AndroPedia Tech Library

As part of our service, it is important to keep our client-partners well informed on IT developments, news, and best practices. Here is just a sampling of typical items from our AndroPedia^SM library archive:

We’ve spent some time over the last two months dedicating our articles to the Dark Web. Specifically, what it is and how your information is stolen and sold on the elusive Dark Web.

Part 1 – What Is The Dark Web & Why It Matters To You

Part 2 – 5 Ways Your Information Gets On The Dark Web

In this final article in our three part series, we thought it would be valuable to introduce our readers to some of the popular strategies and tools used both professionally and personally to reduce risk and protect you from losses related to data theft and the Dark Web.

One of the things we make sure to talk about with our clients in regard to cyber security and the Dark Web is that no matter how secure you make yourself and your business, these criminals are always going to come up with something new. It’s what they do.

With that in mind, there are still things you can do and one tool that you should put in place as your failsafe against all cybercrime and data theft.

How To Protect Yourself From The Dark Web

Identity Theft Protection

You invest time and money into data security at the office, but what do you do to make sure that your personal data is secure?

Personal data is very valuable to hackers and criminals. They can use it to steal your identity, open up lines of credit, purchase goods and more.

This isn’t a new story . . .

According to the Department of Justice, the average identity theft victim incurs over $1300 in personal damages. Not to mention reputational damage, time, stress and credit damages.

Because of how big of an issue personal identity theft is, there are services available that monitor your personal information for suspicious activity.

Services like LifeLock, IDWatchdog or IdentityForce are available to you among many others.

These services provide monitoring tools and alerts so when a criminal gets ahold of your info and attempts to use it, you are alerted and can cut them off before the damage is done. Some of them also provide insurance as well.

Andromeda doesn’t provide consumer solutions for identity theft protection but these services are a great asset to you for your personal protections.

Password Management Service

Password management is a necessity when it comes to keeping track of and maintaining strong passwords.

As you probably know, you want to have a unique password for every account you login to. So that means you should have a different password for Facebook, your personal email, your professional email, your primary bank account, any other bank accounts, Netflix . . . you get the idea.

On top of making sure your passwords are different, you should also make sure that they are STRONG.

• No Personal/Guessable Phrases
• Both Upper and Lower cases
• At least 8 Characters
• Include numbers
• Include other characters – !@#$%&

Do you think that you’d be able to keep track of all of your passwords if each one were unique? Do you think that you’d be able to keep track of them AND change them every 90 days (at a minimum)?

If you answered no, you aren’t alone.

That is why so many people use the same passwords across many accounts.

But that is also how a hacker can get access to your Facebook or Gmail password and then log in to your bank account.

To avoid this, get your hands on a professional password management solution.

There are a lot of options out there and they offer different features. Some are free and some are subscription based.

If you want a great comparison of the leading options, check out this side by side comparison from PCMag here.

Add Cyber Security Tools to Your Data Security Arsenal

The previous two tools are great for protecting you both personally and professionally but Andromeda specializes in protecting and service your business so of course, we need to pay attention to professional tools too.

In respect to cyber security and your business, there are many different tools you need in place. Things like a professional firewall solution, spam filtering and professional anti-virus software (NOT Freeware) are the basics. Nonetheless, there are added layers of security you should request from your IT Service Provider.

Some of these might include:

• Professional Disaster Recovery/Data Backup & Recovery Solutions
• Dual Authentication Software
• Patch and Update Management (we recommend weekly updates)
• Employee Cyber Security Training

These are just a few things you can have a professional technology partner handle for your business. Once you have these in place, you’ll be more secure and hopefully you’ll sleep a little better knowing you are proactively fighting off the criminals who want to ruin your day, interrupt (or even destroy) your business and steal your data.

Dark Web Monitoring Services

The Dark Web is an area of the web most people can’t or don’t regularly access. As discussed in previous articles, the Dark Web is an area where cyber criminals go to sell and purchase digital credentials (email addresses, passwords, personal information).

You won’t know a criminal has access to this data or whether they are using it against you until it is too late.

Unfortunately, with all of the different ways hackers and criminals can steal your data (Read our previous article for more on that – here), it is pretty much impossible to guarantee your data will NEVER be breached.

You should invest in password management, superior cyber security tools and identity theft monitoring. All of those services and tools will build up a strong defense system. However, you want to make sure that you are also proactively defending yourself from the attacks and strategies of tomorrow. You want to make sure you are defending yourself from the threats that haven’t hit the market just yet.

A tool that can help you defend yourself in this way is a Dark Web Monitoring Service.

In a nutshell, this tool scans the Dark Web for your businesses domain.

When an email address with your domain is found, an alert is sent out to your technology partner and appropriate actions are taken.

Password information changes before a criminal can get into your network and compromise data.

Andromeda Technology Solutions provides Dark Web Monitoring services to clients. We would love to discuss how we can help secure your info before compromise turns into catastrophe.

If you’re interested in taking a look at your current cyber security solutions and figuring out whether you are truly protected, give us a call or send us an email at Contact@WeNetwork.com. Mention this article when you contact our team and you’ll receive special pricing.

The post How You Can Protect Yourself from the Personal And Professional Losses Related To Data Theft & the Dark Web appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

We are all guilty of it: connecting to free public WiFi. Whether it is at the coffee shop, hotel or airport, the temptation to check e-mail and surf the web is just too strong to resist. As with anything technology related, free networks pose a number of risks to your data security. Here are a few tips to help you keep your information safe.

Data Security Quick Tips for When Using Public Wifi

Confirm The Network Is Legit –

It is common for hackers to set up fake clones of public WiFi access points. The hacker sets up the clone to get you to connect to THEIR WiFi over the legitimate one made available to you by your neighborhood coffee shop or restaurant. Connecting to a hacker’s access point can expose critical data and passwords. To avoid jumping on an unsafe network, verify the name of the WiFi your location is providing.

Enable A Firewall On Your Devices Or Use a VPN

A dependable firewall will help protect your sensitive data. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) encrypts traffic between your device and the VPN server, which makes it much more difficult for an intruder or hacker to access your sensitive data and improves your data security. You can try to set up your own VPN for personal devices but we suggest professional support for any of your work devices.

Turn Off File Sharing & Keep Devices from Automatically Joining Networks

Sure, file sharing is a great way to collaborate and send photos or other documents simply and quickly with friends, but leaving this function on only leaves you vulnerable to intrusion. As an extra data security measure, make sure you turn this feature off whenever you aren’t at home. In addition, cellphones can be set up to automatically join networks with free WiFi. Does this help you save on data? Sure! But it also sets you up to fall victim to scammers. Make sure you never allow your device to join a network without getting your permission first.

Don’t Access Financial Sites Or Make Purchases

NEVER access financial, medical or other sensitive data while on public WiFi. Also, don’t shop online and enter your credit card information unless you’re absolutely certain the connection point you’re on is safe and secure. This is simply asking for trouble and breaks the data security’s number one rule.

There are many ways for you to protect your data and secure your devices from hackers and those that wish to do you harm. The surest way to protect yourself is a trusted IT partner who can ensure your devices have proper protocols in place. If you are concerned about your own devices or those of your employees, give us a call. We are always available to help.

The post Don’t Use Public WiFi Without Reading These Data Security Quick Tips appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

It seems like a new attack vector emerges on a weekly basis, and this week is no exception.� The latest threat:� Emails containing specialized audio files whose acoustic vibrations can damage your computer's hard drive. This is possibly damaging to the point of causing system failure, data corruption, and making it impossible to successfully reboot your machine.

As the researchers point out, "Intentional acoustic interference causes unusual errors in the mechanics of magnetic hard disk drives in desktop and laptop computers, leading to damage to integrity and availability in both hardware and software such as file system corruption and operating system reboots.� An adversary without any special-purpose equipment can co-opt built-in speakers or nearby emitters to cause persistent errors."

It should be noted that as scary as this type of attack sounds, in practice, it is of limited value.� An increasing percentage of laptops and desktop PCs sold today come with SSDs for storage, which are not vulnerable to this type of attack.

In addition to that, not just "any" sound will do.� For the attack to be successful, the acoustic vibrations have to be strong enough to do real harm, and quiet enough that the attack is difficult to detect, lest it be aborted immediately.� The combination of those two factors make it unlikely that this one will gain widespread attention from the hacking community.� Nonetheless, it pays to be both mindful and vigilant, especially if you have an older PC or work in an office with older equipment.

The research team who discovered the new attack vector have created a new sensor fusion model that could be delivered through a firmware update.� Once updated, it would prevent unnecessary head parking in the hard drive, thus limiting the potential damage the attack could cause.� So far, there has been no word that PC manufacturers are considering making the necessary changes to their firmware.� Time will tell.

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