Kapiti IT

02/07/2025

Oh dear, another timely reminder that it may time to get your cyber security in check - we are seeing small businesses hacked on almost daily basis too coming to us after their existing MSP or IT guy left them hanging. Call for a full consultation, it could be something as simple as you're on the wrong Microsoft licensing that offers zero protection.

Qantas is warning a "significant" amount of customer data has likely been stolen from its records during a cyber attack against the airline on Monday.

20/05/2025

Power cuts like the one in Kapiti this afternoon can have a big impact on business. Now may be the time to get a UPS installed for all your electrical and technology to keep working when the power goes out. While larger outages can affect Fibre outside your home, those using fibre alternatives such as Starlink can keep operational during a short electrical outage with a decent UPS.

Send a message to learn more

13/08/2024

Are you getting a Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender on some of your sent emails to your friends, colleagues and businesses using Xtra.co.nz emails? Are you an Xtra customer waiting on a reply that hasn't come? In the last 36 hours we've been inundated with calls about Xtra emails -Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 554-5.7.1 Message rejected due to possible spam content. You're not alone, this looks like another email issue by Spark. Resending the same email seems to work but at this stage it's very intermittent and seems to be only when replying to an email you've received, i.e. Person A at Xtra emails you and you reply or you are Person A replying to an email a non-Xtra customer sent you - We recommend to contact Spark for an escalation. It could be they are missing DKIM and DMARC records as per below. https://easydmarc.com/tools/domain-scanner?domain=xtra.co.nz

06/08/2024

Can't watch Netflix or TVNZ on your new laptop that came with Norton Antivirus? Chances are you have their secure VPN turned on which masks your NZ IP address with a foreign IP. Turn this feature off and you will find your geo services start working again. Norton is pushed by sales reps at the big box retailers when buying a new laptop or tablet but few customers are shown all the features and how they work and need to be setup. You will need to setup rules on your VPN settings to only work for specific websites, wireless networks or applications - our team can help you do this.

06/08/2024

Kapiti.IT is now advertising and supporting another local business; Coffee News - Kapiti Coast. This free weekly publication is available at lots of local retail and hospitality businesses throughout Kapiti Coast. Who's spotted our advert in this weeks edition yet? For all your wireless, internet and general IT or technology needs please get in touch!

21/04/2024

Great article, many ISPs tout faster speeds but if your wireless or local network is struggling now, it will probably be struggling after upgrading your plan. If you're still experiencing wireless issues it might be time to upgrade your cabling, router, add access points, mesh networking or run an Ethernet backhaul as well as hardwiring in your demanding devices - if possible. If you want 4 bars in every room, give us a ring, solutions to suit every budget, home size and Internet user.

Research suggests Kiwis are investing in the promise of faster home internet, only to discover the thief of faster speeds are living in their own walls.

13/03/2024

Picture this scenario that happens daily across NZ; you use a nice easy to remember password for your email, i.e. Xtra that has no MFA enabled for webmail access - not very security focused. You then use the same password for Facebook, Instagram or Tiktok and only have email 2FA setup. You signup to a 3rd party website with the same email and password, i.e. Canva who then get hacked. Someone goes to Xtra and logs in to your webmail under the cover of darkness, i.e. 3am when you're fast asleep, then goes to Facebook and types the email and hits forgot password. Waits for the email in your Xtra, clicks the button and changes your FB password, then deletes the Facebook email. They then change your social media name, delete your photos and start spamming your contacts with malware. Facebook recon you've been hacked so send you email alerts which the hacker also deletes from your inbox before changing your Facebook email address to their own so you will never recover your access. The following morning you can't even follow Facebooks own recovery policies as your email address no longer exists! Overnight maybe 10-15 years of social media gone!

Please do not use the same password in multiple locations, ever! If you are using websites with no MFA then you need a long random password.. 16-24 characters should do it. How exactly do you remember that? A password manager from companies such as Bitwarden. We set these up regularly for clients and import all your existing passwords saved in your browser before changing the duplicates to unique passwords. When you signup to a new website you'll choose a random password for every new website, cool huh?

Protect your data with unique passwords and where MFA is available, turn this on! Call for a full cyber-security checkup.

12/03/2024

Ready for your colleagues to ask about your new we**am?
You'll be able to tell them you actually finally fixed your Internet.
Get in touch for a wireless audit and solution for your home/business.
☎ 027 959 5000 or message us.

10/03/2024

We've been getting a lot of wireless and internet callouts lately. If you're struggling with dead spots, weak signal or dropouts, buffering or slow speeds, we can help. Ultimately having the best wireless at home comes at a cost, but if you work at home, run a home based business or are tired to dealing with your ISPs excuses or inability to fix the issue it might be time to replace your wireless gear with something far superior. We only use the very best equipment with solutions for every property size including indoor, outdoor, outbuildings and Airbnbs and sleepouts.

20/12/2023

Data Backup: This week we've been dealing with a lot of data issues. Are you actively backing up your data, if not, now might be the time to get your data backed up. Data is precious and most of us have photos and documents we need (7 years of tax data?), but don't use or view daily. You need your data stored in 3 places for peace of mind. This is usually the primary device, a backup device such as a NAS or external hard drive, and a cloud storage provider such as Onedrive, Google Drive or Wasabi. There's tools out there to sync data between locations to keep everything backed up for peace of mind. Small businesses can benefit from an onsite NAS too.

Regularly we're called out when a drive has failed and is either preventing the computer from starting, or data has been lost. Depending on the drive failure, this can often be recovered using advanced software within 2-3 hours. For complete drive failures, physical examination of the hard drive is required and this is when it gets expensive. The average price to recover a drive is around $700 due to the time it takes! Some drives are completely unrecoverable and this is when you quickly realise the amount of data and memories you've just lost in an instant. We regularly have clients who have never backed up their data in over 10 years!

If you have a faulty drive the most important thing is to call a data recovery specialist such as Kapiti IT. Don't go hunting on Youtube for quick fixes or attempt to download software on Google - most are scams and cost money and can damage the drive further.

Here is a photo of a successful recovery we did this week. The customer would have lost 8 years of data - some of it was backed up. This recovery was done within 2 hours. This was from an HDD drive that was damaged in a power cut. We also help with SSD, USB flashdrives and memory cards.