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15 tips to Spring Clean Your Digital Security

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As a security analyst for both off-line and online activity, which is personal protection and information security, I’m constantly analyzing my own security situation. This means paying attention to my surroundings, systems in place, the security of my hardware, software and data. One way to get a closer look at all of this and to get refocused, is to remove the clutter, upgrade technologies, and do a Spring Clean. I heavily recommend that you perform the following 15 tasks for tightening up your digital security affecting your overall security position.

7WClean up and secure your digital life:

1. Do away with useless files. Go through all folders, including the recycle bin, and discard files that you no longer use.

2. Organize media. Put music, photos, etc., in appropriately labeled folders. Maybe create a master folder for different kinds of related media.

3. Consolidate desktop icons. Perhaps you can put a few icons into another one if the topic is related: Put the “Muffin” and “Rover” files in one file labeled “Pets.” A desktop cluttered with icons will slow boot-up time. Consider “removing” an icon you hardly use; this won’t delete the program, but will get rid of the shortcut.

4. Uninstall programs you’ll never use. This will speed things up and reduce potential malware targeted software.

5. Review passwords. Update as necessary, making them unique, never the same, and use different characters upper/lower case and numbers. Install a “password manager”. Google it.

6. Make backups of important data on a flash drive or use online storage. Ideally, make a backup of your prized data that exists outside your house. I backup on 3 local drives and in the cloud in two places.

7. Consider reinstalling your operating system. This means gathering all your software and backing up all your data. Do a search on your devices OS and seek out “How to reinstall operating system Windows/Mac (your version)”

8. Mop up your system’s registry. This will clean out temporary files you do not need that have been picked up by your system over time. An accumulation of these files will slow your computer and make it prone to malware infections. CCleaner is a free tool that will do this job.

9. Update Internet security software. Use antivirus, antispyware, antiphishing and a firewall. Get a VPN for when using free wireless internet. Hotspot Shield is perfect. Google it.

10. Defragment your hard drive. For Windows 8 go to Files, then “defrag.” For older systems go to Program Files, Accessories, then System Tools. For the iOS, run its built-in Disk Utility app.

11. Install program updates. Updates include critical security parches: very important. For Windows go to Go to Start, Control Panel, All Programs and Windows Update. Click on “Check for updates” to see if you are up to date. For the iOS, go to the app store, then Updates.

12. Do not forget your mobile device. Update your smartphone, including weeding out unneeded apps. Update your mobile OS to the latest version. Several companies offer security apps that will scan a mobile’s apps. Some apps have features like a remote lock/locate/wipe that will prevent a thief from using your device should you lose it.

13. Social setting cleanup. Have you locked down how your private information on Facebook can be shared? If not, go to Privacy Settings, then Apps, then click “edit” which is next to “Apps others use.” Delete all your “friends” who really aren’t your friends.

14. Home security system. Upgrade this if it is old technology. New wireless home alarms connect to your network and include home automation features too. This includes surveillance cameras, motion detectors, glass break sensors and controlling lights and temperature. Opt for remote monitoring from any device using apps on mobiles and tablets.

15. Declutter your e-mail files. These can get very messy over time. First start with your in-box. What’s been sitting there for ages that you’ll never open? Delete it. Next go to the sent/trash folders and weed out no-longer-needed emails. Also scour through any other e-mail folders. Delete folders you no longer need, and/or trim down ones you still use but contain messages that are now meaningless.

Follow these 15 tips to spring clean your digital security. A freshly cleaned-out digital life will give you peace of mind and enhance your personal security. Taking the time to clean up your digital life will be well-worth it, so do not put it off any longer!

Robert Siciliano is a personal security expert to SecurityOptions.com discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures.

Schlage Touchscreen Deadbolts are Smart!

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Deadbolt technology just gets smarter and smarter. There are now electronic deadbolts that can be manipulated with an integrated keypad, a smartphone or opened with a key. After all, relying on the traditional key can be a nuisance, for obvious reasons.

1LThe Camelot Style deadbolt from Schlage offers the latest technology.

  • The device can be registered with multiple z-wave enabled hubs including, Nexia Home Intelligence and Staples Connect and uses batteries.
  • Keyless entry codes are pre-programmed but can be changed.
  • Up to 30 codes can be stored and can be programmed to grant access on designated days and times, if you use the lock in tandem with an automation system .
  • An alarm can be set to sound if the lock is manipulated by an unwanted person.
  • Never being locked out again due to the device’s three methods of authentication (code, app and key).
  • The auto-lock feature that engages after 30 seconds, based on a timer.

Some Details

Do your homework before installing the device so the installation process goes smoothly. The average handy individual can install this lock and others may wish to use a lock smith. The pre-existing deadbolt slot should match up

By pressing the Schlage logo, you secure the deadbolt from outside. To unlock the deadbolt, it’s faster to enter the keypad code than to insert and turn a standard key. Lastly, the auto-lock feature will take up to 30 seconds to kick in once the door is shut.

And every bit of set up is all worth it

Once the device is installed, you’ll be happy you bought this high tech lock. You don’t have to buy a z-wave enabled system to use it, but more features are enabled when you do connect your deadbolt. The device practically settles anxiety about lost keys and will give you peace of mind.

Robert Siciliano home security expert to Schlage discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

5 Technology Tips to navigate Winter Travel

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Being stuck at an airport due to winter weather can be a real downer, but with an assortment of devices, apps and other instruments for connecting to the world, you can make that down time pass in a jiffy.

10DWith today’s technology, gone are the days where you nearly go bonkers doing endless crossword puzzles or reading one celebrity magazine after another to pass away the time, or where you go nuts wondering when you’ll be able to board a plane home. Following are common concerns and their tech solutions.

Juicing up

Being stuck in an airport for hours is no reason to be disconnected from the cyber world.

  • Check out the terminal’s tech shops where you can buy a smartphone case that also doubles as a battery pack.
  • They may also sell a battery pack that’s pre-charged.
  • You can also use a kiosk that charges devices for a cheap fee.

Entertainment

Here are some fun suggestions that will help pass time:

  • Dots: A low-cost puzzle game in which you try to connect as many same-colored dots as you can within one minute.
  • Minecraft Pocket Edition: This simulates building in a virtual world, and you can make it as simple or as complicated as you choose.
  • Angry Birds Star Wars II: This is a puzzle video game involving 30 different characters. 

Navigating

  • An app for Android and iOS, called Airport Life, will help you get around large, confusing airports. This app includes a feature that updates automatically flight information and other data.

Flight Status

  • See if your preferred airline provides mobile apps through which you can book a flight, check its status and even select seats.
  • Visit the FlightAware website to track flights.
  • The Misery Map site provides an interactive graphic that shows detailed flight information for various airports. It also displays weather information.

Stranded overnight?

  • Hotel Tonight is a free app for the iOS mobile that displays vacant hotel rooms for a discount in over 150 markets.

Robert Siciliano, is a personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto and author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! . Disclosures For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

6 Ways to Declutter Your Digital Life

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It’s the New Year so time for new starts and new resolutions. With a new year upon us, now is a good time to clean out the clutter. Clutter is overwhelming, messy and inefficient and it transcends in both our physical and digital lives.

Here are some tips to help clear the clutter out of your digital world.

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1. Backup the Data on Your Devices
You are (hopefully) about to delete lots of stuff.

  • Back up everything you have onto an external drive – make sure this is your files, contacts, browser bookmarks, photos and any other important content you would want
  • Don’t forget to back up your smartphones and tablets as well
  • For extra de-cluttering, set up a secure cloud backup that runs 24/7

2. Organize your Computer

Organize files on your desktop and within desktop files, including consolidating several similar files into one file.

  • Delete duplicate files and ones that you do not need
  • Rename files so you can locate them easier in the future
  • Uninstall programs you never use

3. Clean Up Your Browser

  • Go through your bookmarks and delete the ones you don’t use
  • Clear out your cookies and browsing history
  • Disable or delete any add-ons or plug-ins that you are not using

4. Monitor Your Social Media Accounts

  • Cancel accounts on sites you don’t use—leaving your profile up can make you more vulnerable to cyber attacks
  • Go through your friends and/or follow lists and see if there’s anyone on there that you don’t want updates from any longer

5. Scrub Your Email Inbox

  • Move messages that you want to save into folders
  • Unsubscribe from mailings you never read or are no longer interested in

6. Scrutinize Your Smartphone/Tablet

  • Delete photos, music, texts or other items that you don’t use any longer
  • Remove apps that you don’t use any longer

Happy de-cluttering and Happy New Year!

Robert Siciliano is an Online Security Expert to McAfee. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked!  Disclosures.

Next Steps in Wearable Tech

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Tech devices are rapidly evolving from those you carry around with you in a pocket to those you wear on an arm, and they seem to be getting smaller and smaller. We have the laptop as the progenitor, culminating in the smartphone and tablet.

7DAnd beyond: Google Glass, a computer you wear, freeing your hands, that can connect to the Internet via voice commands. The “smartwatch” is now in the works. Plus, there are little fitness gadgets you can wear that record vital data including number of steps taken in a day.

Inspiration for an Invention

Isabel Hoffman’s daughter, 14, became very sick after moving to America from Europe. Doctors couldn’t diagnose her.

Hoffman, an entrepreneur, then took her daughter to Dr. Neil Nathan, who diagnosed the teen with toxicity to the mold Aspergillus penicillium. A house mold test confirmed this. The Hoffmans moved, and the girl was put on a gluten free diet, since the toxicity causes gluten intolerance, and her health was restored.

Hoffman wondered how many other people suffer with unexplained ailments. So she, with a partner who’s a mathematician, created a handheld device: TellSpec.

Point it at or hold near an object, including food, and it transmits ingredient information to its smartphone app and displays the data.

Have celiac disease? Scan foods with TellSpec to see if they have gluten. Allergic to soy or simply want to avoid it? Hover the device, which is smaller than a mobile, near the food to get your readout on your smartphone.

TellSpec also supplies information about potential health issues with the ingredient. Sounds like “Star Trek,” but this device will be on the market August 2014.

How Wearable Technology will save Lives

  • Can identify substances in foods that can literally kill a person with an allergy, such as peanuts, or harm a person, such as gluten.
  • Can identify sugar content: valuable for diabetics.
  • Can identify toxins in water and walls.
  • Current wearable devices can track blood pressure, heart rate and other vitals: data that not only is helpful to fitness conscious people, but those with medical conditions.

Robert Siciliano, is a personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto and author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! . Disclosures For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

High-tech vs. Low-tech Locks

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High technology doesn’t necessarily mean better, stronger or faster. It does usually mean more convenient, as the word technology is defined as “including the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive.”

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This is the opposite of low-tech, which is essentially utilizing equipment and production techniques that are relatively unsophisticated—but unsophisticated doesn’t necessarily mean insecure. For example, all Schlage Grade 1 deadbolts, keys or touchscreen locks endure 300,000 cycles of testing in the company’s state-of-the-art testing facility…which is 50,000 more than required for Grade 1 certification. A bad guy with intent is going to have a hard time compromising even a low-tech lock

And then there are high-tech locks, such as Schlage’s Touchscreen Deadbolt, which is the best keyless lock out there. It’s a motorized bolt that automatically locks and unlocks when a four-digit user code is entered, and its lock-and-leave functionality requires only one touch to instantly safeguard the home. The Touchscreen Deadbolt can hold up to 30 unique access codes and is designed to support temporary codes when used with Nexia Home Intelligence for homeowner convenience. For example, codes can be tailored to specific days and times of the week to provide home access only when scheduled, such as for cleaning service personnel – a benefit of having an easy to use keyless lock with a built in alarm.

The biggest difference between high-tech and low-tech locks is the ability to remotely manage a high-tech lock. Nexia Home Intelligence makes it high-tech. This is a home automation system that allows you to control locks, thermostats, lights, cameras and more from wherever you and the internet happen to be. Lock or unlock your door from anywhere with your cell phone, or schedule lock codes to be active only on certain days at specific times. You can also receive text alerts when an alarm triggers or when specific codes provided to your kids are entered at the lock.

Robert Siciliano home security expert to Schlage discussinghome security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

2013 SXSWi Security Trends in Technology

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South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) is an incubator of cutting-edge technologies. The event, which takes place every March, features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders, and an unbeatable lineup of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games and startup ideas the community has to offer.

At the SXSWi conference this year, mobile was a big deal—which meant mobile applications and their security are high on developers’ radars.

Mobile Security

Access Point states, “Developers need to make sure they cover one other major concern when creating a mobile app: security. Consumers need to feel and know that their information is secure at all times, and developers need to lead the charge before they ask for additional measures. Creating simple but effective security checkpoints is a must—just make sure they are not so obtrusive that your users get annoyed and are resistant to adopting your application.”

Another point of interest at this year’s SXSWi was authentication. With all the data breaches over the last decade, the conversation to eliminate the username/password as a simple access point has begun. One painfully overlooked authenticator is the driver’s license. Gemalto presented a compelling program on why the simple plastic license needs a makeover.

Driver’s Licenses

Technology impacts our lives daily, but one item is not advancing—your driver’s license. A simple card made of plastic with a few bar codes, a magnetic stripe and a photo is all it is. By finding or even simply viewing one, someone can immediately access your personal information to use for fraudulent purposes. Stealing someone’s identity is way too easy. Most industries have already gone digital; now it’s time to tackle the DMV.

A new method of identification is needed: an electronic driver’s license (eDL). One simple chip (or smart card) could revolutionize decades of using the same technology—paper and plastic. EDLs stand to increase security and offer more privacy. The adoption of eDLs also lays the groundwork for a truly mobile wallet solution.

Robert Siciliano, is a personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto and author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! . Disclosures

What Security Benefits Does Contactless Technology Offer?

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Contactless technology offers many benefits, including faster and easier transactions, versatility to be incorporated into various personal devices including mobile phones, and improved data security over the magnetic stripe technology.

According to the Smart Card Alliance, “Contactless smart card technology includes strong security features optimized for applications involving payment and identities. Every day tens of millions of people around the world safely use contactless technology in their passports, identity cards and transit fare cards for secure, fast and convenient transactions. Multiple layers of security protect these transactions, making them safe for consumers and merchants. Some of these features are in the contactless smart card chip and some are in the same networks that protect traditional credit and debit card transactions.”

Nicely put.

Contactless technology improves data security in several potential scenarios.

ATM skimming: It’s difficult to skim a card that doesn’t actually come into physical contact with the reader. With the old magnetic striped cards, a card must be physically swiped through a reader device. These point-of-sale readers are found in retail environments, gas stations, and on ATMs. Countless skimming devices installed by criminals have been found in all of these environments.

Data breaches: In recent years, there have been hundreds of data breaches resulting in the loss or theft of more than a half billion records. Companies whose databases have been compromised have spent or lost millions of dollars as a result of these breaches. Contactless payment methods incorporating chip and PIN technology encrypt data to prevent it from being read in plain text.

Lost cards: If your wallet is stolen or you lose a credit card, it is highly probable that a thief will take advantage of the opportunity to rack up charges on your magnetic stripe credit card. A contactless chip and PIN card, on the other hand, can’t be used by just anyone, since any transaction requires a PIN.

So there you have it. These are just a few of the security benefits offered by contactless technology.

Robert Siciliano, personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto. Disclosures