General On Line security stuff
This is one of those posts I've pondered over for a while, "Here are all my secrets Mr bad guy". I also think there are a number of people who could probably either benefit or add to this blog entry with comments and or feedback, which are always welcomed.
Years ago, in the early 90's years ago, my little brother says to me if you put it on the internet it's permanent. He's right. If you put anything down electronically it is now apart of your digital foot print forever. The question is how do you protect it.
I was watching my kid the other day pick up his device and he started chatting on it, put it down and walked away. I picked it up and looked at his apps, not his conversations because I really don't care to know what's going on in the mind of a 22 year old. I noticed he had a few apps that probably weren't from the devices store and were probably loaded with malware. We had a conversation about this.
First and foremost don't download anything that hasn't gone through either Google's or Apple's guideline steps to get onto their app store. Last November there was a malware downloaded from that attacked Google and stole logons. Since then Google has changed the way an app is allowed on to their store, increasing security.
With that said there are still some applications that will want access to your data on your device, that means they will be able to see your contacts. Do you really want an application to know Aunt Mae's phone number and email? I know I don't. I review each applications role and limit what they can or cannot do. I've also made a backup and put everything in a paper phone book, it can't get erased.
I have an iPad for social media and my device is a phone. I have a simple camera and my device is a phone. I removed all the applications on it simply because I wanted to limit access to Mr Bad guy. I also cut off access to anything by changing my password every thirty days by using a random password generator. I write the passwords down and don't save them anywhere on the internet because it's the internet and last month there was a hacker attack on Apples iCloud and LinkedIn.
Next on my list I went through and encrypted my device (from factory set), after removing all bloatware apps. Encryption isn't as scary as it sounds it jumbles everything up if some one where to hack it with out the encryption key. Just write your key down.
By changing my passwords often, keeping social media separate from business and keeping all of my security updates current on all my devices I feel more secure doing my banking on my home computer, social media on my iPad and SMS on my cellular device. My computers are all encrypted and have malware bytes (Microsoft has a good system in place).
I got this far by reading a lot of blogs mostly over at http://www.zdnet.com. The bloggers know their stuff. I also get their daily feed delivered to my inbox, it's helped me keep up on the latest attacks and changes in on line security.
Years ago, in the early 90's years ago, my little brother says to me if you put it on the internet it's permanent. He's right. If you put anything down electronically it is now apart of your digital foot print forever. The question is how do you protect it.
I was watching my kid the other day pick up his device and he started chatting on it, put it down and walked away. I picked it up and looked at his apps, not his conversations because I really don't care to know what's going on in the mind of a 22 year old. I noticed he had a few apps that probably weren't from the devices store and were probably loaded with malware. We had a conversation about this.
First and foremost don't download anything that hasn't gone through either Google's or Apple's guideline steps to get onto their app store. Last November there was a malware downloaded from that attacked Google and stole logons. Since then Google has changed the way an app is allowed on to their store, increasing security.
With that said there are still some applications that will want access to your data on your device, that means they will be able to see your contacts. Do you really want an application to know Aunt Mae's phone number and email? I know I don't. I review each applications role and limit what they can or cannot do. I've also made a backup and put everything in a paper phone book, it can't get erased.
I have an iPad for social media and my device is a phone. I have a simple camera and my device is a phone. I removed all the applications on it simply because I wanted to limit access to Mr Bad guy. I also cut off access to anything by changing my password every thirty days by using a random password generator. I write the passwords down and don't save them anywhere on the internet because it's the internet and last month there was a hacker attack on Apples iCloud and LinkedIn.
Next on my list I went through and encrypted my device (from factory set), after removing all bloatware apps. Encryption isn't as scary as it sounds it jumbles everything up if some one where to hack it with out the encryption key. Just write your key down.
By changing my passwords often, keeping social media separate from business and keeping all of my security updates current on all my devices I feel more secure doing my banking on my home computer, social media on my iPad and SMS on my cellular device. My computers are all encrypted and have malware bytes (Microsoft has a good system in place).
I got this far by reading a lot of blogs mostly over at http://www.zdnet.com. The bloggers know their stuff. I also get their daily feed delivered to my inbox, it's helped me keep up on the latest attacks and changes in on line security.
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