|
The times are a changing folks! Most kids have never seen a cassette tape, we all use email more than snail mail and many of us have phones smarter than we are.
As technology becomes ever more necessary in our lives it is important to know some best practices and tools to keep yourselves and your information secure. We hope to shed a little light on those topics in this portion of the newsletter.
This month we build on the basics:
1. This suggestion facilitates last months suggestion #2 (keep drivers and programs updated). A free program called Secunia PSI scans your system for non-Microsoft (third-party) vulnerabilities. The program can be downloaded from www.secunia.com.
2. If you know a site has a secure login get into the habit of typing the secure address in your browser. For example: https://www.pratech.com for our site. (you will get an error if you type this as our site does not require/support this feature.) Ensure the site displays https vs. http and look for the secure icon if your browser uses one.
3. For those who use Outlook (probably most of you) and need to open unfamiliar emails try dragging the unopened email to your desktop then opening Notepad and dropping the envelope from your desktop into Notepad. This should allow you to see the contents and minimize the possibility of any programming scripts affecting Outlook. I would still avoid clicking links if not familiar with the sender and test this process with a known safe email first.
As the holiday season approaches spend some time with friends and family, do something you enjoy, and have a few good laughs. Try to minimize the holiday hassles and remember that you are the firewall or antivirus that protects your peace of mind or well-being. HAVE A HAPPY TURKEY THURSDAY!
As always the full site URLs are listed for those of you following the best practice of not clicking links.
Thanks for reading,
Paul Astwood
PRA International
|
