A year ago today | Global Pandemic

Used medical face mask during coronavirus pandemic

A year ago today, the COVID-19 Global Pandemic was declared. It felt like we were living in a movie, right? At times, it still feels like it. No one expected this deep economical shock, the innumerable deaths and the continuous griefs to hit us this hard. Yet, uniting and working together has been the only way to crush the uncertainties of covid-19. Each one of us at Tendenci, have been working hard in restoring the confidence of nonprofits and associations around the world, especially in our nation. Being open source is the advantage we proudly hold.

We appreciate and support the community of NPOs and associations who continue to push everyday. Keep your head up!  We are also thankful to our President Joe Biden for lifting optimism in our American hearts and positive developments regarding America’s battle with COVID

For preparedness support read Coronavirus (COVID-19) Preparedness Guide for Your Association with Your AMS

Love, Peace & Grooviness

Team Tendenci

Now is the moment to focus on cyberattacks during COVID-19 times

Cyberattacks during COVID-19 have been more worrisome at a time when virtual learning is at its peak, at a time where countries are encouraging citizens to stay, learn or work from home. It is why NOW is the crucial time to focus on cybersecurity, whether it’s for yourself or your workplace.

COVID-19 Cybersecurity Image by INTERPOL
#washyourcyberhands From the source: https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Cybercrime/COVID-19-cyberthreats

Here is a list of must reads. Let’s take care of each other during these heavy times due to COVID-19

  1. Wash Your Cyber Hands with INTERPOL : https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Cybercrime/COVID-19-cyberthreats
  2. Cyberattacks Disrupt Learning Even More During COVID-19: https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/09/14/cyberattacks-disrupt-learning-even-more-during-covid-19.html
  3. Resource Guide for Cybersecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: https://www.cisecurity.org/blog/resource-guide-for-cybersecurity-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/
  4. See Cyber Global Infection

Tendenci software can integrate with an LMS (Learning Management System) or MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). If you wish to know more, please give us a call at (281)497-6567 or submit a support ticket. We can’t wait to hear from you.

Stay safe.

Prepare Your Organization for Potential Quarantines with the Outbreak of CoronaVirus Pandemic

CoronaVirus COVID-18 ESRI Graph

Dear Tendenci Community,

A summary of content is found here to help you and your communities prepare for potential quarantines brought on by CoronaVirus ( COVID-19. )


https://www.tendenci.com/articles/help-your-organization-prepare-for-potential-coronavirus-quarantines/

Some reminders of functionality you have RIGHT NOW via Tendenci – The Open Source AMS

Screenshot of Tendenci Social Services Feature Emergency Responder.
https://www.tendenci.com/help-files/tendenci-functionality-to-help-with-crisis-response/

Utilize the Emergency Response and Social Services Functionality built into your Tendenci site:

  1. Use the Emergency Announcement Module to immediately put a notice at the top of every page of your site. 
    https://www.tendenci.com/help-files/tendenci-emergency-announcement/
  2. Review all of the built in preparedness and communication functionality that is in Tendenci summarized here:
    https://www.tendenci.com/help-files/tendenci-functionality-to-help-with-crisis-response/
  3. Use the newsletter module to get messages out to everyone registered on your site fast. 
    https://www.tendenci.com/help-files/sending-a-newsletter-in-tendenci-quick-overview/
  4. Your site also integrates with many other tools like threaded discussions via Discus or displaying your LinkedIn banner and twitter feed. Use the best tool and integrate: https://www.tendenci.com/works-with/
  5. Use Ad-Hoc queries directly against your database for outlier data that may not have been forseen for a given crisis. This is on your Tendenci site at /explorer/ and there is a great starter helpfile on django explorer reporting here https://www.tendenci.com/help-files/how-use-django-sql-explorer-tendenci/

Please stay safe. Because the Puppy Loves You!

Puppy Loves You

Regards, 
Team Tendenci

TLP-WHITE – Energy Associations and Industry Contractors – Russia is targeting you

March 16, 2018: Russia is targeting our critical energy infrastructure. This security bulletin is regarding Russia targeting Energy is a TLP white.

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA18-074A

We appreciate the assistance from the agencies allowing us to share this with our clients promptly. (Notes below **** )

Russia is targeting our critical infrastructure. The US InfoSec has partially enabled this by allowing the NSA code to be hacked and the OPM database to be breached. Not to mention facebook, equifax, chase, target, linkedin, etc.

TLP-WHITE: Russian Government Cyber Activity Targeting Energy and Other Critical Infrastructure Sectors

… This alert provides information on Russian government actions targeting U.S. Government entities as well as organizations in the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors. It also contains indicators of compromise (IOCs) and technical details on the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by Russian government cyber actors on compromised victim networks.

NOTE: please note we have no evidence of anyone specifically targeting a client beyond those we have contacted directly by email or phone call. 

All of those incidents, some of which are on-going, pre-date the incidents as described in the bulletin above. Internally we monitor and address individual incidents directly.

If we (Tendenci) detect a direct threat with our security infrastructure at AWS  and redundant logging and monitoring. Know that we will contact your team. If it is more global in scope monitor our social media (this blog, tendenci twitter. Further we recognize the importance of protecting your data. And the importance of your privacy.

I will add that there is little doubt in my mind that the InfoWars don’t also extend to purchasing advertising, perhaps through a third party, on mainstream sites like Netflix, Youtube, CNN, FOX, Telemundo, etc…. they just haven’t reported it yet.

We get it. Just please, tell us that you understand it as well? This is a huge expense for us internally and it has the intended result – less innovation and more defense. More resources get tied up to maintain what the client sees as “the normal state of affairs.” 

These are the facts of our current reality. We do not have the privilege to ignore reality.

data portals will be rolling out next week for T4 clients

FRIDAY UPDATE FROM THE CEO

To the T4 (Microsoft legacy sites) clients who are still running on limited functionality or no functionality for a few sites still. There is frustration and anger and I hear you loud and clear. We continue to work around the clock and reach out to trusted resources to help us in the rebuild. It just isn’t easy to take a web site up from Windows 2003 to Windows 2012 and reconfigure everything by hand to try to be sure the code it clean. Still, we have learned a lot so that we will be more prepared in the future and I’m extra committed to the migration to the open source Linux version. But what about RIGHT NOW?!

First – data portals are being configured with the sites that have been fully offline going up first.

https://github.com/epantry/django-sql-explorer
Django-SQL-Explorer attached to Replicated Databases

 

You will be notified through the helpdesk via tickets as soon as we have yours up. We may get a few up as soon as this weekend, and then the speed will pick up as we can clone it and modify the authentication information for each client. Thank you for using https://helpdesk.tendenci.com as it has been the only way I personally could jump in and help with tickets and track progress. I know the phone is more personal, but when the bullets are flying overhead it is efficiency we need, and I think we can all agree that it wasn’t efficient enough and things are still going too slow despite automation simply because of the volume.

There are a few other obvious items that we are still working through.

  1. Email notifications. With the changed IP addresses we are seeing some clients delivery rates drop significantly and need to update your DNS to send from an email address at your organization. This requires a site setting update on your site and your DNS provider to make DKIM and SPF record entries for email delivery. It’s tedious but has to be done. Spammers have made things complicated.
    Workaround – the system does record most notices as they are sent for administrators at /en/emails/search.asp on your site.
  2. File uploads – the new web application firewall is much tighter than before, and I know we have had numerous requests to re-enable things like Word Docs and Excel files, but both of those document types support macros in vbscript and are executables. Until we can put them in a read-only bucket for now the only solution is to convert documents to eliminate all spaces and use lowercase and make them PDFs. Why? Because URL encoding can be used to trick people and spaces aren’t as secure.
  3. Creating new pages and image edits. – Again this requires writing to the file system and we need to isolate every site further before this can be turned back on.
  4. Broken images and missing files – not all, but most of those, had embedded code in the images. Unfortunately this also strongly suggests that for the clients experiencing this the most, there is probably a virus on your home or work network and we strongly encourage you scan and analyze your computers. You can use Trend Micro’s HouseCall for a free virus scan.
  5. SITES THAT ARE STILL DOWN – we have NOT forgotten about you. This remains my top priority for the team and is being done either by a different group of people (I’m leading the charge on the few sites still offline personally) or it takes precedence over the items listed above.

To our Tendenci 5 clients, and the sales contact forms, and clients used to a higher level of service who are feeling, and sometimes are, being ignored by our team. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s simply the result of clients who are victims of the hack attack and they have to be our priority.

And lastly, as difficult as this time has been for all of us, because it was a crime and crimes are not victimless, I appreciate the patience of some, I understand the anger and frustration of others, but please know that we will get through this. Even the clients who left, we’re still going to restore your data so you can get it.

I’m hugely grateful to our team for handling the front lines so the technical people like me could focus on solutions instead of discussing them, which ultimately is what everyone wants. This whole thing saddens me and I can’t apologize enough, while at the same time it infuriates me that it happened in the first place.

 

Your SXSW 2012 Interactive Top 10 Tips for Survival

SXSW Interactive is one of, if not THE biggest, interactive marketing and web conference, and is a valuable resource for our team here at Schipul.  SXSW Interactive offers education and the latest and greatest for all things related to web marketing and digital advertising.

I’m excited to be able to give back to my profession this year as a presenter on a panel: Spacepoints’ Space Outreach at Ludicrous Speed! If you’re going to be in Austin in March for SXSW 2012, come check out my panel or just hang out with the team from Schipul attending.  {shameless plug!}

SXSW has a Guide for First Timers that can give you some tips on navigating the conference.  Their guide can get you to the sessions, but when I attend SXSW, I am also looking to connect with other Interactive Agencies to build relationships and identify the latest technology innovations and software tools to help our clients improve their online marketing results.  This results in a 24/7 week-long agenda of AM networking breakfast, blogger’s lounge, panels, afternoon networking, party, party, party, 4 hours of sleep, repeat.  Over the past few years, I’ve developed my own tips for surviving the extended-version of SXSW Interactive.

Here are my Top 10 Tips for Doing SXSW Interactive Hardcore:

1) Say Yes to the Free Caffeine; Say No to the Free Booze.

You’ll find that every party will have plenty of free sugar free red bull, monster energy drinks, vodka or some other kind of alcohol to mix.  Then my Caffeine Hero: Starbucks always comes to the rescue the next morning with plenty of free coffee.  Skip the booze if you want to make it through the entire week, and stock your hotel with fresh fruit and healthy snacks because you’ll be hard pressed to find any food, let alone free food at SXSW.

2) Keep Your Smartphone Charger on You at All Times.

You will be on the go running from panel to panel during the day, and then party to party each night. Carry your phone charger with you, take a spare that you keep in your hotel room (in case you lose your first one), and if you have the option’ get a spare battery too. If you see an outlet near you’ don’t be ashamed to plugin and juice up your phone. Tweeting, foursquaring, and texting is power-intensive and you don’t want to have a dead battery at 2am when you are trying to find directions back to your hotel.

3) Bookmark http://austin2012.sched.org/ and use it to create your personalized SXSW schedule before you get to Austin.

SXSW’s event schedule on their website is pretty good’ however I’ve been using sched.org’s unofficial SXSW guide to find EVERY party, panel, and must attend event possible.  The best places to connect with people at SXSW aren’t always “official” parties.

Sched also offers a new feature this year that enables you to sync your Eventbrite RSVPs and the platform is available for all the major mobile platforms: iphone, Droid and Blackberry. When you get to Austin, you’ll love how easy sched makes it to find your next session on the go.

4) Pack a Swimsuit.

Austin weather is fickle, and it may be 60 degrees in early March or 90. Regardless’ all the hotels have swimming pools and hot tubs and if you are doing it right, you’ll be invited to at least one pool party.  I don’t recommend skinny dipping at SXSW’ everyone has a camera in their smartphone and you what happens at SXSW definitely does NOT stay at SXSW.  So take your favorite swim trunks or bikini when you pack for Austin.

5) Pack a Cowboy Hat and Cowboy Boots.

There will be at least 2 parties with a Texas country theme. If you don’t have western attire’ no worries, Austin has some great shops where you can purchase what you need.  I’ve gotten great Cowgirl boots at  Allen’s Boots and the HatBox has Cowboy hats in every style plus tons of other fun and funky headwear.

6) Pack a Backpack and Leave Your Briefcase at Home.

Have I already mentioned you’ll be on the move for a week? Take a compact backpack with a laptop-padded section for your trip and spare your back and shoulders the strain of running around all day carrying your briefcase. You don’t have to take your laptop or tablet PC’ but you’ll definitely want to have something with you for taking notes in the sessions, even if you prefer traditional pen and paper.  If you are going to any of the developer or design sessions then your laptop will be heavily used. Bloggers will find the Bloggers lounge a great resource for power and snacks while updating your audience with all the latest happenings online too.

7) Talk to Strangers.

The panels are great for professional development but it’s the people at the conference that are the core of the experience so don’t be shy’ say Hi to everyone you meet. SXSW Interactive hosts the largest single gathering of ‘Connectors” you’ll ever find so strike up a conversation and get connected with new people who will help you grow your business, launch your start-up, or make an introduction to that big prospect or thought leader.

8) Take More Business Cards Than You Think You’ll Need’ and Stickers Too!

I probably go through 200-300 mini-moos each SXSW. I order cards JUST for SXSW that have my contact information while at the conference. I include a headshot so people recognize me throughout the week, my mobile so people can text me about any “pop-up” parties, my email address for following up later, and this year my panel information so people will know when and where I’ll be presenting. I recommend moo.com’s mini-moos if you are going to order cards just for the event. Here’s my cards for this year:

9)  Make Time to Visit the Exhibitions, Showcases, and Lounges.

One of the best places to find out about innovations in online technology is SXSW’s Interactive.  The only place I personally can imagine being cooler for a tech-geek like me is the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas.  SXSW has several different Trade Shows and Showcase Lounges featuring an array of products and services that your business may want to utilize for growing online and offline next year.  You definitely want to make your rounds to the SXSW Start-up Village Showcase featuring new technology start-ups, plus you can snag some really fun Swag!

10) Don’t Try to Do Everything.

You can’t.  I tried one year and came back with no voice left and a dazed and confused fog that took 2 more weeks to dissipate.  Until cloning techniques advance, I’ll have to settle with missing about 2/3rds of everything because so much is going on all at once.

Schedule at least 4 to 6 hours of sleep each night.  Make time in your schedule to get away from the convention center to walk around the lake one morning or take a couple of hours one afternoon and take a nap in your hotel.  SXSW, when done right, is both grueling and an amazing experience.  Definitely dive right into the throng of digital tech madness, but be sure to turn off your phone every so often…

And remember: Don’t Drink the Free Booze!

Hurricane Season supply checklist – be prepared!

Basic Hurricane and Safety Preparedness Kits

June 1, marked the beginning of   National Safety Month, so we’ve put together a short video on what you can do to be prepared in case of an emergency, as well as a few helpful tips.   If you live near the coast, you are well aware that hurricane season is here!!   Stock up and stay safe:

Hurricane Preparedness Kit from Schipul – The Web Marketing Co. on Vimeo.

  • Water – at least 3 days of drinking water for everyone in your family including pets (about 1 gallon per person per day). Have a week on hand if possible. Backup sterilization devices (Steripen or Katadyn Extream) and water   enhancers like powdered mixes that replenish electrolytes are handy to have as well.
    • Food – at least 3 days of food per person and pet. We recommend foods that are easy to prepare and don’t require a lot of clean-up like peanut butter, Freeze dried/ dehydrated foods (available at camping stores0, and sweet treats and comfort foods. Don’t forget a can opener for shelf stable canned goods.
    • Lighting– a standard flashlight with extra batteries is a good start. Since lighting is as much a need as a sense of comfort, fun lighting ideas include Glowsticks and Glow-In-the-Dark Stickers.
    • First Aid Kit – extra allergy or   prescription medication is a good idea.   You may want to add   old prescription glasses, sunscreen, and mosquito spray to your basic first-aid kit.
    • Communication – weather and battery operated radio, power inverter that plugs into you car, cell phone backup battery, and online wireless system (in case your phone is damaged), a wireless air card (for laptop) and a USB to back up documents and keep them safe.
    • Atlas – It’s important to follow the secure hurricane routes recommended by officials. An atlas will help you navigate in case you need to go off the beaten path.
    • Storage – keep everything in one safe place and don’t cheat and use it in the meantime. A nice backpack or storage bin is easy to grab and go and make sure items (like batteries or canned goods) are rotated out for freshness.

    How can we help you stay safe during hurricane season?

    Feel free to contact us (info@tendenci.com or   281-497-6567) for additional information or for help putting together your Hurricane Preparedness Kit.

    Helpful Emergency and Hurricane Preparedness Sites

    USB Flash- Don’t leave home without it, and leave one at a friends

    Pink Tokidoki Flash  DriveFlash drives – cheap and easy backup can save on Vacation Stress

    They fit in your pocket, on your key chain and just look cool. With all the phones and portable devices we carry these days, we forget about these flash drives at the bottom of our desk drawers. The USB drive still has a couple of great features for traveling. Even if you are settled in for a nice staycation, add this little packing and preparedness tip to your travel plans or todo list. Snag a USB drive on sale in a multi-pack as the prices continue to fall on these little jewels. Or, pick up one of Happy Katies favorite designer Flash drives by MimoBot. Now, get ready for some scanning.

    Files, documents and every important document you would ever need, all in your pocket. Scan personal documents and records in case you lose your wallet or passport and you will have a digital image of all your registrations. But, but… WAIT! What if the wrong person finds it when it drops out of the pocket of your shorts? No worries, you should encrypt the contents with TrueCrypt or your favorite security feature.

    These little tech toys have some crazy cool options besides just a backup. Don’t want to carry a laptop or computer with you? Portable Apps Platform ScreenshotCan’t spring for the iPad yet? You can save all your bookmarks, favorite email settings, and doc settings on a FlashDrive and launch your profile from any public computer without fear of leaving your crumbs all over the desktop. Portable Apps is an open source software platform you install on your flashdrive or other backup device, adjust your settings, then plug it into a computer and run your programs from your own drive. You have access to all your software and personal data just like on your own PC.

    What to save on your USB Drive

    Losing important documents can ruin what should be a happy vacation. A little safety and planning can eliminate much of the stress. Before you pack up and leave, take the time to scan copies of important documents and save the files on to a secure area of the flash drive. Here are some examples of important documents:

    • Vacation Plans: Itinerary, Maps and receipts of deposits for reservations.
    • Personal documents: Drivers license, passport, birth certificate, Insurance cards (health and auto), Credit Cards and CC phone numbers for lost cards.
    • Home Documents: Home Insurance, Auto Titles, Registrations, photos of big purchase items for insurance documentation, and documents that would be hard to replace if you came back home and they weren’t there. Yikes! My next plan is to scan old family photos for safekeeping before they detoriate or get wet in the next hurricane.
    • Medical Records: List of medications for each family member, immunizations, List of family doctor and dentist contacts.
    • School and Work Records: Nice to have everything in one place while you are at it. Include copies of your transcripts, diplomas, Resume, licenses, permits, Wills, and any other items you may want to keep all organized.

    Now, your life is basically in one place if you ever have to recreate your history or need to hide it Bourne style. This is a cheap and easy way to travel light, backup photos off the camera while on vacation for processing later, and use software programs securely when on public machines. In fact, buy a couple of the drives, make copies of the drive and give one to a friend to put in their safe deposit box or mail one to a family member in another part of the country in case of emergency.

    Enjoy your trip, be safe, and tell us how you use your Flash Drive for your vacation!

    Houston Humane Society’s 1st Annual Suds-n-Safety: Are you and Chauncy prepared?

    BathtimeWhether you have been tuning in to KPRC’s beloved Frank Billingsly…or the hairs on your arm are suddenly pointing due east, you are well aware that hurricane season is vastly approaching. Not only that, but you are beginning to realize that the wretched smell radiating off of your furry friend Chauncy can no longer be succumbed with five squirts of Febreeze.

    Come on people…cleaning the dog with air freshener? That’s so pedestrian.

    But alas! You no longer need to fret my little angora rabbits…the wonderful folks at the Houston Humane Society are at it again! This Saturday from 10-2, bring your rats nest…that’s you Chauncy, down to the 1st Annual Pet Paradise Suds-n-Safety, a dog wash benefiting the Houston Humane Society.

    Suds-n-Safety will offer information on how to get you and your tail-wagger ready for hurricane season. The event is also featuring $20 microchips for those pups who yearn for the taste of adventure and a vaccination clinic for those pups who…I guess you can say also yearn for the taste of adventure.

    So come on out to Suds-n-Safety this Saturday…Chauncys’ all over the world will thank you.

    Location:
    Pet Paradise
    7511 Monroe Rd.
    Houston, TX 77061

    For more information:
    Lisa Pogue at 713-341-3311 or e-mail lpogue@houstonhumane.org

    If you would like even more information about disaster preparedness, check out Schipul’s recent blog post, ‘Preparing for disaster at home and in the office’ are you ready?”

    Thanks Jenah Crump Photography for the adorable   photo!