In This Issue
Factoid Cake Quiz
Tech Tip: 25 Worst Passwords
Seminar: MS Office 365
Feature: Office 365
Did You Know...?
Outstanding Client of the Quarter
Afinety: Out & About
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Factoid Cake Quiz

 
Every issue of Afinety+ will feature a "Factoid Cake Quiz."  Answer this question right, and be eligible for a drawing to have a delicious cake of your choice delivered directly to your office!
 
Last issue's question:  

According to the ABA, what percentage of law firms currently use Twitter? 

 

1. 5%

2. 9%

3. 19%

4. 22%
  
Answer: #3:  19%.  According to the Annual ABA Tech Survey, "Use of Twitter by law firms also grew slightly over last year. Nineteen percent of respondents said that their firms maintain a presence on Twitter or similar microblog services. That is up from 13 percent last year, 7 percent in 2011 and 5 percent in 2010."  To read more, click here.

 

Congratulations to Helene Bizar of the Law Offices of Michels & Lew!  A cake and all the trimmings will be delivered to your offices. Enjoy! 
        
THIS ISSUE'S QUESTION

Born in 1906, US Navy Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper was a pioneer in the field of computer science and is credited for which achievement?
  1. One of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer
  2. Developed the first compiler for a computer programming language
  3. Conceptualized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages
  4. Popularized the term "debugging" for fixing computer glitches (inspired by an actual moth removed from the computer)
  5. US Navy destroyer USS Hopper (DDG-70) is named for her
  6. The Cray XE6 "Hopper" supercomputer at NERSC is named for her
  7. All of the above

  

THINK YOU KNOW??   

 Click here to answer 

  

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TECH TIP!  

 
Top 25 Worst Passwords

The following tech tip is provided by Kevin McCarthy, VP of Operations at Afinety.     

 

SplashData, which makes password management applications, releases an annual "Worst Passwords" list compiled from common passwords that are posted by hackers.  The top three -- "password," "[consecutive digits 1-8]*," and "[consecutive digits 1-6]*," -- have not changed since last year.  New ones include "jesus," "ninja," "mustang," "password1," and "welcome." Other passwords have moved up and down on the list, which suggests that changing people's habits isn't easy.

 

Time Tech suggests you should have different passwords for all of your accounts. To make it easier to remember them, think about passwords as "passphrases."  For instance, use a phrase like "dog eats bone" and add underscores, dashes, hyphens, and other punctuation marks to satisfy the special character requirement: "dog_eats_bone!"*

 

Ready for the list of the worst? 

 

Here it is:

  1. password
  2. [digits from 1-6]*
  3. [digits from 1-8]*
  4. abc123
  5. qwerty 
  6. monkey
  7. letmein
  8. dragon
  9. 111111
  10. baseball
  11. iloveyou
  12. trustno1
  13. [digits from 1-7]*
  14. sunshine
  15. master
  16. 123123
  17. welcome
  18. shadow
  19. ashley
  20. football
  21. jesus
  22. michael
  23. ninja
  24. mustang
  25. password1

* Interesting note: consecutive digits are so hackable that ConstantContact does not allow them in the text of emails to you, so we had to encrypt the bad password examples.  If this is your password - CHANGE IT NOW! 

 

Questions?  Call Afinety's great support staff at 877.423.4638.   

  

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Happy holidays and welcome to our Winter issue.  As 2013 comes to a close, we'd like to thank you for your continued business and support.   It's been a tremendous year and we couldn't have done it without you, our loyal clients, partners and friends. 

 

We're very excited about 2014 and all of the new technology trends coming our way.  We will keep you informed as usual and look forward to seeing you at our seminars and upcoming events.

 

Until then, we wish you all the best that the holiday season has to offer and a New Year filled with health, happiness, and spectacular success! 

 

Enjoy!

Angie's Signature

Angie Moskalenko
Afinety, Inc.    
  

 

seminarAfinety Seminar Series: New Year 2014
MS Office 365:  Your Complete Office in the Cloud 
 
Your business evolves. So does Office 365. Work from wherever you want, whenever you want.  Plus, you'll have the latest features to help you work smarter. 

Join us for a lunch seminar to kick off our 2014
seminar series. 
  • Downtown Los Angeles: Wednesday, January 22nd
    DT LA Omni Hotel.  11:30am - 1:30pm.
  • Orange County: Thursday, January 23rd
    Hyatt Irvine.  11:30am - 1:30pm.
  • Century City: Thursday, January 29th
    Hyatt Regency.  11:30am - 1:30pm. 
  • San Francisco: Tuesday, February 2nd
    SF Microsoft Customer Conference Center, Westfield Centre.  11:30am - 1:30pm.
Watch for your invitation soon!  If you'd like to reserve your place now, please email us and we'll add you to the rsvp list

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feature Office 365 - Microsoft Cloud Services 

By Doug Hafford, VP of Consulting Services

    

More and more businesses are looking to the cloud for solutions to their IT needs.  The cloud offers significant features for any business, but also includes challenges - especially for law firms.  Microsoft offers a hybrid solution (both local and cloud) that can solve a number of common issues law firms face, while also eliminating many of the problems the cloud creates.

The challenge for law firms in the cloud is integration.  Most true cloud based systems do not integrate with local or other cloud based software and features.  Law firms use a wide variety of software, often specific to certain users or practice areas which means that even full cloud based firms have significant local software installs - and thus IT challenges.

What Office 365 does is to provide network services from a strong, massively redundant cloud platform, eliminating the need for local servers, storage and related support.  At the same time, Office 365 still offers full integration with locally installed applications.  Thus the firm enjoys both the unmatched performance of a local network, and the elimination of significant onsite resources.

In its most basic form, here is how Office 365 works:
  • Microsoft hosts your email in the cloud. 
  • Microsoft Office is installed on your local PC or laptop and Is set up to use Microsoft as its email host.
  • Anti-spam and virus prescreening features are built in so there is no need for additional services.
  • On the road, you can access your email from any web browser using Outlook Web Access.
Upgraded versions of Office 365 can add other features:
  • Microsoft Office Professional Plus Licensing
  • Lync chat and video chat services
  • Microsoft SharePoint services
  • Visio and Project online
  • Microsoft Office Web Apps - which are slimmed down web versions of the office applications
  • SkyDrive data storage
With Office 365 you can move significant portions of your internal services to the cloud and depend on a massive provider to give you 99.9% up time and access from anywhere.  Even if your local network is down, say from a power outage, major portions of your system are still live and working. 

Where it makes most sense is for email.  Most of the common legal applications do now or soon will support Office 365 hosted email.  iManage for example - the clear leader in law firm document management -- fully supports Office 365 email hosting in version 9.x of their system.

From the user standpoint, there is little if any difference, but for the firm there are significant cost savings.  In fact, Office 365 hosted email costs about the same as some of the common anti-spam systems, so for most firms it is simply shifting cost from one thing to another while eliminating the need for an email server, the requisite storage and backup costs.   So for less money, you get an email system that is up 24x7, works anywhere and is backed by a tech giant using common technology. 

Office 365 is the first step towards eliminating costly portions of your network.  At the same time it offers the outstanding performance and reliability of locally installed systems.  Integration continues, the flexibility for users to have specific applications remains and mobility is improved.  Overall Office 365 is the answer for almost any law firm's services need.
  

 

didyaknowDid you know?  Our Network Operations Center in Pittsburgh, PA is constantly working behind the scenes to make sure that our clients are fully protected.  

 

We recently upgraded Reserve offsite backup services, including the offsite vault and ALL clients machines so that it fully supports MS Exchange 2013. 

 

We're looking at another upgrade in early 2014 to include MS Server 2012 R2.  

 

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clientOutstanding Client of the Quarter: Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho

 

Every quarter, Afinety selects a client to name as the "Outstanding Client of the Quarter."  This quarter we would like to recognize Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho (GBDH).  The firm will receive a catered lunch delivered to their Oakland office, along with our thanks and admiration. 

All of our clients are special to us and the relationships we form with them are very much a partnership.  The Outstanding Client of the Quarter is selected for their professionalism as well as the benefits they receive from Afinety's unique standardization and planned refresh approach.  A professional firm like GBDH requires a professional computer system and this becomes part of their own clients' perception of the firm. 
 
We sat down with the firm's Controller, May Rafanan, who has been with the firm for over 4 years. 
 
May was first introduced to Angie Moskalenko of Afinety at a ProLaw Conference in Las Vegas.  The firm was utilizing ProLaw and was in need of some consultation and assistance with their network in general.
  
"The initial Network Health Assessment was scheduled and I was impressed by the detailed report and analysis of our system's current state," explained May.  The firm was experiencing some downtime and wanted a solid solution with a blueprint plan for the future.
  
When asked what has been her experience with Afinety's services, May explained that their network upgrade project and transition to Afinety went very smoothly.  "We have had no downtime since partnering with Afinety" recalls May.  "I would definitely recommend Afinety to others.  There are no surprises because everything is explained thoroughly and accurately." 
May also mentioned that she appreciates the daily monitoring service as well as the fact that everyone at Afinety is very easy to talk to.  "They stay on top of things and fully understand our network.  In addition, the response time is excellent," added May.
  
Afinety's unique Standardization approach delivers a pre-configured and tested network that is fast, stable and reliable.  Our known-working standards are comprised of proven hardware, software and peripherals from HP and Microsoft.   This, along with our proactive services, provides a comprehensive solution that enables our clients to work with minimal IT issues or interruptions.
  
About Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho
  
Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho is one of the oldest and most successful plaintiffs' public interest class action law firms in the country. GBDH represents individuals against large companies in complex, class and collective action lawsuits in the firm's three primary practice areas: employment discrimination, wage and hour violations, and disability access, as well as in other public interest areas. The firm is located in Oakland, California and has a national practice, litigating cases in federal and state courts throughout the country.
  
Congratulations to all of our friends at GBDH! We look forward to seeing you at the luncheon! 

 

outaboutAfinety: Out & About

Afinety is "Out & About" throughout California.  We hope to see you at future events!

ProLaw User Group Meeting, January 21, 2013.  Afinety will host a ProLaw User group lunch meeting in downtown Los Angeles.  If your firm utilizes ProLaw, we encourage you to join us.  For more info, please click here.

Greater Los Angeles Association of Legal Administrators Employment Law Forum, January 25, 2014.  We're looking forward to seeing our GLA ALA friends at the annual ELF event.  Please stop by our booth at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.  Afinety is a proud Platinum sponsor of this chapter. 

  

 

Orange County Association of Legal Administrators Annual Chapter Education Summit, January 31, 2014. The OC-ALA will be hosting their popular annual ACES event and Afinety will be participating as an exhibitor.  We are a proud Emerald sponsor of this chapter once again for 2014.

 

Association of Legal Administrators, Golden Gate Chapter Knowledge to Leadership Conference & Expo, February 12, 2014. This award-winning conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco and will draw attendees from throughout California with its top-flight list of speakers and educational opportunities.  

 

Past Events 

 

Association of Legal Administrators Region 6 Conference & Expo, October 31 - November 2.

Justin Gilbert, Doug Hafford and David Teuber man the exhibit hall in Reno, Nevada.

 

OC SoCalPROS Holiday Cooking Demonstration at Andrei's Conscious Cuisine, Irvine.  Our guests from various Orange County law firms and businesses enjoyed an evening of cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and a holiday cooking demonstration featuring a delicious butternut squash soup!  Click here to download the recipe.

 

   

 

Pasadena Bar 3rd Annual Business Development Conference, November 14, 2013. Afinety participated as an exhibitor at the Pasadena Bar's annual event at Noor, Sofia Ballroom.

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