Technology Tips for 2016

As I write this Christmas has still not arrived but by the time you read it that event will have come and gone and you’ll probably have some new technology in the house.

With that in mind I’ve put together a few tips to help you get the best from it and also hopefully avoid some problems.

Your Achilles Heel – Passwords

Of all the areas of security your passwords are you Achilles heel. Its not your fault it is the  nature of humans not to want to have a password such as Xxz!”£4523Gm4x. Instead it is much easier to hit on something familiar and stick with it. Be aware the hackers know this and have programs to generate possible passwords based on the most common methods used to create a password. My advice is NEVER to use a password on more than one account and change them frequently!

Don’t be afraid to keep a notebook with your passwords. There is little risk that some hacker is going to break into your house and steal it! Avoid the obvious temptation to use the more obvious passwords. Remember a password to any of your accounts compromises all of your security.

Disposing/Selling of Old Computers/Tablets/Phones

This is a common practice and is not recommended without taking precautions.

Disposing of Computers – Remove the hard drive and keep it even if you think the drive is no longer working. If you need assistance doing this seek professional assistance. Do NOT attempt to destroy a hard drive using any tool such as a hammer or drill as the risk of injury is very high.

Selling or Donating Computers – The hard drive must be properly wiped to high security standards unless you want to leave the new owner with the ability to recover you data. This happens both by accident and design as in fixing other issues on a computer is not uncommon for me to find myself faced with masses of data from a previous owner.

Deleting your data and account does not remove the data from the computer and even a novice can download a recovery utility to undelete the data.

Old Phones/Tablets – Don’t dump them. Put them in a drawer.

Selling Old Phones/Tablets – A very dangerous thing to do unless the phone has been security wiped. The default reset software on your phone does not do this. You should download and run the wipe security app and use it several times to ensure the data is completely gone. On phones data can be located in many locations so I advise you seek professional assistance.

Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful 2016! Stay safe.