Security Tips For Protecting Mobile Phones & Tablets

What is at risk?

Only you can determine what is actually at risk. If a thief steals your laptop or mobile device, the most obvious loss is the machine itself. However, if the thief is able to access the information on the computer or mobile device, all of the information stored on the device is at risk, as well as any additional information that could be accessed as a result of the data stored on the device itself.

Sensitive corporate information or customer account information should not be accessed by unauthorized people. You've probably heard news stories about organizations panicking because laptops with confidential information on them have been lost or stolen. But even if there isn't any sensitive corporate information on your laptop or mobile device, think of the other information at risk: information about appointments, passwords, email addresses and other contact information, personal information for online accounts, etc.

How can you protect your laptop or internet-enabled device?

• Password-protect your computer - Make sure that you have to enter a password to log in to your computer or mobile device.
• Keep your valuables with you at all times - When traveling, keep your device with you. Meal times are optimum times for thieves to check hotel rooms for unattended laptops. If you are attending a conference or trade show, be especially wary—these venues offer thieves a wider selection of devices that are likely to contain sensitive information, and the conference sessions offer more opportunities for thieves to access guest rooms.
• Downplay your laptop or mobile device - There is no need to advertise to thieves that you have a laptop or mobile device. Avoid using your device in public areas, and consider non-traditional bags for carrying your laptop.
• Be aware of your surroundings - If you do use your laptop or mobile device in a public area, pay attention to people around you. Take precautions to shield yourself from "shoulder surfers"—make sure that no one can see you type your passwords or see any sensitive information on your screen.
• Consider an alarm or lock - Many companies sell alarms or locks that you can use to protect or secure your laptop. If you travel often or will be in a heavily populated area, you may want to consider investing in an alarm for your laptop bag or a lock to secure your laptop to a piece of furniture.
• Back up your files - If your mobile device is stolen, it's bad enough that someone else may be able to access your information. To avoid losing all of the information, make backups of important information and store the backups in a separate location. Not only will you still be able to access the information, but you'll be able to identify and report exactly what information is at risk.

What can you do if your laptop or mobile device is lost or stolen?

Report the loss or theft to the appropriate authorities. These parties may include representatives from law enforcement agencies, as well as hotel or conference staff. If your device contained sensitive corporate or customer account information, immediately report the loss or theft to your organization so that they can act quickly.

Seven Privacy Habits You Can Start Today

Taking care of your identity and protecting your privacy might seem like insurmountable tasks, especially in the face of major data breaches, large-scale international hacking, and other “out of my hands” threats. 

While those things certainly are problematic, the reality is there are many steps you can take to make yourself less likely to become an identity theft victim and to minimize the damage if your information has already been compromised.

Trying to take every single privacy step all at once is a surefire way to suffer from burnout and “data breach fatigue,” a very real phenomenon that can occur when the public is overwhelmed with constant news of identity theft dangers. But experts in a variety of fields know that making real changes in your life starts small by developing good habits and sticking to them.

Here are seven great privacy habits you can start working on:

Mailbox Monday 

Your mailbox contains many of the pieces of your identity puzzle, and recent statistics have shown that mail theft is still a widespread problem. Make Monday the day you stop leaving mail in your mailbox, stop mailing important papers or checks in the corner mailbox, and stop throwing away unshredded documents or credit card offers.

TMI Tuesday 

Sign up to receive the Identity Theft Resource Center’s TMI Weekly delivered to your inbox each week …yes, as in “too much information.” It outlines news items and information on oversharing and other threats to your personal data. Signing up is easy, and the link can be found here.

Weak Password Wednesday 

It’s tempting to use a super-simple password (like “password”…literally) or to make one really good password and use it for all your online accounts. Unfortunately, both of those are great ways to hand your information over to a hacker. Use Wednesday to think about your passwords and to change a few of them on the dozens of online accounts you may have.

Twitter Thursday 

From live Twitter chats to daily social media updates from privacy experts, Thursday is a great day to spend a little while on Twitter catching up on the latest news. A number of organizations host regular chats throughout the month, like the ITRC’s monthly #IDTheftChat events.

Financial Friday 

It’s the last day of the work week for a lot of people, and there’s no better day to spend some time on your financial privacy. Monitor your bank accounts and credit card accounts for any signs of unusual activity, and check up on any mobile payment accounts or apps you use (like PayPal and Apple Pay) to make sure there’s nothing out of the ordinary. If your credit card company offers it, log in and take a peek at your credit score; you won’t see your whole report, but if there’s a sudden, dramatic change in your score, that’s a sure sign that you need to order copies of your credit reports.

Share It Saturday 

Did you know that you can be harmed if someone you know falls for a scam? Let’s say your mom shares a “forward this to ten people” hoax email or social media post, and you click on a link it contains. Congratulations, you may have just downloaded a virus to your computer. It’s not enough to protect your own privacy, so Saturdays are a great day to share genuine news items about data breaches, scams, and fraud. You’ll protect the people you care about, and you just might be protecting yourself.

Social Media Sunday 

A lot of people like to set aside Sundays for a little rest and relaxation before heading into another work week, and that can mean checking up on social media buzz. But are you oversharing online? Do you have your privacy settings in place, and are they set to the most protective level? Stop and think for a while about what you share, where you share it, and how far it can go.

Track Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster on its Way to Mars

Earlier this month Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched Falcon Heavy, the company’s most powerful rocket yet. Inside was a red Tesla Roadster sports car with built-in cameras for capturing what it sees as well as a copy of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction book series Foundation, and a plane engraved with 6,000 SpaceX employee names. The car’s destination: Mars.

So, what does the road to Mars actually look like?

One space enthusiast has created a website for tracking the car’s journey using NASA data to track the Roadster’s course. Aptly named Where Is Roadster? The site offers real-time data on where the Roadster currently is as well as an interactive tool to help you see where it’s headed as well.

As it turns out, the car isn’t making a beeline right for the Red Planet. Like all other things, it has to deal with the force of gravity working against it, which means that instead of going straight for Mars, it’s instead traveling in a bit of an arc.

Right now, the roadster and its passenger, a dummy named Starman, are roughly 2.25 million miles away from Earth and 137.5 million miles away from Mars. It’s not expected to reach its destination until October 2020.

And bad news for Starman if he runs into trouble along the way: The car exceeded its 36,000-mile warranty 636 times while driving around the sun.

Four Simple Tech Hacks That Will Make You More Productive

While technology’s omnipresence in our lives affords us the opportunity to get work done from anywhere at anytime, being on devices all the time can lead us down time-wasting tunnels, making us less productive.

Thankfully most of the smartphones and computers we use now also have built-in settings or additional apps that can help you reclaim your productivity so you can get back to using your devices for work.

Here are four tech hacks to make you more productive.

FIND OUT HOW YOU ARE REALLY SPENDING YOUR TIME ONLINE

There are a host of time-tracking apps that give us insight into just how many hours we are spending surfing the web and using various apps. The best thing about these time-tracking apps is that they run in the background and automatically log your usage. After running the apps for at least a week, you’ll then have a good idea of whether you are truly being productive on your devices, or if you are using them to procrastinate more than you thought.

One of the most robust is ManicTime,  which not only tracks how much time you spend in each app, but in each document you open. This means you can see if you are giving one project more time than another, and can decide whether that project actually deserves the additional time. ManicTime also tracks which websites you visited and how long you spent on each. It even tracks the time you spent away from your computer.  It’s available for PC, Mac, Android, and even Linux.

RescueTime is another useful time-tracking app for PC, Mac, Android, and Linux that allows you to set productivity goals for the day, and even gives you a daily productivity score. If you have an iOS device, give Moment a look. It tracks how much you use the apps on your device each day, and even logs how much time you pick up your phone every day. If you’re an Android user, try QualityTime for similar features.

USE PARENTAL CONTROLS TO KEEP YOU FROM PROCRASTINATING

If you find that you are wasting a lot of time on social media sites, you don’t have to rely on willpower alone to avoid them. Instead, you can block them. While the main operating systems (macOS, Windows, and iOS) don’t offer app or website blocking functions per se, they do all offer parental controls that you can enable and use for yourself.

• If you’re on iOS, go to Settings > General > Restrictions to turn parental controls on and set blocked websites.
• macOS users should go to System Preferences > Parental Controls.
• Windows users can find them under Windows Settings > Accounts > Family & Other People.
• Android users can download the TrendMicro app, which allows users to easily block access to certain websites.

ENABLE DO NOT DISTURB MODES DURING THE DAYTIME

The solutions above work great if you’re the one to blame for wasting your time. But if you find your time is being wasted by your friends who won’t stop texting, or by apps that keep sending social media or news alerts during work hours, you need to block them from doing so. The good news is that you don’t even need to make those friends and apps aware of your tactics.

All the major OSes have versions of a “do not disturb” mode built into them. When activated, these modes prevent notifications being sent to your device. By default, do not disturb modes are usually set to turn on at night when you should be sleeping. But a great hack is to flip the schedule on its head and turn them on during the day when you have work to do, so even if your friends keep texting, or those social media sites keep pinging you, there’s no way you’ll get the distracting notification until your work is done.

• On a Mac, go into your Notification Center, swipe down and toggle Do Not Disturb to “On.” Toggle it to “Off” when your work is done for the day.
• On an iOS device, go into your Control Center and tap the present moon button to enable Do Not Disturb.
• On a PC, right-click on the Action Center icon in the taskbar notification area. Select “Turn On Quiet Hours” to enable do not disturb mode.
• On an Android device, swipe down from the top of the display to open the notification screen and tap on the Do Not Disturb icon.

FORCE YOURSELF TO TAKE BREAKS WITH “TIME OUT” APPS

Even when you’re focusing on work, it’s still important to remember to take breaks. Science shows breaks actually make us more productive, not less. Thankfully there are a few free apps that you can install on your work machines that will automatically tell you when it’s time to step away from the keyboard.

If you’re on a Mac, Time Out–Break Reminders is an excellent app that lets you schedule “normal” five- to 10-minute breaks every hour and a seconds-long “micro” break every 15 minutes. PC and Linux users can get the same capabilities from the excellent freeware Workrave.

So now you know the tech hacks to help you be more productive, what are you still doing in this article? Get back to work.

Recognizing and Avoiding Spyware

What is spyware?

Despite its name, the term "spyware" doesn't refer to something used by undercover operatives, but rather by the advertising industry. In fact, spyware is also known as "adware." It refers to a category of software that, when installed on your computer, may send you pop-up ads, redirect your browser to certain web sites, or monitor the web sites that you visit. Some extreme, invasive versions of spyware may track exactly what keys you type. Attackers may also use spyware for malicious purposes.

Because of the extra processing, spyware may cause your computer to become slow or sluggish. There are also privacy implications:

• What information is being gathered?
• Who is receiving it?
• How is it being used?

How do you know if there is spyware on your computer?

The following symptoms may indicate that spyware is installed on your computer:

• you are subjected to endless pop-up windows
• you are redirected to web sites other than the one you typed into your browser
• new, unexpected toolbars appear in your web browser
• new, unexpected icons appear in the task tray at the bottom of your screen
• your browser's home page suddenly changed
• the search engine your browser opens when you click "search" has been changed
• certain keys fail to work in your browser (e.g., the tab key doesn't work when you are moving to the next field within a form)
• random Windows error messages begin to appear
• your computer suddenly seems very slow when opening programs or processing tasks (saving files, etc.)

How can you prevent spyware from installing on your computer?

To avoid unintentionally installing it yourself, follow these good security practices:

• Don't click on links within pop-up windows - Because pop-up windows are often a product of spyware, clicking on the window may install spyware software on your computer. To close the pop-up window, click on the "X" icon in the titlebar instead of a "close" link within the window.
• Choose "no" when asked unexpected questions - Be wary of unexpected dialog boxes asking whether you want to run a particular program or perform another type of task. Always select "no" or "cancel," or close the dialog box by clicking the "X" icon in the titlebar.
• Be wary of free downloadable software - There are many sites that offer customized toolbars or other features that appeal to users. Don't download programs from sites you don't trust, and realize that you may be exposing your computer to spyware by downloading some of these programs.
• Don't follow email links claiming to offer anti-spyware software - Like email viruses, the links may serve the opposite purpose and actually install the spyware it claims to be eliminating.

As an additional good security practice, especially if you are concerned that you might have spyware on your machine and want to minimize the impact, consider taking the following action:

• Adjust your browser preferences to limit pop-up windows and cookies - Pop-up windows are often generated by some kind of scripting or active content. Adjusting the settings within your browser to reduce or prevent scripting or active content may reduce the number of pop-up windows that appear. Some browsers offer a specific option to block or limit pop-up windows. Certain types of cookies are sometimes considered spyware because they reveal what web pages you have visited. You can adjust your privacy settings to only allow cookies for the web site you are visiting.

How do you remove spyware?

• Run a full scan on your computer with your anti-virus software - Some anti-virus software will find and remove spyware, but it may not find the spyware when it is monitoring your computer in real time. Set your anti-virus software to prompt you to run a full scan periodically.
• Run a legitimate product specifically designed to remove spyware - Many vendors offer products that will scan your computer for spyware and remove any spyware software. Popular products include Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, Microsoft's Window Defender, Webroot's SpySweeper, and Spybot Search and Destroy.
• Make sure that your anti-virus and anti-spyware software are compatible - Take a phased approach to installing the software to ensure that you don't unintentionally introduce problems.