Tag: Privacy

Categories
Technology

Don’t Worry, Your Samsung Phone “Winking” at You is Just a Cool Feature

b2ap3_thumbnail_samsung_smart_stay_400.jpg If you’re a Samsung smartphone user, have you ever seen a little eyeball symbol appear at the top of the screen? You might notice that it will show up for a minute, and then disappear again. Since this kind of activity usually makes users question what’s going on with their device, let’s get down to the bottom of this weird occurrence.

To assuage your fears that you’re being watched by some sort of malware or spyware, know that this eyeball icon doesn’t mean you’ve been hacked. Instead, it’s a feature called Smart Stay created by Samsung. When the eye appears, the feature is activated.

What is Smart Stay?
Smart Stay uses your front facing camera to tell whether or not you’re looking at the device. While this sounds a bit creepy, the camera can use your face to keep the screen from turning off while you’re looking at it–like, say, when you’re reading an article on the Internet that’s particularly long. This actually overrides any screen timeout settings, so it’s a great way to finish off whatever you are reading without having to press a button every now and again to keep it lit up.

To change the settings of Smart Stay, you just go through to Menu > Settings > My Device > Smart screen. All you have to do is uncheck the Smart Stay box to turn it off. Depending on how helpful you find this feature, you might actually prefer to keep it on.

How You Know You Have Something to Worry About
While Samsung’s Smart Stay isn’t something to worry about, there are other symptoms of hacking attacks on your mobile device that you want to keep in mind should the need arise. Depending on the type of problem, the symptoms will vary, but keep the following in mind if you suspect something out of the ordinary.

  1. Unfamiliar charges on your carrier’s statement.
  2. Data access patterns that you don’t recognize.
  3. Your battery drains quicker than normal.
  4. You find apps that are downloaded from a third-party app store.
  5. Strange notifications start appearing, especially related to finding and downloading new apps and games.
  6. Your device has been rooted (aka jailbroken).
  7. Your antivirus has been disabled.
  8. You actually see the hacker’s remote actions of opening apps and navigating your phone.

If you ever have reason to suspect that your phone has been hijacked, make sure that the first thing you do is turn off the device’s Internet connection and power it down as soon as possible. Once you’ve done this, consult your trusted IT professionals at COMPANYNAME. We can remove the threat before it causes any more damage to your device.

A little healthy skepticism never hurt anyone, so be sure to approach issues with your device with a grain of salt. To learn more about how your business can identify troubles with technology, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.

Categories
Security

Tip of the Week: Stuck Using a Public PC? Be Sure to Follow These 2 Privacy Tips

b2ap3_thumbnail_public_computers_are_dangerous_400.jpg Full disclosure: we don’t recommend doing anything important, or really anything at all, on a public computer. However, we understand that sometimes life works out in an unideal fashion, and sometimes you can be stuck doing something you shouldn’t, and otherwise wouldn’t. Even in these cases, there are steps you can take to preserve your security.

Despite the explosion in mobile device connectivity, the use of public computers is still remarkably common. Unfortunately, the same remarks can’t be said about their relative security. These open devices tend to have few solutions in place–if any–especially when compared to the average privately-held device.

However, as we go through the steps you need to take while using a public computer, we will also go through some alternatives that you really should consider implementing before you find yourself in this risky situation.

Use a Private Browser
The default settings for most web browsers are designed, more or less, for a single user’s exclusive use. This is why your browser collects data like your history, what you’ve downloaded, and account credentials. It’s all done to make the user’s experience simpler–which, on a private machine, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

However, these capabilities don’t just go away because more than one person uses the computer, and so if you enter some sensitive credentials, the next user may be able to access and utilize them as well. Using a private browser prevents you from leaving those digital footprints on the machine by having it “forget” what you were just using it to access.

Keep in mind, private browsers aren’t a cure-all when it comes to your online security. Even though the computer itself won’t have a record of your browsing, it doesn’t mean that private browsers wipe your trail from the Internet as well. In order to do that, there are other measures you’ll have to take.

Use a Virtual Private Network
Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are a step up from a private browser. Once a user logs in to their VPN, their IP address is effectively shielded from view, and their activity is processed through an encrypted virtual tunnel. Using proxy servers that span across the globe, your identity and location are shielded enough that you will never be the target of an opportunistic attack.

As far as price is concerned with a VPN, there are free options out there, as well as many very reasonably priced, paid varieties. Your VPN would need to be set up on your office network before you plan on using it from an outside location.

When it comes to doing business while travelling, it’s only natural that the urge is there to use whatever is available. However, if you must decide between productivity and security, it is much more prudent to prioritize security. After all, without your security, you may just find that your finished product has been tampered with or stolen.

On the topic of security, it cannot be said enough that using a public computer in any professional capacity is simply not a risk that is worth taking. There is simply no way that you may be sure that your data is absolutely safe.

COMPANYNAME can help you maintain your security in situations like these. Give us a call at PHONENUMBER to learn more.

Categories
Miscellaneous

How Vizio Got Busted for Spying on Its Customers

b2ap3_thumbnail_vizio_smart_tv_spying_400.jpg What have you watched on TV lately? Actually, never mind; if you don’t want to tell us, we can just ask Vizio. Relax–we’re not actually going through with this, but the fact remains that 11 million owners of Vizio televisions had their viewing habits tracked by the manufacturer. Were you one of them?

A fine by the Federal Trade Commission, totalling $2.2 million, was issued to Vizio following its actions of collecting data on users. This data included what the televisions were displaying, regardless of what the input was; whether it was smart TV apps, DVD players, air broadcasts, the TV’s IP addresses, or cable boxes. Whatever the TV had on it, Vizio could gather the data and do with it as it pleased. A federal court ordered Vizio to delete any data that they collected before March 2016 because their customers were not told of the company’s data sharing practices.

To remedy this, Vizio now makes its data collection practices available through the TV’s settings. Also part of their settlement, Vizio now sends notifications directly to the user’s screen. Jerry Huang, Vizio’s General Counsel, issued a statement regarding the incident: “Instead, as the complaint notes, the practices challenged by the government related only to the use of viewing data in the ‘aggregate’ to create summary reports measuring viewing audiences or behaviors. Today, the FTC has made clear that all smart TV makers should get people’s consent before collecting and sharing television viewing information and Vizio now is leading the way.”

Of course, the question of what Vizio did with all of that data needs to be asked. Perhaps the company used the data to understand how customers were using its hardware, such as how frequently it was used and what kinds of devices were used in conjunction with it. This way, Vizio could use the data to better their products and make them more useful. Of course, that’s an optimistic view.

Another way that Vizio could have used this data is by collecting it to distribute to paying partners for marketing purposes. This type of data collection would be very lucrative for Vizio, a practice that could be difficult to ignore.

Was this collection of data a clear violation of generally-accepted ethics? That’s debatable, but the truth of the matter is that Vizio would have had a better time of it if they gave their customers the choice of being involved these data collection practices. If anything, it should make you consider how you’re using your own Internet-connected devices. You never know if and how they might be spying on you.

What are your thoughts on this development? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to our blog.

Categories
Best Practices

Tip of the Week: Worried About Identity Theft at Work? Follow These Tips for Peace of Mind

b2ap3_thumbnail_protect_your_workers_identities_400.jpg The Bureau of Justice estimated that five percent of the entire U.S. population were victimized by identity thieves, a total of 11.7 million people. While the methods of collecting the data that identity thieves need to commit their crime vary from dumpster diving for carelessly discarded documents, to email phishing scams, there is a particular target that can easily supply them with the data they will need: the workplace.

While many businesses must collect a lot of personal data from their clients for billing purposes, their employees are also made vulnerable if some of that data was to be absconded with. After all, in order to properly pay an employee for their work, an employer will need a lot of their personally identifiable information on record. As a result, a workplace becomes a high-value target for someone seeking the data necessary to complete fraudulent actions in someone else’s name and becomes the responsibility of the entire business to safeguard that data, for the sake of their employees and their clients.

To that end, every employee should be educated in the best practices for protecting a company’s trove of sensitive information, and policies need to be implemented and enforced to ensure that these best practices are followed. To get you started with securing your office, make sure these four best practices are followed by everyone associated with your company.

Don’t Leave Workstations Unattended
Computers need to be locked and only accessible by its user’s password. Otherwise, anyone (be it a less-than-trustworthy employee or someone off the street stumbling across an opportunity) could access that workstation and any company documents available to that employee.

Go Paperless
Identity thieves love paper trails. Whether it be copies of sensitive files that make their way to the trash, or even documents that get left lying around the office, the fact of the matter is that having paper copies of sensitive information only increases the risk that this information will get stolen. Going paperless is a way to minimize this risk entirely.

Train Employees to Know What Email Scams Looks Like
Scams targeting email inboxes are some of the top ways that identities are compromised. Therefore, in addition to having a good spam blocking solution in place, you’re going to want to make sure that every worker knows what an email scam looks like so they won’t fall for one. You may know how to spot an obvious email scam, like an unsolicited email requesting sensitive information, but how sure are you that your staff knows what a scam looks like as well?

Implement Enterprise-Level Security Solutions
Without proactive solutions in place to protect your company’s sensitive data, it could easily fall into the wrong hands if a hacker breached your network. Every business needs to have security tools in place like antivirus, firewalls, spam-blocking, and content filtering. Thankfully, a solution like a Unified Threat Management tool offers businesses an easy way to get this kind of comprehensive protection in one easy-to-implement package!

Of course, there are many other steps to take to prevent your workplace from becoming an identity thief’s jackpot. COMPANYNAME can help advise you on the other steps your business needs to take in order to keep the identities it deals with properly protected. Call us today at PHONENUMBER for more information on the steps you need to take to prevent identity theft.

Categories
Security

Helpful Suggestions to Improve Password Security

b2ap3_thumbnail_password_security_400.jpg Passwords are important for any online account (and for most accounts in general). Sometimes they might feel like inconveniences, but it’s crucial to remember that these passwords are often the first line of defense, if not the only line of defense, that stands between your data and hackers. We’ll discuss ways that you can augment password security with other powerful measures.

There are two major ways that you can improve password security; two-factor authentication and password managers.

Two-Factor Authentication
2FA provides organizations and users with secondary credentials that can protect their network or online accounts. This type of protection can come in the form of an SMS message, a phone call, or an email sending you a secondary credential. You then enter this code into the app or service, and since you know without a doubt that only you could have access to this code, you can practically guarantee that you’re the only one accessing your account.

Basically, the biggest way this helps your organization is by making it as hard as possible for hackers to infiltrate your network and company accounts. When you involve devices like smartphones with two-factor authentication, you make it much more difficult for hackers, as they would need access to two different devices rather than just one. Reach out to COMPANYNAME and ask us about our two-factor authentication solutions.

Password Managers
A good password is often long and complex, consisting of several different types of characters, numbers, and letters. As you might expect, these types of passwords are rather difficult to remember. Plus, since you can’t (or shouldn’t) use the same password for multiple accounts, you can easily use the password for another account on accident, eventually leading to an account lockout. This is both frustrating and unnecessary. Alternatively, you can keep track of your passwords using a password manager, allowing you to use complex passwords without any problems.

An enterprise-level password manager from COMPANYNAME can allow your organization to take advantage of complex passwords. Your passwords are stored in a secure encrypted database that shields them from hackers. Furthermore, you only pull the passwords as they are needed. There’s no better way to take advantage of complex passwords, as the password manager will keep track of multiple account credentials without you having to remember them.

COMPANYNAME can help your business with all of its password managing needs. To learn more, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.

Categories
Security

Even Small Businesses Need a Big Security Solution

b2ap3_thumbnail_small_business_security_400.jpg One of the main benefits of a small business is that it’s small. You can make decisions quickly regarding all sorts of matters. Your workforce isn’t nearly as large as other organizations, meaning that you’re a closer, tight-knit group. One of the misconceptions of small business is that they’re not as susceptible to hacking attacks, which can be a dangerous assumption to make.

The reasoning for this is simple: hackers don’t care who you are or what you do. They don’t care if you’re a large business with thousands of employees, or if you’re a small startup in the suburbs of your hometown. They don’t care if you’re in the healthcare industry or if you’re just a small goods manufacturer. All they care about is stealing your data, and if you don’t take measures to protect it, you could be dealing with a major issue that can’t be swept under the rug and forgotten about.

All businesses rely on their mission-critical data to function, and all businesses have information that’s valuable to hackers. For example, most companies have a human resources department that collects information about employees and potential new hires, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and so on. On a more personal note, your business’s finance department holds payment information for both your clients and your own business, which could be catastrophic if it were to fall into the hands of hackers.

However, even though hackers will use variable tactics to infiltrate and infect a network with viruses, malware, spyware, or other threats, they often don’t target specific data. In fact, hackers often don’t target specific businesses at all, and instead will send out widespread scams designed to infect any and all who are foolish enough to download a file, or click on a suspicious link. These threats are most often found in phishing emails (scams that are designed to get a user to visit a malicious website, download an infected attachment, or click on a link) that executes a malicious payload. A small business like yours will rarely experience a direct hacking attack specifically designed to infiltrate your exact systems.

Due to this oversight, your business can make significant steps toward proper cybersecurity practices by implementing security solutions that are designed with the enterprise in mind; specifically, a firewall, antivirus, spam blocking, and web content filtering solutions. These security measures are all necessary if you want to minimize your business’s exposure to online threats. They can keep your team from accessing malicious websites, keep threats out of your system, and eliminate the majority of spam that hits your inbox. Furthermore, a powerful antivirus can swiftly destroy any threats that do manage to infiltrate your system.

With a small business, you still need to implement security solutions. There’s no getting around that. What you can do to make it easier on your organization is to contact COMPANYNAME. Our skilled technicians understand the everyday difficulties that come from managing technology, including optimizing security. Ask us about a Unified Threat Management solution that includes all of the above-mentioned services, and don’t forget to inquire about remote monitoring and maintenance that’s designed to detect and resolve abnormalities in your systems. To learn more, contact COMPANYNAME at PHONENUMBER.

Categories
Security

Test Your Knowledge of These 3 Common Security Threats

b2ap3_thumbnail_prevent_security_issues_400.jpg Security is a critical part of running your business, especially in a world where organizations require technology for most any task. In fact, some of the most dangerous threats are known to hide within a company’s network, waiting for any opportunity to strike. With the right preventative measures, you can keep your network safe from catching threats before they hit your network in the first place.

Defining Malware
Malware is short for “malicious software,” which is an overarching phrase referring to malicious code designed to cause problems. Malware often injects code into applications to execute viruses or trojans. One of the most common types of malware is a variant called ransomware, which you’ve probably heard of thanks to a number of high-profile infections. When a machine is infected with ransomware, it encrypts the files on the device until the ransom is paid to the hacker. Aside from this rather dangerous strain, other types of malware can have far-reaching and varied effects.

Defining Rootkits
Like malware, a rootkit is at home on a system. Unlike some types of malware, however, a rootkit is designed to allow a hacker to gain control of a system while remaining undetected for extended periods of time. Rootkits are dangerous thanks to their ability to avoid detection by software that’s supposed to find them, like firewalls and antivirus solutions.

Defining Trojans
Trojans are malicious entities that allow hackers to access a system by misleading the user. Trojans are backdoors that can allow hackers access to a system at a later date, and they are often installed alongside other malware to distract the user from taking preventive action. The trojan can be used for a number of purposes, from data destruction to surveillance or espionage.

The Solution: Preventative Security Measures
Since so many threats are blocked by preventative security measures, it would be foolish not to implement them. There are several ways you can keep threats out of your system, including:

  • Firewall: Firewalls act as a bouncer for your network, keeping threats from entering or leaving your infrastructure. They work best when combined with other preventative measures, like antivirus, content filters, and spam blockers.
  • Antivirus: Antivirus solutions detect and eliminate threats that have made it past your firewall solution. Antivirus offers prompt threat detection, which is important since malware that’s left unchecked could cause untold troubles.
  • Spam blocker: Threats often arrive in your email inbox as spam, and the unknowing employee could accidentally click a malicious link or reveal important credentials. A spam blocker eliminates the vast majority of spam from even hitting your inbox.
  • Content filter: A content filter is helpful for keeping your employees from accessing sites known to host malware, as well as inappropriate or time-wasting sites, like social media.

A Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution is a great way to take advantage of all of the above solutions. It’s widely considered to be the most comprehensive and useful preventative measure available to SMBs. If you want to learn more about UTMs, be sure to give COMPANYNAME a call at PHONENUMBER.