You should have a secure home router that you fully control. It’s probably the single most important security device on your home network. NOTE: I’ve written several detailed articles about securing your home network. Be sure to check those out, too. Why You Should Own Your Router For most people, the only thing between every […]
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Modern AI is being used to find and fix hundreds of critical software bugs. But you can’t benefit from a fix you never install. Take a look at the image above. Microsoft’s most recent software update included fixes for over 600 vulnerabilities. (Microsoft releases fixes on the second Tuesday of every month, which has become
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As America approaches its 250th birthday and I approach my 500th podcast episode, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I’m hoping you’ll humor me for a bit as I wax philosophical. Don’t worry, I won’t get political (we have too much of that already). And yes, this will still be about cybersecurity and privacy
The big AI companies are simultaneously touting the promise and peril of their wares. So… which is it? So Good It’s Scary In the last week, two of the leading AI companies announced the availability of new AI models that were so good at coding that they were basically afraid to release them to the
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Spring has sprung! And right now is an excellent time to clean up your digital devices. Subtraction Makes You Safer When we think about improving security and privacy, we tend to add things: password managers, VPNs, encrypted communication apps. But one of the most effective ways to protect yourself is much simpler: remove what you
Our mobile phones have become the center of our digital lives. We carry them with us everywhere we go. Let’s learn how to keep them physically secure. Physical Device Security We use smartphones for everything. I prefer using a computer, but if I had to, I could do just about everything online that I needed
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How would you know if one of your accounts was hacked? It’s not always obvious. But I’ll tell you where to look. Sometimes it’s obvious when your accounts are hacked. Maybe your money is gone. Maybe you can no longer log in using the password you know is correct. Maybe everyone you know has gotten
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A common tech support trope is asking the customer “did you trying turning it off and back on again?” Quite often that will reset an misbehaving system. But it can also completely purge malware. Let me explain. The Power of Rebooting Electronic devices often have some sort of state information. What mode am I in?
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I’ve written often about the importance of choosing strong passwords. But most physical devices are protected with short PIN (personal identification number) codes. How do you pick a good one? Let’s figure out how to choose a PIN. How NOT to Choose a PIN It’s probably best to start with how not to choose a
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I spend a lot of time talking about the virtues of strong passwords (or maybe passphrases) and two–factor authentication. I’ve written about promising new authentication technologies like passkeys. But in many cases, all of that is moot. Your account security is only as secure as its weakest link. And just about every account you have
Account Security is Broken Read More »
