Jul 292016
 

From the White House…

The advent of networked technology has spurred innovation, cultivated knowledge, encouraged free expression, and increased the Nation’s economic prosperity. However, the same infrastructure that enables these benefits is vulnerable to malicious activity, malfunction, human error, and acts of nature, placing the Nation and its people at risk. Cyber incidents are a fact of contemporary life, and significant cyber incidents are occurring with increasing frequency, impacting public and private infrastructure lo

Source: Presidential Policy Directive — United States Cyber Incident Coordination | whitehouse.gov

 Posted by at 7:10 am
Jul 082016
 

We know that people do this, and it is a risk, and now it’s a federal offense.

By Jason Koebler at Motherboard.com…

One of the nation’s most powerful appeals courts ruled Wednesday that sharing passwords can be a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a catch-all “hacking” law that has been widely used to prosecute behavior that bears no resemblance to hacking.

Source: Password Sharing Is a Federal Crime, Appeals Court Rules | Motherboard

 Posted by at 9:05 pm
Jun 112016
 

By Mikko Hypponen at Linux.com…

Most people probably have an idea about what a hacker looks like. The image of someone sitting alone at a computer, with their face obscured by a hoodie, staring intently at lines of code in which their particular brand of crime or mischief is rooted, has become widely associated with hackers. You can confirm this by simply doing an image search for “hackers” and seeing what you come up with.

Source: Real Hackers Don’t Wear Hoodies (Cybercrime is Big Business) | Linux.com | The source for Linux information

 Posted by at 6:44 pm
Apr 192016
 

Password management is more important than ever.  I personally use 1Password and recommend most users use something on the level of a password management app.  I definitely see this as a security and productivity enhancer.  Here is a good article by Michael McConnell at MakeUseOf.com…

It goes without saying that everyone needs to use stronger passwords, and the best way to do that is with a password manager. The truth is, passwords that are hard to hack are just as hard to remember, yet even so, you really do need long and complex passwords.

Source: How Password Managers Keep Your Passwords Safe

 Posted by at 6:49 am
Apr 122016
 

Interesting article on keyboards in general and why you might want to avoid Bluetooth keyboards.  By Kannon Yamada at MakeUseOf.com…

Bluetooth keyboards offer a winning combination of portability and cross-device compatibility — but they’re not perfect for everyone. While there are Bluetooth keyboards out there worth buying, you should be aware that there are some real trade-offs to consider.

Source: 6 Reasons Why You Should NOT Buy a Bluetooth Keyboard

 Posted by at 10:02 pm