Password revisited sounds like a cool title, doesn't it? It's true - I've written posts about passwords before. (You can see how many HERE.) Still, we have some new readers, plus I know some of you are still not following the rules when it comes to passwords! How do I know that? Easy. Every week, …
Category: Security
Like A Bad Highway, Lots of Patches Today
Normally, the second Tuesday of the month is "Patch Tuesday." This is the day that Microsoft releases what can sometimes be a large number of fixes for Microsoft products. The programs being updated usually include Windows, Office and other products like SharePoint. This month, however, since there are 5 Tuesdays in the month, Microsoft is …
Under Attack
Many activities take place on the Internet about which "regular" computer users have no clue. Oh, you've heard of the Dark Web - I've written about it here - but there is more going on behind the scenes than that. As an example, have a look at the screenshot above. It is a daily report …
Need A VPN?
I'm getting more inquiries about VPNs. We're all seeing more ads about them and a larger variety of companies are offering them. But, what exactly is a VPN, and do you really need one? VPN Definition As the picture above spells out, the acronym VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. A VPN is like a …
What A Motley Crew!
Do you recognize the five people in the photo above? Besides being in the public eye on a consistent basis (celebrities?), do you know what else they have in common? All five of them (Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian West, Jeff Bezos, Joe Biden and Bill Gates) had their Twitter accounts hacked last week. They were …
Hacked & Attached!
Two days ago, Joyce and I separately received an email from one of our customers. It didn't look important to me so I didn't do anything with it when it arrived. Joyce, however, looked at the email and something told her it wasn't on the up and up. Yes, it was from our customer's legitimate …
Encrypted But Not Legit?
Those nasty scammers. They will do just about anything to try to steal your money. One of the things they've started to do is purchase security certificates for their bogus websites. They realize that most computer users have come to understand that the "s" in https:// stands for "secure." A website is secure when everything …
Banging My Head Against The Wall
There are times in the computing business when it does seem like I should just use the Stress Reduction technique outlined in the picture above. Earlier this week, in our Question of the Week email, I answered a question about my number one computing-related pet peeve. (If you haven't read the email, click HERE to …
Fake BLM Email
As I've stated many times over the years and as I pointed out in the form of a warning in my recent YouTube video ("Using Technology To Fight Racism"), scammers will take every negative opportunity to try to steal your money. Whether it's a hurricane, a tornado, a flood or civil unrest, these thieves will …
Dangerous Attachments
In the past view days, I've gotten dozens of emails similar to the one pictured above. The email subject always includes the word "Receipt;" the email comes from different addresses; and the email has an Excel spreadsheet attached. While you may be curious as to what's on the Excel spreadsheet, even though you might suspect …
Your Voice/The FBI
The political scene in America has changed so much during my lifetime. From Presidential candidates riding the rails, to visit cities to the Internet and Twitter and other Social Media sites. While the changes have allowed a candidate to reach more people, they have also given other countries the opportunity to attempt to interfere with …
Blocking RFID?
In last week's Question of the Week email, I gave the opportunity for my readers to save $5 on the purchase of a Privacy Kit. I mentioned that I had ordered 100 of them from my distributor and I would ship to anyone who bought one after they arrive. (You can order now if you …
IC3 2019 Report
As I shared in my post, "Soapbox," the FBI has released the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2019 Internet Crime Report. While my "Soapbox" post was focused on Tech Support Fraud, I think it's important to share some of the other information found in this compte ren·du. For the record, I'm not passing this information along …
Soapbox
Yes, I've been on my soapbox preaching away for a long time. In fact, three years ago, I published this video: https://youtu.be/RK2i8RtCP60 The IC3 Yesterday, the FBI Released the Internet Crime Complaint Center 2019 Internet Crime Report. This review covers all the financial losses that people and companies incurred in 2019 because of Internet scammers and …
2019-nCoV
Did you read our Question of the Week email for February 3, 2019? (If not, you should read it now - before you continue with this post. You'll find it HERE.) In addition to what I shared in the email, I wanted to warn you of something scammers/hackers are doing. They are sending emails with …
Waaaa
One of my favorite places to go for a quick sandwich, soft pretzel or drink is Wawa. Their club sandwiches are my favorite and they have great milk shakes, too. Here on Florida's Treasure Coast, we've seen an increased presence from Wawa and that makes it more convenient. Zip in, get what you want, zip …
It Isn’t Always Fun
Late last week, the blog section of our website went down. It happened when one of the plug-ins* performed an automatic update. As soon as the update completed, the blog area wouldn't load. Of course, this had to happen during our busiest time of the year. Finding a few hours (yes, hours) to repair the …
Microsoft And The NSA
We've been getting a ton of phone calls and emails about a security issue in Microsoft Windows 10 that was announced this week. It was discovered by the NSA and has really made the news. If you do a Bing search for "Microsoft and the NSA" you'll get a long list of news reports similar …
123456
Please...please...I'm begging you. Please tell me that you don't use ANY of the 50 top hacked/worse passwords of 2019! Look over this list carefully (provided by Splashdata). If you are using any of them, please change them immediately! 123456123456789 qwertypassword12345671234567812345iloveyou111111123123abc123qwerty1231q2w3e4radminqwertyuiop654321555555lovely7777777welcome888888princessdragonpassword1123qwe6666661qaz2wsx333333michaelsunshineliverpool7777771q2w3e4r5tdonaldfreedomfootballcharlieletmein!@#$%^&*secretaa1234569897654321zxcvbnmpassw0rdbaileynothingshadow121212bitemeginger
I Know How Some Preachers Must Feel
If you know me or read my Bio (right column of this blog), you're cognizant of the fact that I've been working on computers since 1983. I bought my first personal computer that year and as soon as I plugged it in, I was hooked. There was no Internet back then and only dial-up modems …
Get Gas
For those of you who attend my live seminars, you know that I sometimes mention having gas credit cards. I have the Exxon/Mobile card you see above. (Yes, I've removed all my personal data.) Additionally, I have cards for Chevron/Texaco, Sunoco and Valero. Here are two questions you might be asking yourself right now: why …
Fake Replies
Earlier this week, I posted about one of our customers whose email was hacked and all kinds of problems ensued. (Hacking Email) I found out that one of the people who received the fake email replied to it with the word "No." This person knew the email was a fake and, I guess, wanted to …
Don’t Get Juiced, Get Charged
In my post of March 5, 2019 (Laptop Surge Protection), I explained that all laptop owners need a surge protector. Additionally, I recommended one for you. (I still recommend that protector and there's a link to purchase below.) Today, I'm adding a "must have" for anyone who ever uses a public USB charging station to …
Hacking Email
Hackers can get into your email a variety of ways but the archetypical method is cracking your password. There are other ways such as the server hack that we experienced a few months ago on one of our accounts. Still, breaking your password is the modus operandi for most email hackers. With this in mind, …
So, This Just Happened…
There I was this morning just reading an article on a jury trial. I was on a legitimate news website and I had not clicked on anything. Suddenly, the window you see above popped up on my screen. Yes, I was in Google Chrome so the heading fits. However, this is a prime example of …
Remove These, Too!
In my post, Remove Now, I listed 17 apps that should be removed from your iOS device because of Malware. Android users are not exempt! Shown above are the icons for 21 Android apps which have been removed from the Google Play Store and should be removed from your devices. Just as with the iOS …
Remove Now!
If you have an iOS device (Apple) that has the 17 apps shown in the icons above, you need to remove these apps from your device, now! These apps are infected with the Clicker Tracker Malware which can report back to a server and cause all kinds of problems - websites can be opened, clicks …
Keep Them Safe
If you were at our October seminar, you may recall me talking about FBI emails. If you didn't attend my training, the gist is that the FBI provides emails covering a variety of law enforcement arenas. You can stay informed by signing up for these emails. (Here's the site to sign up: https://www.fbi.gov/email-updates.) One of …
Why # Instead Of @
In my last post, The Life Of Riley, I wrote the following: "Send your pet’s information to pet#4kcc.com. (Replace the # symbol with the @ symbol before you try to send.)" Additionally, in another post, Address Book Confusion, I shared: "Of course, I have email addresses – my business one (john at 4kcc.com) and..." A …
Google Chrome Warning
In a previous post, I talked about the Google Chrome password checker. Google Chrome also has an extension called "Password Checkup." This extension will check passwords when you go to log into a site. If the password has been exposed in a data breach, a warning will appear in the upper right-hand corner of Chrome …