for the files within the library.

• Documents within a SharePoint Library shouldn’t be any more than 2 folders deep. Nested folders are slow both to use and search through in SharePoint, and often lead to multiple of the same file being created.

• Subsites shouldn’t be created anymore than ~5 deep off the root site. If your likely to be creating a substantial number of sites you should consider alternative topology’s such as ‘Hub Sites’ which is flat, as opposed to hierarchical.

• Where possible, keep file names short. Sharepoint generates a URL consisting of the main sites URL, subsite levels and file names.
  Sharepoint has a URL limit of 260 character’s for on premise and 400 characters for SharePoint online.

• Use tags instead of tacking on extensions or putting them in folders, ie ‘phonebook_2019CURRENT’
  This makes its less likely for files to be lost in nested folders, ability to filter documents based on metadata (tags) and easier to find.

• Document libraries shouldn’t have any more than ~5 column tags and be closely tied to the files stored within a library. If unlike files are being stored with different tags, consider storing them in a new document library with a different set of tags.

• Outdated irrelevant content should either be updated to remain relevant or archived.

• SharePoint sites are hierarchical and can have nested subsites off the Main Root site.
  You can take it a step future if you want to have additional team sites for each department (ie special project) however it should be regulated.

• SharePoint should not be treated as a ‘database’ when using large lists or excel spreadsheets. It has serious limitations when displaying or accessing over 5000 items and lacks the ability to efficiently query or join lists together are limited.

• If your going to be storing thousands of rows, have multiple applications using the list at the same time or requiring any level of performance you should strongly consider using a database instead. A MYSQL/ MS SQL database can easily be bolted onto SharePoint if necessary.

• Documents shouldn’t be embedded within lists, it’s a common workaround but is often responsible for slow performance and the inability to search for files.

• Don’t be afraid to integrate other Microsoft 365 Apps into SharePoint.
  Apps such as Microsoft Forms make it extremely easy to add common functionality such as creating a quick survey to post on a intranet or collect information from a end user.

• Don’t be intimated by complex SharePoint Workflows. Consider using Microsoft Flows which can perform a wide range of common workflows and easily integrate with other Microsoft products like Outlook. In many cases they already have a workflow template pre-made!

The post SharePoint Best Practices first appeared on Air-Gap.

There are two main categories of jigglers:

• Software Jigglers: A computer program that is installed on the host which automatically moves the cursor at a set interval.
  Pro’s: Cheap or Free, easily configurable, no extra circuitry
  Cons: User may not be authorised to install software, easy to detect by IT department
• Hardware jigglers: A device which tricks the operating system into thinking its a mouse.
  An onboard micro-controller generates random or predefined movements
  Pro’s: Plug & Play, No configuration, hard to detect, reliable
  Con’s: Costs money, harder to reprogram

In this article we will be using a Digispark which is an affordable development board powered by a ATtiny85 micro-controller running at 16MHZ with 6K usable flash which can communicate with a host over USB. These boards are incredibly capable and can be used for a wide range of tasks including injecting keystrokes and mouse movements.

When you get your Digispark it will look similar to the picture, for this project we will not be using header pins and we will be programming the device through USB.

1. 1. 1. The first step of programming the Digispark is downloading the latest Arduino programming IDE.
         https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
         
      2. Next is downloading and installing the Digispark drivers. You may need to accept multiple notifications through the install process.
         https://github.com/digistump/DigistumpArduino/releases
      3. Once both the Arduino IDE and Digispark drivers have been installed, add the digispark JSON configuration file to the IDE. This is done by opening the Arduino IDE, clicking on ‘File, Preferences’ and adding the following URL into the ‘Additional Boards Manager URL’s’ box, then click ‘OK’.

         https://raw.githubusercontent.com/digistump/arduino-boards-index/master/package_digistump_index.json

         

      4. Once installed, go-to Tools –> Board and select “Board Manager
         
      5. In the top left hand corner change the Type to “Contributed” and click the install button on the “Digistump AVR Boards by Digistump package”. This will allow the Arduino IDE to program the Digispark controllers.
         
      6. Once installed, go-to Tools –> Board and select “Digispark – Default 16.5mhz”. This set’s the IDE to compile the code for the Digispark board.
         
      7. Next go-to, Tools –>Programmer and set it as “USBtinyISP”
         
      8. We have created an opensource simple Mouse Jiggler sketch (program) for the Digispark v3 which moves the cursor every 10-30 seconds in a square pattern. Download and open it in Arduino IDE.
         Download: MouseJiggler.ino
      9. Click on the “Upload” button to compile the sketch and upload it to the Digispark.
         
      10. If successful, you should now see the Digispark flash every 10-30 seconds to indicate a ‘mouse jiggle’. The mouse movement should be near undetectable.

We hope you you enjoyed this post. If you did please leave us a comment below.

The post How to make a mouse jiggler with Digispark first appeared on Air-Gap.

Using Excel formula’s you can easily create the raw SQL statements which can be executed on the database without the need for third-party plugins or special tools.

Creating Insert Statement’s

In this example we are wanting to insert 5 rows containing a staff members idNo and Name.

1) The first step is to arrange the data in the layout you want it to be inserted.

2) Double click into the next blank column beside you’re first row and insert the following formula.
= “insert into table_name (first_column,second_column) values ( ‘” & A2& “‘, ‘” & B2& “‘);”

3) You will need to start changing the 3 default formula values: table_name, first_column, second_column and cell no’s if they are different from this example. In this example we are using staff as the table name, idNo as the first column and Name as the second column.
If you are inserting more fields you will need to expand the formula by adding the extra column information.
For example: = “insert into staff (idNo,Name, Age) values ( ‘” & A2& “‘, ‘” & B2& “‘, ‘” & D2& “‘);”

4) Click enter when you have finished modifying the required fields, you should see your SQL insert Statement for the first column.

5) Click on the right hand corner of the SQL statement and drag it down to the last column.

6)When you let go, excel should automatically generate the remaining SQL statements. These can be copied out and executed on your database.

Creating Update Statements

A similar technique can be used to create ‘Update’ statements. In this example we are updating the ‘rrp’ field of the ‘stock’ table for a particular ‘partNo’. The ‘partName’ column is unused in this example and is typical of what you may find in the real world, you should always update rows using the tables unique ‘Primary Key’.

1) Like the first example, layout your data into columns

2) Double click into the next blank column beside you’re first row and insert the following formula.
= “update table_name set column_value_to_update = ‘” & C2 & “‘ where column_primaryKey = ‘” & A2 & “‘;”

3) Change the 3 default formula values: table_name, column_value_to_update, column_primaryKey and the cell no’s if they are different from this example.

4) When you are happy with the formula, drag down the cell to generate the SQL statement

Did you find this guide useful?
Leave us a commend below

The post Creating MYSQL Insert and Update statements with EXCEL first appeared on Air-Gap.

You don’t need to turn your office into Fort Knox to be secure! The following tips can greatly increase the difficulty of an attacker compromising your building.

Enforce a sign in policy for visitors

• All visitors into your building should be signed in at reception. This ensures you have a record of who is in the building at all times and who they are visiting.
• Always ask for Photo ID of new visitors to confirm their identity, and ask who they are visiting and the purpose of their visit. If you have any suspicious about the person, don’t be afraid to question them further and confirm with the staff member was expecting someone.
• Consider using a digital visitor system instead of a paper visitor book. Not only does this give a good impression to visitors, it ensures personal information from other visitors isn’t on display or can be stolen, provides real-time data as to who is in the building and can provide alerts if someone is banned from the premises.
• Visitors should be required to wear a visitors badge at all times and be escorted around the building by a staff member.
• Ensure staff enforce that all visitors must sign in and vigilant of people trying to sneak in via alternative entry points.

Keep IT infrastructure and sensitive information out of sight

• Computer in high traffic areas should be out of sight such as under desk to prevent tampering, like plugging in a USB stick without the operators knowledge.
• Networking equipment should be in a locked cabinet
• Disable unused network points and enable port security features such as mac address filtering.
• Be aware of what the visitors can see when roaming around the building: Nearby computer screens, whiteboards, documents left on desks.

Computer Equipment must be password protected

It sounds basic and low-tech, but a open computer is a gold-mine for even a novice attacker to exploit.

• All computers should be password protected with a non generic password
• Passwords should not be written down on a sticky note next stuck to the screen or on the bottom of the keyboard. Honestly it happens more than you think!
• Enforce a policy that all workstations must be locked if the user is moving out of arm’s reach.
• Computer should be set to timeout and require a password if inactive for 15 minutes.

Clean Desk Policy

Clean desk policies can seem pedantic, but they have a valid purpose beyond just keeping a neat appearance. Cluttered desks significantly increases the risk of data-loss and misplacement of sensitive information.

• When leaving the workplace temporarily all visibly sensitive documents should be filled or removed from sight and the workstation locked.
• Each task’s paperwork and documentation should be filed away before starting the next
• At the end of each day all sensitive documents, portable equipment such as laptops, security tokens, USB keys and directories should be locked away. All unneeded notes, paperwork and rubbish should be securely disposed of.

CCTV, security systems and motion lighting

• All entry points into the building should have exterior CCTV cameras, it’s not overly expensive nowadays for a digital setup which can clearly capture faces and number plates. Even something as simple as a $50 IP camera at reception is a huge deterrent.
• Your building should have a multi-zone alarm system with 3G backup which sends a message to a nominated number on activation. An attacker or burglar can do far less damage if they only have 10 minutes than all night if your not aware someone else in the building.
• Motion activated flood lights should be installed on all entry/exit points. Paired with cameras it can really turn a stealth entry into a public affair.

Beef up your exterior protection

• Installing metal plates over the gap between the door and frame offers moderate protection against being forced open with a crowbar
• Consider installing plastic guards over door handles and lock tabs to prevent an attacker using a piece of wire or tools to unlock the door.
• Security films can be excellent deterrent for would be attacks for a fraction of the cost of replacing windows. This holds the window together and prevents it instantly shattering when smashed with a object and can significantly slow down an attacker.
• Prune large plants around the building and car park which could conceal an attacker

Implement Keyless entry cards

Key-cards can seem like unneeded high-tech junk for a small business, but it serves a valid purpose.

Unlike a traditional keyed locks, a key-card can be tracked down to who opened what door at a certain time. If a access card is lost, compromised or an employer has left the card can be disabled.

Keep an inventory of equipment

One of the first signs of a security breach is missing equipment. Without a regular inventory and asset register you may never realize the full extent of the incident.

A register can help you establish exactly what items are missing and provide in depth details on  ownership, serial numbers and a indication of what information may have been compromised. Checkout our article 10 reasons why you should be using asset registers to see more important reasons why.

Secure Disposal of documents and old IT equipment

What goes into the building, often gets thrown out!

• Ensure all sensitive documents are shredded or destroyed before being disposed of in the trash.
• Computer equipment should be sanitised before disposal. Checkout our article ‘What Secrets are you giving away with your old it equipment’ to learn more about how to safely dispose of equipment.

Staff Training

Your staff are often the first point of contact with attacks, quality training can allow them to identify and avoid situations which don’t quite look right

• Provide education on common social Engineering techniques (phone, email, in person)
• Instruct staff to not plug in lost USB keys which may have been found on the premises, they may have deliberately been left there!
• Educate staff on the email phishing, checkout our guide How To Spot Phishing Emails

Regularly Perform An Audit

Inspecting your premises and checking to see if staff are following the correct procedures on a regular basis is core part of maintaining a secure environment.
At-least on a monthly basis you should be checking that:

• Check all external windows, doors, locks  lights and security measures are in good condition
• Check all cameras are recording correctly and producing a good image
• Inspect all computers and networking equipment for tampering
• Review staff compliance of security policies: Leaving computers unlocked, sensitive information on desk, correct completion of visitor logs<
• It’s also a good time to check your backups, including your offsite one

Does your organisation need help improving or reviewing their security?
Drop us a line on 1300 733 240 or send us message to get in contact

What ways do you keep your premises secure? Leave us a comment below

The post Improving your organization’s physical security first appeared on Air-Gap.

Increasingly fraudulent emails have become very deceptive with some being almost indistinguishable to genuine emails, this guide will help teach you some tricks to spot phishing .

1) Look at the email address

The easiest way to weed out the worst of the scam messages is looking at the email address its common from. If it ends in an unfamiliar domain like ‘.ru, .online, .store’, looks a little strange or has a spelling mistake like service@paypall.com with two L’s it’s almost certainly a scam as the address is taking you to a different site. Just note that email address its appearing to come from can be faked!

2) Different Reply address

An attacker almost always wants the ability to receive an email back from you, even if they appear to appear to have sent it from a fake email address. Click reply and see if the address changes.
If the new email is not identical to the alleged sender, especially if it goes to a free email account like Gmail or a strange email addresses its most likely fake.

3) Spelling Mistakes

Very rarely do large companies make obvious spelling mistakes in their emails. Spam and phishing messages may have poor spelling due to having a poor understanding of English or may even be added intentionally so all but the most gullible targets fall for it, making it more efficient for the attacker.

4) Hover over links

As a rule you should never click on links in emails as they may sneakily lead to a different website than what they display. Hover the mouse pointer over the link with your mouse and look at the URL in the box below. If it doesn’t match exactly match the above text its almost certainly a scam.

5) Urgent sounding

Most malicious messages want you to react urgently and perform a task such as verifying sensitive information, logging into an account, sending money or to click on a link to claim a parcel. While not evidence any urgent sounding or bizarre email should raise suspicion.

6) Is the email personalised with your personal details?

It’s unlikely your Bank or Colleagues have forgotten your name! Important emails should be personally addressed with your Full name and if applicable account number. Generic titles such as ‘Dear Sir’, ‘Dear Madam’, ‘Dear Friend’ is good warning size.

7) Verify the contact details in the signature field

If you have doubts about the email, check the name, job title and look at the log. Does the name sounds overly generic, is that person who you normally talk too and does the contact number match your the details you have on file?

8) Call the company

If your still not completely convinced there is no shame in giving the company a call and confirming if they sent the email. Make sure you call the company by visiting their official website or through the Yellow Pages and do not use the contact details from the email. Emails requesting you change the banking details of a organisation should always be confirmed with a phone call.

9) Unusual Attachments

You should always be careful opening attachments, especially if they have unusual file extensions like ‘.js’, ‘.vbs’, ‘.exe’ hidden inside of a zip file. Many new attackers are no longer sending these attachments due to spam filters stopping them, its becoming common now to send a pdf with a shortened URL linked to a phishing site.

10) Trust your instincts

Sometimes you will just have a gut feeling something isn’t right but you can’t just put pinpoint exactly what is. Don’t ignore this feeling, often its normally right! When in doubt treat it as suspect and get someone else to look at it. Its always better to play it safe.

11) Take the Test

Are you ready to see how good your skills are?
Click on the link below and see if you can spot the difference between genuine and phishing emails!

https://phishingquiz.withgoogle.com/

If you think you think you may have accidentally fallen a phishing email don’t panic and don’t try to ignore it. The faster you act the less damage can be caused.
Take a screen shot of the email or the website you visited, note down what information may have been compromised (ie bank credentials) and contact the organisation to alert them. If something was possibly downloaded or an attachment clicked, immediately contact your IT Support.

Do you need assistance or obligation free advice with phishing emails, spam filtering or IT support? Please feel free to give us a call on 1300 733 240 or send us a message .

Know any more tricks to identifying and fighting suspicious emails?
Leave us a comment below

The post How To Spot Phishing Emails first appeared on Air-Gap.

The answer to that is usually NO. Most people just want a reliable affordable server, dedicated IP, snapshot backups and a easy to use firewall. My personal favourite which meets this criteria is Vultr which we use for testing, development and deployment of non critical workloads.

It’s quick and easy to spin up servers, management features are straightforward and you don’t have to be a detective to figure out the billing.

Pictures really sum up a thousand words here.

Main Dashboard

This is the main dashboard you are presented with when first signing on. In this demo environment we have 3 servers in 3 different data centres. Their location, status and billed amount for the month is clearly visible. Servers in the dashboard can be sorted by ‘location’, ‘alphabetically’ or grouped by ‘tag’.

Deploying a new Server

There isn’t a great deal to the process.
1) Click on the data-center you want it located in,
2) Choose an OS, template or Upload an ISO yourself
3) Choose what sized server you want then hit Deploy

Instance Management
By clicking on the instance you get more detailed information about the server such as its hardware specifications and usage statistics. Automatic Snapshot Backups of the server can be taken for an additional cost.

Firewall
Included for free is a basic rule based firewall which sits between the internet and the virtual machines WAN port. Its easy to use and powerful enough for most applications. Firewall rule groups once created an be linked to multiple instances. Currently DDoS protection is not available in the Sydney location.

What’s Hot
-Easiest to use interface on the market
-One of the cheapest cloud providers, and NO CONTRACTS
-Sensible sizes of servers (1 Core/1GB RAM, 2 Cores/4GB RAM etc)
-High performance servers, with SSD storage
-Very transparent upfront pricing which is billed hourly
-Licenced Windows Server instances available for an extra cost
-Ability to upload custom ISO’s for installation
-1 click App Templates: cPanel (extra cost), OwnCloud, Lamp Stack
-Straightforward firewall and private networks
-100% uptime SLA (Credit for downtime)
-Quick Response to Tickets and a comprehensive good documentation library

What’s not
-Instances are charged the full rate, regardless of if they are running or offline.
-Limited number of locations (16 as of January 2019)
-Storage charged in complete blocks (ie 10GB) not per KB like Amazon S3.
-Billed in US dollars
-No High-Availability or inbuilt network load balancers, however home-brew options exist
-No instance monitoring, ie server has gone down, or CPU threshold warnings
-No Paid Support Options

Summary

While we haven’t experienced any issues we wouldn’t recommend using Vultr in production unless you have your own internal safeguards to mitigate against downtime and data loss. Nor is Vultr a direct rival Amazon or Microsoft with its hundreds of different complementary technologies like network load balancers.

For general web hosting we’d recommend against setting up your own linux servers as quite often shared cPanel hosting is faster,cheaper, more stable, more secure and almost always easier to use.

If your just looking to spin up a few linux instances, run a game server or setup services like VPN’s it may be perfectly suited and a fraction of the cost of it’s larger competitors.

Interested in using Vultr? For a limited time, use the link below to get $50 free credit to trial the platform:  https://www.vultr.com/?ref=7774721-4F

What are your thoughts on Vultr, leave us a comment below

The post Vultr, the affordable easy to use cloud first appeared on Air-Gap.