[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][text_output]On February 13, 2015, US President Barack Obama signed “Executive Order — Promoting Private Sector Cybersecurity Information Sharing,” at the conclusion of his speech at Stanford University which hosted theWhite House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection. The Executive Order speaks to the need for private companies, nonprofit organizations, executive departments and agencies, and others to be able to share …
Encrypt or not to encrypt, that is the question
17 October 2011 (#NCSAM – National Cyber Security Awareness Month) Encryption: To encrypt or not encrypt, that is the question (a hat tip to the Bard of Avon). In this day and age of digital data thefts, careless loss of hardware and infusion of crimeware / malware, in my opinion it pays to encrypt. When and what should be encrypted? …
Wi-Fi: Three steps to stay safe when connecting via wireless
Those who have followed my writing on the subject of Wi-Fi security know my passion for taking seemingly basic steps to keep one’s wireless activity safe and secure. In a recent survey conducted by the Wi-Fi Alliance 86% of all respondents had taken the appropriate steps to secure their routers, but only 56% had taken the step to create a “hard” password, thus making themselves vulnerable to dictionary attacks or the like.
So take three basic steps to keep yourself Wi-Fi secure:
Mobile – Daily risks mitigated
If you don’t maintain the health of your device then you should expect that your device will at some point in the future become compromised in some way, shape or form.
What type of compromises may occur? How often? What can you do?
Let’s answer these in order…
Game On! Eight tips to stay safe while playing online games
Do you or your children participate in online gaming, using your PC, smart phone or game box? Then you need to make sure you understand what’s going on, especially behind the curtain, when you configure your “game” settings. Here are eight online security tips to keep you safe and secure.
Location, Location, Location
Location based services are here to stay, have great viability and absolutely increase the interaction between individuals and merchants, as well as serve to identify individuals with similar interest. Know that well intentioned services have a positive side, but also may also be used to your detriment. If you are satisfied with the answers to the questions in today’s post, then make your decision to share or not to share.
Cyber Security Awareness: Are you?
Today marks the start of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) in the United States. If you’re reading this piece you are on a social network and have a modicum of interest in your online security. Throughout the month (as I have for the past few years) I will be publishing snack size tips that you may wish to share (family, friends, colleagues, or whomever) so that all have a leg-up on keeping their online activities enjoyable, but also safe and secure.
Online Safety: Are bots in your twitter following?
Yesterday I had a an interesting sequence of events happen within my Twitter footprint that I had not seen previously. I had 11+ new followers, all who had over 100, some over 1000 followers. These new followers all arrived in my follower list in sequence over the course of the early morning. Each of these *individuals* had sent between 2-10 tweets, none of which were original content – all of them being RT (re-tweets) of pieces from trusted sources such as Mashable.
The Twitter handle/name had the format of “given name” + “3 to 5 random characters”. Click on the Figure-1 o the left to see all of these names which arrived in my follower list and you’ll understand the naming convention. Every single one of these names is a “bot” generated name.
read more…
Passwords – Creation & Usage – Online Safety & Security
Do you use a password? The evolution of online crime is as much about your password strength as it is about your password usage. If you use your strong password for shopping site A and then reuse the password for shopping sites B, C, D, E, F then you are basically saying to yourself – “I trust each of these sites to have the same robust level of security”