Security

How to Secure Your Home Network

The National Security Agency (NSA) just released a very helpful information sheet on how to secure your home network (along with some great general cybersecurity tips). In the not-so-distant past, the internet was something we connected to briefly to check email and do a little web surfing, and then disconnected so we could free up …

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shortened URLs

How to Reveal Shortened URLs

When I was in high school, I took a wonderful career planning course. Instead of being a mind-numbing survey of possible occupations and career paths, it instead focused on understanding yourself. What are you good at doing? What do you actually enjoy doing? What are your values and aspirations? And finally, given all of that, …

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Why You Need to Plant Your Flag

I generally advise people not to create accounts if they can avoid it and to close most accounts that they no longer use. However, there are a handful of odd accounts that you should absolutely claim if you haven’t done so already – before bad guys do it for you. Like the intrepid Duck Dodgers …

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New Year’s Resolutions for 2023

It’s that time of year again! Time to put the past behind us and look forward to a brand new year, full of possibilities and hope! I mean, it can’t get much worse, right? Okay, I take that back… no reason to tempt fate. Here are some privacy and cybersecurity tips you should seriously consider …

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challenge coin

Dragon Challenge Coins v2.0!

I’ve created some really cool, security-enhancing dragon challenge coins to give away to people who are furthering the cause of privacy and security. My first set of 100 coins debuted in 2021. I gave them to my patrons who are supporting my mission to help people secure their devices and data, and to people who …

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Give the Gift of Security & Privacy

[UPDATED 12/7/2022: I’ve added more coupons!] Every year, I publish an annual guide to the best and worst gifts, based on two and only two criteria: privacy and security. But I decided that I wanted to actually create a gift that people could give to others that would help them protect their devices and data. …

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QR Code Scams, Revisited

[Updated: Nov 17, 2022] Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote an article about why QR codes aren’t inherently dangerous. That’s still true. However, there’s a tricky new scam that will basically hold any QR codes you generate on their site for ransom. QR Codes: Let’s Review As I explained in the previous article, a …

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mobile payments

Mobile Payment Security & Privacy

Cold hard cash is becoming scarce these days. People just don’t carry it around any more. So how do you split a bill at a restaurant or buy from a street vendor? Many people today use mobile payment apps like Venmo, Apple Pay, PayPal, the Cash App, or a service promoted by many US banks …

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iOS 16 Privacy & Security

Last Monday Apple released a big update to its flagship mobile operating system, iOS (the software that runs your iPhone). Today I’ll give you a run down of the new security and privacy features in iOS 16. (There are tons of other features, too – if you want to check out the full list, click …

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guest network

Be My Guest… No, I Insist

Security isn’t just about preventing bad things from happening. While it’s always better to avoid breaches and malware, you have to also be prepared to diminish damage when they happen. One of the best, time-tested strategies for mitigating the effects of a break-in is compartmentalization. Submarine compartments all have water-tight doors that can be sealed …

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