Who helped you set up your home network?
I hope your wifi is not open. Did you take your wireless router right out of the box, power it on, hook up, and start surfing the internet? Is your network name Linksys or D-Link or fill in the blank with the out of the box factory default name? What encryption are you using? Do you know what WEP or WPA is or means?
Did you know if you run an open wifi the FBI could knock down your door and take you in for questioning for stealing movies or music off the internet? Never downloaded anything? Too bad. They found you by your wifi's IP address. But hey, wait a minute, you still did not download anything. Well your neighbors 16 year old did. And he did it with your free and open internet link. While after further investigation they will find you do not have and never had any of the items in question on your computers. Yeah thats right they may confiscate your computers to look for this pirated media. You can avoid this by taking a few more steps and taking a little time to protect your home wifi network.
Do you still have the book that came with your wifi router. Well a google search or trip to your routers website may get one for you if you no longer have it. You will find contained with in this book the steps to interfacing with your wifi router.
Then you must decide just how far you would like to go with your security. Not that its going to be way too hard for you to get in. It makes it a barrier for a casual wifi borrower to move on to the next router. You can hide your networks name from being broadcasted. You can require a password for connection. You can filter phones or computers by their MAC address for entry as well. How long and complicated you make your password for your connection helps.
Through the next couple of posts we will go through and get your home wireless more secure and less likely to be compromised.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Welcome NOOBS and I mean that in the most loving way from the bottom of my Security filled heart.
As Technology and the threats to your security continue to advance who can keep up with that.
Your world and life are already complicated enough. So what I would like to do with this blog is try to keep things on a simple everyday user level. I want to try and give you the ability to incorporate some simple security practices and know how to your life that will help protect you.
The browser you use to browse the internet has additional security. The websites you use have different security or security policies. Do you really trust that wifi at the coffee shop or in the mall?
We all think it won't happen to us. We all think were doing it right. We all see the stories in the news about the Hacker groups that are going around and stealing personal information or giving it away. The problem is that not all Hackers tell everyone that they are doing it.
Imagine your self as a 500 piece puzzle. Bad people through publicly available information have 50 pieces. Through the information you have shared across all your online profiles give them another 60. The Hacker groups releasing information can give up another 10-50 pieces. Maybe your online friends profiles are not as secure as yours and shares your information and thats another 15 pieces. (This can happen if your mom did not secure her Facebook page and it shows that your her son or daughter. And maybe she has her maiden name in it as well so childhood friends can find her. Well what question do 75% sites ask for verification for password resets. Whats your mothers Maiden Name?) No, on-line Cyber criminals have nothing better to do. Yes, there are tools that help gather these things. If you know all the little tips and tricks with google search you can actually find a lot of information. Leaking puzzle pieces here and there will add up pretty quick. This will give a pretty good picture to the Cyber criminal that they can either just have an idea what it is and fill in the rest. Or they can just be patient and continue to wait for you to slip up and get the rest. A slip up can just be a website changing its policies and sharing more information by default. Most site just share everything by default and you must go in and manually get them to make you private by sorting through pages of yes and no's to get it where you want it.
I want to make tutorials and videos. I want to keep this updated with news and releases of changes to things to keep you in the know. I want to make a dummies guide so that you can see what is going on and what you can do to provide yourself with as much privacy and protection as feasibly possible.
IF YOU PUT IT ON THE INTERNET ITS NOT PRIVATE. SOMEONE CAN SEE IT OR READ IT OR STEAL IT. NO MATTER WHAT, YOU CANNOT STOP EVERYTHING. MAKE THE BETTER DECISIONS ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT OR ARE WILLING TO SHARE.
Your world and life are already complicated enough. So what I would like to do with this blog is try to keep things on a simple everyday user level. I want to try and give you the ability to incorporate some simple security practices and know how to your life that will help protect you.
The browser you use to browse the internet has additional security. The websites you use have different security or security policies. Do you really trust that wifi at the coffee shop or in the mall?
We all think it won't happen to us. We all think were doing it right. We all see the stories in the news about the Hacker groups that are going around and stealing personal information or giving it away. The problem is that not all Hackers tell everyone that they are doing it.
Imagine your self as a 500 piece puzzle. Bad people through publicly available information have 50 pieces. Through the information you have shared across all your online profiles give them another 60. The Hacker groups releasing information can give up another 10-50 pieces. Maybe your online friends profiles are not as secure as yours and shares your information and thats another 15 pieces. (This can happen if your mom did not secure her Facebook page and it shows that your her son or daughter. And maybe she has her maiden name in it as well so childhood friends can find her. Well what question do 75% sites ask for verification for password resets. Whats your mothers Maiden Name?) No, on-line Cyber criminals have nothing better to do. Yes, there are tools that help gather these things. If you know all the little tips and tricks with google search you can actually find a lot of information. Leaking puzzle pieces here and there will add up pretty quick. This will give a pretty good picture to the Cyber criminal that they can either just have an idea what it is and fill in the rest. Or they can just be patient and continue to wait for you to slip up and get the rest. A slip up can just be a website changing its policies and sharing more information by default. Most site just share everything by default and you must go in and manually get them to make you private by sorting through pages of yes and no's to get it where you want it.
I want to make tutorials and videos. I want to keep this updated with news and releases of changes to things to keep you in the know. I want to make a dummies guide so that you can see what is going on and what you can do to provide yourself with as much privacy and protection as feasibly possible.
IF YOU PUT IT ON THE INTERNET ITS NOT PRIVATE. SOMEONE CAN SEE IT OR READ IT OR STEAL IT. NO MATTER WHAT, YOU CANNOT STOP EVERYTHING. MAKE THE BETTER DECISIONS ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT OR ARE WILLING TO SHARE.
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