VBJ March 18 online

March 2018
Courtyard Hotel Opens in Murrieta
Courtyard by Marriott Temecula
Murrieta is now open for business
in Murrieta, California. Featuring
an innovative lobby space as well as
Courtyard’s latest contemporary room
design, the new hotel provides flexibility
and choices that allow guests
to optimize and elevate their travel
experience.
Located at 25419 Madison Avenue,
the 183-room hotel will operate
as a Marriott franchise, owned and
managed by Advance Management
& Investment, LLC of Kingman, Arizona.
Whether traveling for business
or pleasure, the Courtyard Temecula
Murrieta offers guests convenient
access to Pechanga Casino, Lake
Elsinore Storm Baseball, Santa Rosa
Plateau, Wine Country, and Old Town
Temecula and Murrieta.
Courtyard constantly researches
trends and evolves to meet the changing
needs of its guests. The latest
room design offers hybrid zones for
working, sleeping, relaxing and getting
ready. Indirect lighting and a neutral,
tone-on-tone color palette makes
for a soothing and calm environment.
“From day one, Courtyard has
prided itself as a brand that listens
to business travelers,” said Callette
Nielsen, vice president and global
brand manager, Courtyard. “Today’s
technology has changed how people
travel. Our guests want a room that
has purpose and flexibility that enables
a seamless transition between
relaxing and working. Courtyard is
designed to offer them a relaxing and
functional space to work the way they
want to, when they want to.”
The new room design is intuitive
and thoughtful, offering flexible
yet comfortable spaces that enable
technology. Upon arrival, guests can
store bags on the “Luggage Drop” and
plug personal devices into the “Tech
Drop” ledge for seamless technology
integration.
Signature furniture and architectural
elements replace traditional
art in the new guestroom. The
“LoungeAround” sofa offers a pop
of color and a comfortable area for
relaxing or for working. The new
design also features a light desk on
wheels, allowing guests to work from
anywhere in the room.
An upgraded, more spacious
layout creates an enhanced bathroom
experience. A “Shower Nook”
THE VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
www.TheValleyBusinessJournal.com
housing shampoos and towels, makes
amenities accessible without having to
leave the shower.
The Courtyard Temecula Murrieta
features the brand’s latest lobby
design, where guests can enjoy an
open and modern environment outside
of their rooms. The newly designed
Bistro is the epicenter of the lobby,
which fosters social connections and
collaboration with more flexible and
informal seating options. The Bistro
offers guests a wide variety of “made
to order” breakfast and dinner items,
“grab and go” options, and also features
an array of cocktails, beer and
wine for guests to unwind at the end
of the day.
Throughout the hotel, guests can
connect with ample electrical outlets.
The business library features several
computer terminals, along with a printer
and separate computer stations dedicated
solely to printing airline boarding
passes and checking flight status.
Green has been Courtyard’s signature
color since Marriott launched
the brand 30 years ago. Now it is even
greener with the introduction of a
guest recycling program for the environment.
Receptacles for paper, glass,
plastic and metal are conveniently
located by side exits.
The four-story hotel features an
outdoor swimming pool, a rooftop
lounge area, fitness center and guest
laundry, and offers 2,679 square feet
of meeting space to accommodate
functions of up to 150 people.
About Courtyard by Marriott Courtyard
by Marriott offers a refreshing
environment that helps guests stay connected,
productive and balanced. Intuitive
services and design accommodate
guests’ needs for choice and control.
With more than 1,100 locations in
nearly 50 countries and territories,
Courtyard is proud to participate in
the industry’s award-winning loyalty
program, Marriott Rewards® which
includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®.
Members can now link accounts with
Starwood Preferred Guest® at members.marriott.com
for instant elite
status matching and unlimited points
transfer. For more information or
reservations, visit courtyard.marriott.
com, become a fan on Facebook or
follow @Courtyard Hotels on Twitter
and Instagram.
13
Social Engineering: More than Just Phishing
TECHNOLOGY
by
by
Stefani
Steve Fillingim
Laszko
You are probably tired of reading
about email security with constant chatter
about phishing attacks. I get it, I’ve
written 3 other articles on the topic. This
month I’d like to go a step further and
discuss other ways that criminals gain
you or your client’s information through
different types of social engineering.
Social engineering is the act of manipulating
people by appealing to some
angle of their human psyche. Phishing is
the most talked about one but other top
tactics include: pretexting, baiting, quid
pro quo and tailgating.
Pretexting involves a scammer who
has a presented some sort of back story
or pretense for speaking to you that
sounds believable. Scammers will use
this tactic to gain account information,
names of contacts, etc. to use to their
benefit. Pretexting is often just one component
of a multi-layer scam. With each
bit of information they gain, their next
interaction with yourself or a co-worker
becomes even more believable as they
work in the new details they’ve gained
into their story.
Baiting involves a scammer offering
something up in exchange for information
from you. These types of scams are
often seen with free music or software
downloads. Though it may not be apparent
to you, the scammer has gained access
to your computer through the download.
These types of scams can go undetected
“
as the scammer is collecting information
from your computer.
Unlike baiting that provides some
form of good, quid pro quo offers up
some form of service. A popular scam is
random calls made offering to fix your
computer or the like. Victims are tricked
into thinking they are speaking to someone
from their software company and
allow access to their system.
Tailgating (or piggybacking) involves
someone following you into a
secure area. This happens constantly in
apartment complexes, where one car just
follows another one in. Larger corporations
are usually protected from these
types of scams as they often require door
badges; but mid-sized companies are
often used to outside clients, consultants,
etc. visiting and may be more likely to
allow someone to follow them in.
Though these may be the four most
popular social engineering tactics after
phishing, this is nowhere near an exhaustive
list. Tactics are only restricted
to the level of creativity of a scammer.
Some things to consider when trying
to protect yourself and your business
include: do not open emails from an untrusted
source, do not give strangers the
benefit of the doubt, slow down, reject
requests of help from people you don’t
know and take the time to research if
something just feels “off”. These scams
are not going anywhere, rather they are
growing and evolving every day so you
must remain diligent to protect yourself
and your clients.
Mythos Technology is an IT consulting
and management firm that provides Managed
Services including hosted cloud
solutions. For more information, please
visit www.mythostech.com or call (951)
813-2672.
mythostech.com
Pretexting involves a scammer who
has presented some sort of back story
or pretense for speaking to you that
sounds believable. Scammers will use
this tactic to gain account information,
names of contacts, etc. to use to their
benefit.
How Frankenstein’s Monster Came to Life
Come celebrate the 200th anniversary
of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with
two English professors from Mt. San
Jacinto College, Susan Winslow and
Audrey Holod, on Thursday, March 15th
from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Ronald H.
Roberts Temecula Public Library.
Discover how a haunted summer in
Switzerland with five of the Romantic
Period’s greatest writers culminated in a
contest to write the best ghost story. From
that summer a masterpiece was born.
Explore the theme and symbolism
of this classic while learning how they
related to the author’s life and their relevance
today. Join us for an evening all
about Frankenstein’s creation.
This Adult Program is sponsored by
the Friends of the Temecula Libraries.
Space is limited and carpooling is encouraged.
For additional information, please
call (951) 693-8900.