State of INFOCOM February 2014

Greetings Marines,

Before we get started of this report, I would like to point out some pieces of information that I came across earlier this week.
Microsoft has announced the end of support for Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 effective April 8, 2014. Now this doesn’t mean that the products will cease to function after that date but it does mean that Microsoft will no longer publish security patches and updates for these products. There will be security vulnerabilities that will not be fixed after this date. I would recommend that if you haven’t updated from these products you should make plans to upgrade as soon as you can. The one problem you can run into sometimes when upgrading is the new operating system or program will not work with your older computer hardware. Therefore you may need to upgrade your hardware as well. Depending on how you use your computers or devices this can be an expensive proposition.
And now for you Apple folks, you’ve got some issues as well. Apple has issued a security update for OS X. It patches a bug that would let hackers eavesdrop on supposedly encrypted connections and steal everything from usernames and passwords to location data. You can find this information with a quick Google search and make sure you update all your devices regardless if its and Apple or Microsoft whenever security patches are available. This will save you a lot of headaches down the road.
And now on with the report. As the Commandant announced our new logo and seal are now approved and available. I have already started updating the graphics on the SFMC website and other locations that I’m responsible for. I also have uploaded a zip file with different resolutions of the new SFMC logo and seal at this link. https://www.library.sfi-sfmc.org/downloads/sfmc_logos_complete.zip. We are currently planning on other updates, there will more information on my next few weeks.
I have started replacing the banner rotation on the SFMC website. I had requested each active Brigade send me a banner to represent their Brigade and I would add it to the rotation. The only brigades that has responded as of this date are the 12th and 5th brigades, their banners has been posted. You can check it out by going to the SFMC website and watching it roll through the banners. Although I’m not a graphics designer, I can use Photoshop a little, so if you have any questions or need assistance with your banner design please let me know and I’ll do what I can to help. Please send your banners to infocom@sfi-sfmc.org.

In closing here’s the pingdom stats for February.
Uptime: 100.00%
Outages: 0
Response time: 632 ms

Mark “Slayer” Anderson
Brigadier General, SFMC
COINFOCOM
Team Delta