(This one is going to get a little technical, but hang with me.) Your WiFi router is the main portal to your home network. Most of us think of it as just a box that gives us a wireless connection, but this box almost always contains a firewall, as well. A firewall normally acts like
Securing a computer on the internet today is hard enough. But trying to secure a computer against someone with direct physical access is a lot harder. This is the so-called “evil maid” attack: you leave your laptop in your hotel room, giving the maid unfettered access. But this can also be the “evil contractor” attack
There’s not much going on with respect to cybersecurity, other than the usual stuff. There have been several bugs found recently in Chrome, iOS/macOS, Office 365, Microsoft Teams… you name it. But the response to each of these is the same: update the software. So keep on top of your software updates! I’ve been reading
Apple and Google have proposed a method of doing contact tracing using the Bluetooth on our smartphones. It’s done using fancy cryptography and such, but I wanted to explain the basic mechanics in a simple way. Skip down to the bottom if you just want that part. We are all now learning way more about
During our global COVID-19 self-quarantining, video conferencing usage has exploded. I’ve tried to find hard statistics, but they’re rising so fast that anything I post now will be stale tomorrow. That said, I’ve seen usage growth figures as high as 400%. And since we’re all staying home now (right?), video chatting is a great way
I know I just touched on COVID-19 scams last week, but given some of the articles I’ve read since then, I felt compelled to discuss this particular topic in more depth. Never let a good crisis go to waste. While normally applied to politics (and that still applies here), it’s also the motto of opportunistic
[UPDATED: See the end of the article] Obviously, the corona virus (COVID-19) is on everyone’s minds these days – largely because you can’t avoid the super scary, 24/7 news coverage about death tolls, cruise ships full of infected people, global heat maps, and all the click-bait articles. But whenever there is a big, scary news
Everyone hates passwords. They’re the bane of our modern digital lives. Password managers have allowed us to create truly strong passwords, unique for every single one of our dozens of accounts. This was a big improvement and still the method I recommend for most people today. But the hope is still that someday we can
Well, it’s that time of year again: tax time. And today I have a simple tip for you: how to find the real Free File version of all the popular tax software. It’s not as easy as you’d think – and that’s no accident. A Brief History of Free File Back in the early 2000’s
Your privacy is under assault. I don’t just mean online privacy, I mean every day, real world privacy, as well. In the name of “better” marketing, we’re being tracked not just by our browsers, but also by our smart devices and even by our faces. I used to worry that people didn’t care about their