The following article is from the Weekend Australian Magazine and The Times article “The Silicon Valley insider who says turn off your phone“. It’s an eye-opening view on where technology is taking us and well worth a read. We hope you enjoy this. ————————————- Turn off all notifications except those from people Most notifications are

The following article is from the Weekend Australian Magazine and The Times. It’s an eye-opening view on where technology is taking us and well worth a read. We hope you enjoy this. ———————————————————————— ‘Tech is tearing us apart’ The balance between humankind and technology has reached a tipping point, says this Silicon Valley insider –

Stopping an attacker bursting through the network perimeter is the “traditional” focus of organisations. The inside of the network is viewed as safe and users are given broad access to resources within it. The trouble with this approach is that unauthorised lateral movement within a network has become an enormous challenge for some organisations. What

It’s a question that has been on everyone’s lips for the best part of the decade. There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence talking about the eeriness of seeing an ad that relates to a verbal conversation you had with someone. And after years of research the general consensus is this: Facebook isn’t recording your conversations because

Everything in the world of backup was going just fine before the Cloud came along. Server rooms used to look the same: Racks with servers slotted in. The beauty of this setup (from a backup point of view) was that you could see where your data sat and therefore, you knew everything about the security

First things first: Disaster Recovery (DR) is not backup. What is backup? Backing up is simply taking a copy of your data and storing it. Backup has a number of rules that you can follow, with a old favourite being the 3-2-1 rule: Have 3 copies of your data, on 2 different types of media

Basic ‘cyber hygiene’ is an ongoing area of concern in the financial services sector. Since issuing their latest Cyber Security guidelines in July 2019, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has received 36 data breach notifications Executive board member Geoff Summerhayes warns that local financial services providers were still making basic errors. “With some cyber-incidents taking

schadenfreude n.Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. n.Malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else’s misfortune. n.delight in another person’s misfortune Welcome to the 12 days of Hackmas where we go through 12 of the most surprising, amazing and disturbing Cyber hacks that have ever been pulled off. Why? Well it’s not all schadenfreude – there’s some great

Disney+ is the newest entry into the online streaming market, offering a wide range of old and new Disney content. Day 1 didn’t go so well with the service unable to keep up with the high demand. Week 1 got even worse when it was found that thousands of user accounts had been breached and

It’s the worst nightmare of any business owner (or computer user for that matter). You log onto your computer, expecting it to work just the same as it always has, only to find a ransom note demanding something called Bitcoin. That’s exactly the state that The Heat Group, a large cosmetics company, found itself in

It’s 2019 and by now everyone should know that companies are serving you personalised ads based on your search history. What many people aren’t aware of is that companies are now starting to charge personalised or “dynamic” prices based on your online footprint. What does that mean? Prices are being manipulated to maximise the price

If you occasionally hand your device over to your kids (say, when you just need to get to the toilet or finish a work call) and you don’t want to give them unadulterated access to the internet. Plus, you don’t want them accidentally calling your boss or emailing a competitor accidentally… or possibly more dangerously,

There are tonnes of products out there – NetNanny is probably the best known – but at this point in time we’re  going to recommend KoalaSafe because we believe it’s easiest to install & manage, and harder for kids to get around. KoalaSafe is a physical device that you plug into your existing internet router. It

Yep. You absolutely should. And stuff chewing gum into your laptop microphone. There are cameras and lenses everywhere. On the side of buildings, in your phone and in your laptop. Do we even notice them anymore given they’re so prevalent? And the reality is, someone could be watching you at any moment – even when

Well I guess the headline says it all… in 2012 LinkedIn Lost 167 Million Account Credentials in Data Breach. And whilst it took LinkedIn until 2016 to admit to the complete size of the breach, the problem is big for everyone who re-uses their passwords. Stuck already? Here’s some pre-reading for you… Why should you

It’s hard to fathom what really makes a TV smart, but the marketing geniuses at just about every manufacturer seem to think that a “Smart TV” is a TV that can connect to the internet and stream content. Basically it means Netflix etc. can be played via your TV remote. The reality now that many

Keen followers of my articles will recall a previous article named “Why do phishing email be writtened such bad english? Turns out it’s intentional…” In that article, I explored why phishing emails contained such terrible and obvious spelling and grammatical errors. But I didn’t address why so many scammers say that they’re from Nigeria. A

Greeting and Salutations dear friend! I know this message will come to you as surprised but permit me of my desire to go into business relationship with you. You’ve had a million of them. They’re so ridiculously easy to spot that you just hit delete and move on with your day. Yet they keep on

Note: We sat on this post for 24 months intentionally to give enough breathing space between the events laid out in the article, hoping that the business named got things right in the end… As reported on Smart Company, the Outdoor Media Association’s (OMA) had a ransomware “hack” in July 2017. Why do we say “hack”?

If your business works with an Insurance Broker, then chances are you’ve had a discussion about “Cyber Insurance”. What is Cyber Insurance? The past 10 years have seen massive changes in the way that companies communicate and do business. Many businesses have undergone some form of digital transformation which (should have) created improvements to their

Gosh, sometimes being human is just plain hard! Flicking a switch to turn on a light. Remembering how much water to drink. Wondering if your hair has been brushed with the correct force. What about working out where your cows are? The “Internet of Things” or IoT connects so called “Smart Devices” to the internet.

Keen followers of this blog will know that we’ve been banging on about the need to use unique passwords for each online account… and before you spit out your coffee in shock because you have 180 online accounts, there’s a key reason for it. Firstly – your username and password are a combination. Your username

How to choose the best Managed IT Service Provider in Melbourne – top 5 five Choosing a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) can be a daunting task. If you have an existing relationship you know you’ve either outgrown their capabilities or something has gone wrong in the relationship. 1-Knowledgeable Account Manager Knowledge is absolutely key.

Recent and widely publicised cyber attacks must be the impetus for a renewed and more concerted and coordinated global commitment to strengthen cyber security capabilities. In May 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attacks struck, underscoring the potentially disastrous consequences for health care facilities and their patients when medical records and medical devices are compromised. June 2017

There’s a new, very well constructed, scam email making the rounds – this time it’s a Telstra look-alike bill. The well-formatted email will look familiar to existing Telstra customers and asks users to click through to an attached bill. Although there are no attachments: just a link is provided. The fake Telstra bill. Source: MailGuard.