Internet Security with a Firewall Appliance
By Fred Phillips

The Internet has become a mirror of society in one very unfortunate way. It is plagued with the kind of vandals who enjoy the electronic equivalent of writing on other people’s walls with spray paint. There are hackers that run port scans, try to spoof ip addresses or launch pings of death, etc. Sometimes, this is done to maliciously take down web servers or application servers and other times, the port scans are looking for back door entries into your intranet, installing programs that can be launched to take advantage of your server’s resources such as, your disk space, the processing power of your CPU, or the bandwidth of your Internet connection.

If your organization does not have a firewall in place to prevent these intrusions you could, unwittingly be hosting a music or MP3 store, a ftp server to upload and download programs or a game server that allows computer games to be executed from your web server. This does happen and, if detected and shutdown, the hackers just run their port scanning programs and look for another unprotected network to violate.

These events can go unnoticed for months and may not be a problem until the day that the server runs out of disk space, response time slows down due to processor robbing applications, or the bandwidth of your T1 or DSL circuit chokes with the freeloaders activity.

A firewall is a system that enforces an access control policy between two networks. The firewall has policies and rules that can be configured to block traffic, while other rules permit traffic. Generally, firewalls are configured to protect against unauthenticated interactive logins from the “outside” world. This, more than anything, helps prevent vandals from logging into your machines on your network.

There are many types of firewalls available on the market today. Some common names are, Cisco, Sonicwall and WatchGuard. These products are priced relative to features.

TopForm has recently installed the SonicWall Pro 230 which has these features available:

• Stateful Packet Inspection
  
  Ensures the integrity and validity of every packet that enters your network, keeping malicious threats out while allowing legitimate network traffic to pass through without degrading performance.
  
  
• IPSEC VPN
  
  Protects Virtual Private Network connections from home or remote office by encryption and decryption of data packets for maximum security.
  
  http://www.sonicwall.com/applications/remote.html
  
  
•  Administration Via Web Browser
  
  Easy to navigate menus for adding rules and services and monitor various logs. Setup network parameters, configure DHCP, monitor website hits and more.
  
  
• Content Filtering
  
  With the optional content filtering subscription you can select Web content categories to block or monitor, such as pornography or racial intolerance, from a pre-defined content filter list. 
  
  http://www.sonicwall.com/img/cfs-flash/cfs.html
  
  
• Logging of events
  
  The log will capture events such as ping of death, IP spoof and SYN flood attacks. The log will also report events such as attempted connection to blocked sites or newsgroups.
  
  
•  Anti Virus Content Filtering
  
  With the optional anti Virus Content filtering subscription your network is protected in the event that a new virus outbreak occurs. This feature will distribute virus updates the instant they become available.

Remember, a firewall can’t protect your business against intrusions from within. Information can always be exported via floppy disk, magnetic tape or cdrom.

If you are interested in installing a firewall and need additional assistance, please contact TopForm Support.

Electronic Document Management (EDM)
By Anthony Mullins

The Gartner Group (http://www3.gartner.com), a well-respected independent research and consulting firm specializing in document management, states that the average worker wastes 10 hours every week managing paper documents. Imagine that, 25% of a business week is dedicated and wasted by filing, mailing, searching and other tasks associated with paper documents. The time and resources dedicated to managing paper documents has created a major need for more efficiency. This is one of the reasons that Electronic Document Management has grown into a $17 billion industry. EDM essentially is the process that takes paper documents or electronic data streams and converts that data into an electronic image that can be stored and retrieved on a moments notice. As “high-tech” as that may sound, you might be surprised to hear that this industry has been around for 30 years. The industry has evolved from the Microfiche and Microfilm days to digital, easier-to-use storage and retrieval systems.

Gartner also states that 2 billion pieces of paper are being generated each day. That’s a lot of paper to manage! Each of us is doing our part to generate that amount of paper. So what happens to the paper? Often documents are placed in a file then stored in a filing cabinet, bankers box, warehouse, or other storage mechanism. It costs precious money to upkeep these storage systems and much time is associated with filing, looking for misfiled documents, mailing and so on. This is where EDM steps in. The first process is to scan the documents with a scanner and capture software that converts the paper into a digital image. Secondly, the image needs to be indexed, or categorized so that it can be found later on when needed. This is a very important step, anyone can scan an image but if it can’t be found later, it’s worthless to your business. After the document is properly indexed, the image(s) is stored electronically and can be retrieved via software residing on a server, or by CD/DVD, or by an online document repository. The advantage to your business is that these documents can be retrieved from your desktop. No longer do you have to get up from you desk to go find a piece of paper that may have been misfiled in the first place. This advantage saves time and money for your company.

TopForm Document Imaging offers this technology to you for your internal use as well as teaming with you to offer this technology to your customers. Whether you want to outsource the entire process, or grow your business by adding a profit center for document management solutions, TopForm Document Imaging will work with you to satisfy your requirements. Call Anthony Mullins at 800.448.1484 x5452 to learn more about EDM and how it can benefit your business.

TopForm Software Implements Automated Patch Delivery System
By Theresa Anderson

TopForm Software is an extremely sophisticated, parameter driven system that makes it possible for each distributor user to customize the system to meet their particular needs. However, that knife cuts both ways. This high level of flexibility also can make it extremely difficult to test for all possible parameter combinations when new modules or features are added. Because of this, it is possible that a programming ‘bug’ may exist without causing most of our clients any problem whatsoever and, without our knowledge …. until a user, with the proper combination of parameters, reports it. 

Once it has been discovered, the appropriate action would be to get the correction to all the necessary users. This is easier said than done. The factors that determine who should receive a particular program edit are based upon the modules for which they own a license and a comparison of the date of the creation and the date of resolution of the programming issue with the date of the last release.

This alone was not always reliable. Even though we keep very accurate records on the date a Release CD or Tape was sent to a user, we don’t necessarily know if or when that release was installed. Installing a fix to a problem that didn’t exist in the first place could cause even more havoc. Also, we often perform work orders for our customers where just a few or even a single program might be ported to the customer. Until now, there was not a central log that tracked the installation of these partial releases. As a result, the delivery of these program edits was very tedious and had to be done on a one-at-a-time manual basis. Severity of the issue determined the level of deployment of the support staff to the task of installing the program edits. 

The Support Department is happy to announce that we are initiating a new automated patch delivery system to better serve our customers. This system will allow us to get needed edits and fixes to our customers on a much more timely basis. A new module has been added to our internal support system that allow us to determine which of our customers needs the program modifications based on information we store in the client profile. This information contains the modules licensed, the release dates, and the e-mail address of the company’s system administrator. It will automatically build a list of users that need the edit and blast email each of the applicable system administrators. The email will include instructions and important information regarding the edit and why it is necessary along with an attachment that will contain the edits in a cut and paste format. 

In the following example there is an edit that all users can add to their system. This is a not a critical change so does not need to be applied. If there are multiple programs or multiple changes we will be able to send the necessary attachments with the email. First you will receive the e-mail with information and instructions for loading the edit.

Below is the attachment that would have been included with the above email.

If you have any questions regarding this or another support related issue, please contact TopForm Support at 770 239-7777.

You’ve Got Mail 
By Jean Dudek

Are you taking full advantage of your TopForm email capability? Did you know that TopForm can automatically fax, email and/or print Requests for Quotes and Purchase Orders to Vendors and Quotes, Invoices and Reorder Notices to your customers?

Faxing and/or emailing are made possible through the integration of TopForm, VSI*Fax and your Electronic Forms. In addition to the automated faxes, you can now email the following documents directly to the intended recipient.

• RFQ’s to Vendor
• Quotes to Customer
• Purchase Order’s to Vendor or Plant, Salesperson, Warehouse and Ship To
• Invoices to Customers and Sales Reps
• Reorder Notices to Customer or Forms Contact

Where do I enter the email addresses?

The email address is set up to override the fax number. On your Electronic Forms Menu, choose the Fax Number Type option. Here you specify the type. This field will correspond to the type of recipient. Then enter the code. In the example below you are entering the vendor code and then the applicable email address for that vendor. There is also an option to enter a Plant code and a unique email address for that plant.

For Reorder Notices, the “Type” will be Reorder Notice, then you are asked to enter a customer code. You can also enter in a Form Contact code so that the emailed Reorder Notice can be directed to the person responsible for that form.

The TopForm server must be running the correct version of VSI-FAX (4.x or higher) and be configured for "Send Mail". The TopForm server also needs to have Internet access, either directly or through a proxy server.

If you need assistance, please contact TopForm Support.

TopForm is pleased once again to host an Executive Client Conference at this year’s Informservices. Join Julie Pritchard and Keith McBride on Tuesday, October 21st from 5:30pm until 7:30pm for a TopForm Update. The agenda will include new Web.ec features, including order approval, new TopForm products including the Graphical User version of TopForm Software and XML development plans and progress. Mark your calendar and check your email for more information.