The odd-musings of Jared, the Director of Network Security for IAPS Security Services.

Hi Folks,

Its Jared here. Some time ago a technician I was talking to (that isn’t affiliated with IAPS) said that this project couldn’t be completed and put into a production environment. That conversation stayed on my mind for quite some time before I decided to prove him wrong. I have now developed a working class environment thats capable of handling everything that Windows 7 has to offer, in a secure and remote environment that will run even your most demanding programs.

Over the last few years I’ve listen to hundreds of stories and complaints by people who purchase virtual private servers (vps) only to find out that many of their work programs including accounting software, billing, creativity, designing, computer aided drafting (cad) software, and many other things just simply won’t work on a server operating system. So that spawned my brain working and looking for the perfect solution. Finally I’ve come up with it!

I’ve been able to create, test, re-test, and deploy numerous scenarios where a Windows 7 remote desktop environment can beat out every local isp environment out there. Many people are concerned over their local isp’s upload speed. In 9 out of every 10 users I’ve ever done remote support for I’ve seen their local upload speed max out at under 1 MB/s. What if a system existed that could upload anything you wanted at nearly 100 MB/s? Well, that day is today and we’ve got it waiting for you!

This is a remote system fully controllable by you. You can download any software you want. This is your personal playground or work area where nothing is impossible. Even if you leave your house, your work, or even your school, you can access your remote desktop system any where! Work in peace and security and with an internet speed second to none. Your local isp plays absolutely no role here and your remote desktop system is not confined in any way. Use it to its full potential.

When considering this, I tested every angle and what was possible and what was not possible. Listed below are the environments IAPS can create for your personal slice of heaven:

Operating Systems:
Windows 7 Professional (fully licensed)

Productivity Software:
Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus (fully licensed)
Microsoft Office 2010 Standard Edition (fully licensed)

Processor Availability:
4 x Intel Core 2 Quad (2.40+ GHz) Processors
8 x Intel i7 920 (2.66+ GHz) Processors

RAM:
DDR3 2 – 12 GB

Network Connectivity:
1 Gigabit

Hard Drive Space:
50 GB – 1 TB

Monthly Bandwidth:
No Limit (yes, this means no limit)

Hopefully there are enough options presented here to give you an idea of the possibilities that we can create for you. Nothing is impossible here and we can create custom systems for nearly any one. If you have personal preferences in how you want your system built, thats no problem. We can deploy it any way you want. If you have any additional questions regarding this project, drop us a line. Thank you.

Hi Folks,

The primary IAPS Security Store will be on a 2-hour maintenance cycle today as we have some administrative updates that need to be performed and we’ll be releasing a new overall design for the store in the hopes that it makes your browsing and shopping experience that much easier. We will also be releasing some new payment options as well. We will try to get the store area back online as soon as possible. Thank you.

Hi Folks,

I’m happy to report that we’ve gotten the Skyhawk server fixed and even performed an upgrade on it. We’re adding the user accounts now as quickly as possible. Because of the changes we’ve made, if your assigned to this server you will need to request your new password. Usernames remain the same. The only change will be your password. When requesting your new password, send in your request with this information from your original (or most recently issued) account welcome email:

Your Order # is:
Your User Name is:
Your Password is:
Account Start Date:
Account Expires on:
Assigned Country:
Server Name:

When we receive this information, we will activate your account within minutes of receiving your request. Thank you for your patience.

Hi Folks,

This notice only applies to those of you assigned to the Skyhawk server. Please be advised that we will be addressing a few of the issues on this server in a few hours from now that cause it to keep shutting itself down. Because we’re working on a Sunday, this server will be more than ready to go again before Monday morning so your regular schedule should not be affected. We apologize for any inconveniences caused. Thank you.

Hi Folks,

My sincere apologies for not updating the blog days ago. So many new projects are in the works that I’m not finding enough time in the day to get everything done that I’d like to. I wanted to let you folks know I’m creating our first ever Screencast Video Tutorial Library thats designed to be both informative, educational, and will get you setup in the fastest time possible. The library is quite small at this time but over the coming weeks quite a few new videos will be released and we’ll constantly be expanding this library as issues are brought to us or we receive specific requests for how-to videos. This video series will not only focus on the services that we offer, but will provide an informative insight into various ways that you can keep your own pc running at maximum performance. We will also address issues such as what affects bandwidth, how to determine what spyware is and how to get rid of it, why we can live without browser toolbars and how it dramatically affects our pc performance, how certain firewall and anti-virus software companies do us more harm than good, why we should stay away from software that claims to “clean your registry”, and how to identify scam emails.

These are just some of the ideas that we have at this time. We are completely open to video suggestions from our clients and members of the public. Due dilligence and credit for this video library idea goes to an IAPS client that I’ve spoken to at length and he provided his thoughts and ideas that formed the basis of this idea. I have not obtained his permission to call him by his name in this blog posting so I’ll hold that back for now, but you know who you are and I know you’ll be reading this post shortly after its published.

All server maintenance periods are over at this time. If you have any account issues or would like more information about the new SSTP VPN service, please drop us a line and let us know. The public videos mentioned above can only provide a broad insight into what we’re doing, but we are working on very specific videos for our actual clients that will show you how to perform each setup yourself with relative ease and its presented in the most non-technical way that we can present it. In future videos we will delve into how each vpn service (PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, & SSTP) actually works and what its doing that you can’t see. Each process will be fully explained. We feel its imperative that each and everyone of you knows exactly how our services work and how they provide their services to you. I haven’t seen very many videos that depict how these services really work, so we’re planning on breaking it down and showing you all each process. It is our hopes that the more knowledge you have, the better you apply it. Comments & questions on this blog posting can be sent to our contact form here.

Hi Folks,

We were kind of interrupted during our last server maintenance period because the time period we had originally planned clashed with the times the World Cup was playing. In order to keep the majority satisfied, we held off on some crucial maintenance that needed to be done. As the games won’t come on again until this Friday, we’ve decided now was the right time to get another server done. Over the next 5 hours or so we’ll have the Eurostar server down for a maintenance window. I’ll make another announcement when this server is done and operational again. Thank you for your patience.

Hi Folks,

I just wanted to add a quick note here that we’ve taken the new SSTP VPN Service and made it available in the following jurisdictions that we cover:

Australia
United States
United Kingdom
Czech Republic
Switzerland
Germany
Italy
Belgium
Netherlands
Ireland
France
Spain
Poland
Portugal
Finland
Lithuania

Folks, seriously SSTP can pull out a can of woop-ass against standard PPTP or L2TP/IPSec connections. I am very impressed with its capabilities, speed, stability, ease of use after the initial installation, and overall performance. Plus since it can skirt around any firewall or router restrictions – it thus becomes the perfect solution! Never again have to re-configure your router, firewall, or any other part of your computer. Whereas PPTP and L2TP/IPSec can be stopped by routers or firewalls, SSTP can’t. This means you can use it anywhere, and at any time.

SSTP Beta testing is being taken off the testing status and has moved to active production status in all the above jurisdictions. More information about obtaining this new service for your existing service can be found here. Now if your thinking its not worth it, your short-changing yourself. Especially if your a tv streamer or looking for fantastic security combined with the fastest possible vpn service known to the modern world.

A short diagram and introduction that should be easily read by all of you can be found here. This depicts what happens when you initiate an SSTP VPN connection and how traffic is authticated, verified, and secured. If you have any questions or queries regarding this new service, please contact us here.

Hi Folks,

Server maintenance is now complete for the servers mentioned in the last post. Due to the nature of how we had to configure the servers, some of you assigned to the Silverhawk server will need to mail us and request your new password. All your other account information remains the same and no other changes are needed.

For those of you that are happy with your PPTP or L2TP/IPSec vpn service can continue on as normal. For those of you interested in the upgrade, see this page with information on how to proceed and which countries we have available right now for our production servers.

Hi Folks,

We will experience some downtime today for the following servers: Silverhawk, Firehawk, Skyhawk, and Secure9. This downtime is needed to perform mass maintenace and to bring these servers into compliance with the SSTP protocol. Once these major changes are done, I will make another announcement regarding what you need to do. IAPS technicians will be on duty all night to help all of you to convert to the new protocol. For those streaming tv services, the sstp protocol is 10 times leaner in resources and will provide the most stable streaming you’ve ever seen. No router or firewall can stop the sstp protocol so this change has the best interest at heart for all of you. For those of you that travel a lot and are frequently blocked by hotel routers and firewalls from accessing your vpn, those days will be long gone. Please be patient while these changes are being made as its you that benefits from this. Thank you.

Hi Everyone,

I hope all of you are enjoying the outcome of the games so far. I would imagine a few of you have even put some wagers down on the games.

Anyways, I’m pleased to begin public beta testing for our new SSTP Stealth Technology VPN Service for the United Kingdom. This technology is designed from the ground up to defeat all filters, corporate firewalls that block vpn’s, public hotel’s that block vpn’s, government networks that block vpn’s, and even local isp’s that block them too. Absolutely no router re-configuration is ever needed for this and I’m pretty sure no firewall can block this.

What I’m looking for is a few of you out there at work or somewhere that the local networks block vpn usage. I’m especially interested in clients that live in Thailand, China, Cuba, Bulgaria, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the remaining hard-line middle eastern countries. I’m looking for countries that take a hard pro-censorship approach to the internet. This will give me a very clear indication of whether this technology is worth its weight or not. But I’m inviting any one interested to participate no matter where you live.

The requirements for participation are as follows:

1.) You must have either Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 or Windows 7. Sorry Windows XP users, your operating system does not support this technology.

2.) You must be an existing client and already have an existing service with us.

3.) Due to the semi-complicated initial setup procedure, an IAPS technician will have to perform live remote support for you to complete the setup. Once the initial setup has been completed, its just point and click from there from that point on.

4.) You acknowledge that you will be placed on an isolated, non-production server for this test. You are not guaranteed any particular up times and that at the end of the public beta test you will be removed from that server.

To express your desire to be included in this public beta test, please use our contact form (http://www.intl-alliance.com/store/index.php?main_page=contact_us) and provide the following:

1.) Your Name
2.) Your Email Address
3.) Your Team Viewer Remote Support Credentials (instructions for live remote support are included in your original account setup email.)

Just to re-cap, I’m hoping that those that send in participation requests are in places that normally block vpn services such as their work environment, public networks, libraries, universities, etc…

Best Regards,
Jared T.
IAPS Director of Network Security