Beginner's Guide to Privacy and Security

Best practices and recommendations on how to protect and recover from compromised accounts and computers, use real-world scenarios to detail how scams and phishing emails are used and provide best practices on how to use the internet in a more safe and secure manner to protect yourself, your family, and your clients.

A Beginner's Guide to Privacy and Security

Trying to remain safe online, practicing good security and working to keep your data private is extremely challenging. This is made even more difficult with the speed at which technology changes, vulnerabilities are discovered, and attackers change their tactics. Just when you think you have learned the right techniques to keep your data private and your devices, email, etc., secure, another breach is announced, a new vulnerability is discovered in your operating system or web browser, and/or attackers come up with another scam/trick to gain access to your devices or information...all of which are out of your control. If you aren't tech savvy, it can be even more overwhelming. Since technology and attack methods change so rapidly, there are no simple answers or steps you can take to be 100% protected. This is where we are hoping we can help by recommending steps you can take to increase the security of your accounts and devices, better protect your privacy, and be safer online. Check out our "Security 101" section for a collection of the minimum security procedures everyone should be following.

If you are looking for a specific subject matter, click one of the topics below. We try to do our best to tag each blog post with the appropriate tags. If you own a small business, you may want to check out the "business owner" tag. The "scenarios" tag is real world examples of how you, your family, or your friends can be impacted by risky social media behaviors.

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October 28, 2018

Using your birth date in apps and websites

October 28, 2018/ Logical Cybersecurity

A lot of websites we use or the apps we download on our phone, tablet, computer, video game consoles, streaming media player, etc. ask for our birthday. With the rate at which apps and websites have security issues, think about the risk vs. reward when providing your birthday to them.

August 11, 2017

Spelling of a website is extremely important!

August 11, 2017/ Logical Cybersecurity

Spelling a website address (URL) correctly is extremely important, because one incorrect or extra letter could lead to a malicious website. Here is a fool proof process to ensure that doesn't happen to you.

May 31, 2017

Safe internet habits: practice safe searching

May 31, 2017/ Logical Cybersecurity

Studies have documented how dangerous internet searches can be. Naturally the list of the most dangerous search terms change a bit every year, but there are certain search terms that always make the list and some put you at a greater risk than others. We will discuss which search terms are among the most dangerous while learning some steps you can take to reduce your risk of stumbling on to a malicious website or downloading malicious software.

April 20, 2017

Updates and patches

April 20, 2017/ Logical Cybersecurity

Installing software updates and patches is extremely important and can dramatically increase your security posture. In fact, a lot of systems are compromised simply because people have not updated their operating system and/or third party software to patch vulnerabilities.

April 18, 2017

Antivirus Software: Is it helpful or too risky?

April 18, 2017/ Logical Cybersecurity

For many, many years now everyone has been told they must have antivirus installed on their computers, phones, etc. Today though, things are not so cut and dry. Some security researchers claim antivirus software puts your devices at a greater risk.

April 17, 2017

Only download apps from vendor's app stores

April 17, 2017/ Logical Cybersecurity

I would strongly urge everyone to never, ever download applications to your devices (computer, phone tablet, etc.) from untrusted (3rd party) sources. The best rule of thumb is to always download apps from the vendor’s store (Google Play, Apple app store, etc.).

April 15, 2017

Beware of popular trends and current events

April 15, 2017/ Logical Cybersecurity

Criminals, scammers and hackers will use current events, popular trends, etc. as a way to lure unsuspecting victims to malicious websites, trick them into installing malware, or to steal their money.