5 Cyber-security Tips for Home

It's pretty easy to just go on and on and on about this topic, so let's just leave it at this - cyber-security is just a new norm.  We do so much online these days, for personal and business, that it's hard to imagine a life where it isn't so.  Who doesn't like having (or need) high speed internet at their fingertips for everything from NetFlix to e-File taxes to online banking to bill payment to messaging to maps and even things like real estate listings or ancestry research?  Unfortunately, it also presents an opportunity for savvy hackers to steal your information.  Consider this:  Cyber-security is not a one-time event.  You personally and your computers / mobile devices / IoT (Internet of Things) devices are under attack all the time.  There's no such thing as shields up and walk away - that's old school stuff.  It's about [holistically] doing what you can to reduce the risk that you will be infected or have some kind of personal information compromise.

I'll step off the soap box now, because you get it - we all do.  Rather than droning on, how about some actual defense tips you can use right now (most cost nothing or almost nothing) to protect yourself and your family online?

Here goes:

1.  Be aware and on the lookout for suspicious activity, including:  phishing Email, unsolicited phone calls, pop-ups on your browser, etc.  The most common way someone gets into your system is not through technical hacking.  It's by tricking YOU into doing something.  KnowBe4 has an excellent platform for training and has a ton of free resources too.  Read about social engineering here:  https://www.knowbe4.com/what-is-social-engineering/  Be careful on public networks and never, under any circumstances, accept messages about invalid security certificates.  That's a red flag that someone is trying to intercept your secure communication.

2.  Cisco Umbrella (OpenDNS) for Home.  I'll spare you the technical jargon, but here's what this does (it's very slick and elegantly simple).  DNS is the technology that converts names (so simplycomplicated.life) into an IP address (what your computer needs to "get" to the site).  Think of the domain name as a friendly "label" to an address.  DNS is like a phone book (the kids have no idea what this is) - it maintains a mapping of name to address (so name to phone number).  So, what if you could insert some technology that intercepts this conversion and validates whether the site is good or not?  That's what this does - and because the name resolution is fast, it can also improve your browsing experience too.  It's also a way you can provide some level of content filtering to keep your family safe from sites they shouldn't go to.  OpenDNS for Home is free for security and basic content filtering for home.  If you want a little more control, it's $19.95/year.  A bargain.  Check it out:  www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/.

3.  Immunet:  This is antimalware on steroids.  The home version (Immunet) is free and the business version (Cisco AMP for Endpoints) is not.  Immunet is great because it does NOT slow your computer down at all and does not use detection (signature) files to identify threats.  It uses realtime information provided by the Immunet Cloud.  It also compliments your existing antivirus software, to provide just an extra layer of protection.  It's totally free and available here:  http://www.immunet.com.

4.  Windows 10.  If you have a Windows computer running anything other than Windows 10, it's time for an upgrade.  This one might not be free, but Microsoft got it right.  Windows 10 is, by far, the most secure operating system Microsoft has ever built and security is built into the core OS now.  Windows 10 includes Windows Defender (antivirus/antimalware, intrusion prevention, application protection, and overall device/system protection).  It has a friendly alternative to traditional multi-factor authentication ("Windows Hello").  If you upgrade to Windows 10 Pro, you can also use BitLocker to encrypt your hard drive and media.  Think Windows 7 is "good enough" - check this out:  http://wincom.blob.core.windows.net/documents/Win10_ComparissonSheet_v3.pdf.

5.  Updates.  Keep your system updated - this includes software like FireFox and Chrome and your mobile devices.  When updates aren't available anymore, it's time to throw it away and replace it.  I would not keep even a tablet "for home use" that couldn't be updated.  The risk of infection and compromise is just too great.  Often, I hear "well they don't update it, but I only use it for ____ and I'll replace it when it breaks".  If it's not being updated, it's broken; treat yourself to an upgrade.