These are the links for the Kol Emeth Security talk on 11/14/17 Continue reading “talk-links”
Category: Networking
Home Computer Security Hygiene
We’ve discussed email issues, password issues, thing specific to credit agencies, the last topic will be good computer security hygiene. Continue reading “Home Computer Security Hygiene”
Securing your credit files and credit cards
This is the third blog post in a series of posts about security. The first was email security, the second was about passwords.
Now that you’ve secured your email, installed a virus checker, and are using a password manager, you can move on to dealing with the Equifax hack. Continue reading “Securing your credit files and credit cards”
Passwords as primary computer security
From the movie spaceballs:
Dark Helmet: So the combination is one, two, three, four, five. That’s the stupidest combination I’ve ever heard in my life! That’s the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage!
[President Skroob walks in.]
Skroob: What’s the combination?
Colonel Sandurz: One, two, three, four, five.
Skroob: One, two, three, four, five? That’s amazing! I’ve got the same combination on my luggage!
[Colonel Sandurz and Dark Helmet give each other a look.]
Skroob: Prepare Spaceball 1 for immediate departure!
Colonel Sandurz: Yes sir.
Skroob: And change the combination on my luggage!
Email Security
There are six significant risks to your security associated with anyone’s use of email:
- Opening files that contain viruses, usually these are attachments to emails sent to you.
- Getting what looks like an ‘Official’ email and clicking on a link and typing in your username and password into a bogus site. This is called ‘Phishing’.
- Having your email account stolen and losing your contacts, this allows the thief to send trusted emails to your friends and family.
- Having your email account stolen and losing the sensitive contents like passwords or really private information stolen (see Hillary Clinton’s Campaign)
- Being stupid. Don’t think that you can get 5 million dollars from an African potentate. Don’t taunt a spammer.
- Email is transmitted without encryption from your computer to your recipients computer and all hops in between. Don’t send passwords or sensitive documents via email.
The first two categories involve what you do when reading email, the second two involve securing your email account. Continue reading “Email Security”
Post Equifax computer security
Some thoughts on computer security post Equifax. Equifax is different from say the 2013 Yahoo hack that stole usernames and passwords. Equifax has a full file of your social security number, your drivers license number and a collection of assets, loans and bank accounts. Yup they have been collecting data on each of us for years. So someone could impersonate you with all this stuff and you might not know it.Setting up your own VPN
With all the discussion using VPN’s for privacy, I decided to set up a VPN for our family. Using a minimum virtual private server at Digital Ocean (I included a referral link) at $5 a month, if you have adequate home bandwidth, you can waste some of the bandwidth with encryption overhead. Continue reading “Setting up your own VPN”
Spam Eliminator Setup
This is a companion to the blog post, the Spam Eliminator Telephone System.
To set up this system, first get a raspberry pi with at least 8GB SD card, you’ll also need a monitor and a keyboard to set it up with a hardwired ethernet connection to the internet. Continue reading “Spam Eliminator Setup”
Spam Eliminator Telephone System
From the department of Counter-Intuitive Thinking: Keep your land line!
In playing with technology, I inadvertently found a system to eliminate spam phone calls.
How Spam Phone Calls are eliminated
When nanoseconds count….
I finished reading Michael Lewis’ book Flashboys, and it really motivated me to think about ‘fairness’. What Lewis’ book reveals is the advantage High Frequency Traders who invest BILLIONS in technology have over average investors. By investing heavily in technology these firms have been able to exploit the nanoseconds between when a stock order is placed and how it is executed. Continue reading “When nanoseconds count….”