A: It is almost inconceivable that the sound you are hearing has any association with possible monitoring of your phone. The reasons is there isn’t any reason for a penetration device or process to introduce noice on the line.
A: Every device that is able to access either ethernet or wi-fi has a unique MAC (Media Access Control) address. Although the MAC address is hard-coded into the network chip, it can be spoofed.
A: First and foremost is an antivirus (anti-malware) is limited to protecting against only malware. Malware is just a minor player in the cybersecurity arena.
They are limited to protecting only against the malware they have been designed to recognize. Even the very best protect against perhaps 99.9% of known malware. Depending on whose numbers you believe, there may be more than 100,000,000 malware in the wild. That leaves at least 10,000 known malware even the very best don’t protect against.
As to how many unknown malware are in the wild? Nobody knows.
And then when they come up against malware they know about, they are limited in how well they eliminate the threat, and limited in saving any damaged data – or preventing data from being harvested.
A solution that works more reliably than antivirus is application whitelisting – specifying which applications may run. Then, should malicious code find its way into your device and attempt to run, it is automatically blocked as unauthorized.
Once the malware issue is dealt with, then you can turn your attention to the other security and privacy issues your device faces; email hacking, instant message hacking, phone call monitoring, man in the middle attacks (notice women rarely get in the middle of this) (sorry, it had to be said and I was just standing around), social media (it’s own kind of malware), storage device encryption, Multi-Factor Authentication, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning, etc.
A: It’s not so much the users/month, but the maximum number of concurrent users, and the bandwidth of your internet connection that are limiting factors. Your available budget is also a factor.
For example, let’s say your internet bandwidth is 100Mb/s. If you have 100 concurrent users, that is 100Mb/s divided by 100 users, or 1Mb/s/user. That is barely adequate to maintain a connection.
So the first challenge is to have adequate internet bandwidth, based on the maximum number of concurrent connections, and how much minimum bandwidth you wish to allocate per connection. A good number to start with is 5Mb/s. This will allow a stable connection and tolerable browsing speed.
The next challenge is the maximum number of users connected to an access point. Consumer-level access points can typically manage from 10-50 concurrent connections. At some point, they will refuse any additional connections. Professional/Enterprise-level devices will be able to manage up to 250 concurrent connections.
However, even if you purchase a high-end unit capable of 250 concurrent connections, if the access-point is capable of a maximum of 1,300Mb/s throughput, that is 1,300/250 or 5.2Mb/s per connection. And that 1,300Mb/s rate is only available when the connected device is within a few feet. As the distance between the access point and the connected device increases, the available connection speed drops quickly. At an average distance of 100′, the average connection speed may drop to 1Mb/s.
The solution used for large conference halls, sports stadiums, (even Apple Stores) is to have many access points spread around the area, all connected via ethernet to a centralized router, each using the same SSID (Wi-Fi network name), operating as a wired mesh network. Have an adequate number of access points so that none are ever pushed near 50% capacity.
As an example, An Apple Store may have 20-30 Wi-Fi channels running on high-end Cisco Access Points to cover just one store.
A: The same easy answer to many cybersecurity questions – install and use a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
When using VPN all of your communications are encrypted between your device and the VPN server in the cloud. This makes it (almost) impossible for anyone (but the VPN host) to view your online activity.
There are thousands of VPN providers available. Many, if not most, or not ethical–particularly those that offer services for free. There are several dozen factors to consider when choosing a VPN provider, these are the ones I believe are most important:
You will likely be paying between $30 and $80 per year for 2–6 devices that can connect to this one account.
Among my personal favorites are: NordVPN.com, Perfect-Privacy.com, and VPNarea.com
A: With few exceptions, acid-free paper is by far the best archival storage.
A few years back Ziff-Davis did a study on the archival options for IT. This was before solid state drives.
Pretty much everything (HD’s, floppy, cd, dvd) lasted less than 5 years before some corruption was found.
There is some consensus that today Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Solid State Drive (SSD) last around the same as each other–five years before corruption sneaks in.
That said, there are new Blueray disc formats which promise 1000+ year archival quality.
Even if these devices lasted 10, 100, 1,000 years, good luck of then finding a computer and drive that will have the drivers and ports to read the device.
The best practices is to:
A: There are any number of data recovery utilities for macOS available for the consumer.
Tor is a web browser, that attempts to ensure anonymity by routing web traffic through a series of Tor nodes. Each node only knows which node it is receiving the packet from, and which it is delivering to. The nodes used change every few seconds. The overall internet system used by Tor is called the onion network.
There are several ways in which one gets identified even though using Tor.
The most important with regards to overall security and privacy is that if someone has access to entry and exit nodes, using a bit of intelligence, it is possible to start recognizing a pattern. Given that the US Government does own some entry and exit nodes, it only makes sense they are putting the pieces together.
The second most important method of being identified is through your browser fingerprint. Although you may think your computer is pretty much just like most others out there, there are indeed unique qualities about your computer that can identify it. Once identified, it can be tracked across the web.
The good news is that this part of the puzzle is easy to work around (although few do). That is to have a computer that is EXACTLY, PRECISELY stock. No added anything. Even better is to create a bootable Tails thumb drive (perform a web search on Tails). This is a bootable system with all the tools you need (browser, email, etc.) and since every user of Tails looks the same, makes you able to hide in plain sight.
As of April 21, 2018, The Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 Security Essentials workbook has been substantially updated. Included is a rewrite of chapter 20 Social Media to reflect changes in Facebook and Google security.
The full chapter may be downloaded Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 v2 20180421 Chapter 20 Social Media.
Owners of the Kindle book version may download the full book upgrade by:
Owners of the Live! book will automatically access the latest version the next time the book is opened.
As of April 21, 2018, The Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 Security Essentials workbook has been substantially updated. Included is a rewrite of chapter 19 Internet Activity to reflect changes in Virtual Private Network (VPN).
The full chapter may be downloaded here: Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 v2 20180421 Chapter 19 Internet Activity.
Owners of the Kindle book version may download the full book upgrade by:
Owners of the Live! book will automatically access the latest version the next time the book is opened.
As of April 21, 2018, The Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 Security Essentials workbook has been substantially updated. Included is a rewrite of chapter 15 Email to reflect changes in email security.
The full chapter may be downloaded here: Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 v2 20180421 Chapter 15 Email.
Owners of the Kindle book version may download the full book upgrade by:
Owners of the Live! book will automatically access the latest version the next time the book is opened.
As of April 21, 2018, The Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 Security Essentials workbook has been substantially updated. Included is a rewrite of chapter 14 Web Browsing to reflect changes in browser security.
The full chapter may be downloaded here: Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 v2 20180421 Chapter 14 Web Browsing.
Owners of the Kindle book version may download the full book upgrade by:
Owners of the Live! book will automatically access the latest version the next time the book is opened.
As of April 21, 2018, The Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 Security Essentials workbook has been substantially updated. Included is a rewrite of chapter 4 Passwords to reflect changes in macOS 10.13.4 Keychain Access utility.
The full chapter may be downloaded here.
Owners of the Kindle book version may download the full book upgrade by:
Owners of the Live! book will automatically access the latest version the next time the book is opened.
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol that provides secure communications over the Internet. The initial release of TLS has known vulnerabilities and is no longer considered secure.
To ensure the security and integrity of email, most email hosts and servers will be requiring upgrades to the current version TLS. Google (the 800-lb gorilla in the email world) is also pushing for full sender authentication records in the Domain Name Servers (DNS). There are 2 records which verify the sender and one that tells the receiver what to do with any emails that fail either of the first two tests. To ensure you and your organization’s email continues to be delivered after June 2018, the following changes must be made:
All MintzIT business clients under contract will have their email servers and protocols upgraded between March 13 and April 30. You should not notice any interference with your email flow or other IT activity.
If MintzIT is not under contract with your organization, we can still perform this work for you.
It is estimated this work will take no more than 2 hours, and can be done remotely.
To schedule your email security upgrade, contact MintzIT at 888.479.0690×1.
Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 Security Essentials has just updated chapter 15 Email. This update reflects recent changes in the GPGTools end-to-end encryption utility.
To download the updated chapter, click here.
Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 is the best-selling, easiest, and most comprehensive guide to securing your Mac. Written with the non-technical user in mind, while containing all the depth expected by the IT professional.
Practical Paranoia Security Essentials for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows are available from all fine booksellers, Amazon, with our digital Live! edition available exclusively from The Practical Paranoid.
I’m not normally a fan of retelling quotes (well, unless I’m quoting myself), but my thanks to our brilliant Andi West for bringing this one to my attention. It is all the more relevant to our security and privacy today than ever.
Secure your Mac OS 10.13 computer from malware, criminals, snoops, and the whackadoodle ex. Concerned about being hacked? Your identity stolen? Your precious data stolen or encrypted? You should be. Hacking is a billion-dollar enterprise and everyone is a potential target. At risk are your personal and business messages, emails, photos, music, passwords, phone calls, internet travels, credit cards and financial data.
But in just a few hours you can easily and simply secure your Mac OS 10.13 computer to the highest government standards. Hands-on exercises ensure you leave with a secure device. Apply local and iCloud backup, strong passwords, system and app updates, permissions, whitelisting, hardware encryption, malware defense, and firewalls. Find a lost or stolen device, determine your network security level, securely browse the web, encrypt email, perform end-to-end encrypted messaging, phone, and video calls, and secure your Internet activity with VPN. PREREQUISITES: None. REQUIRED EQUIPMENT: Bring your Mac computer and backup drive.
Your instructor is the author of the best-selling, easiest, and most comprehensive macOS security guide, Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 Security Essentials.
Each student will receive a copy of the digital online version of Practical Paranoia macOS 10.13 Security Essentials.
For more information and to register for the course, visit http://dcereg.com/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&int_class_id=83593&int_category_id=0&int_sub_category_id=0&int_catalog_id=0
Course ID: 82399
Date: January 31, 2018
Time: 8:00am-5:00pm
Location: UNM Continuing Education South Building, room 207
1634 University Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87131
(505) 277-9562
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