Johnny Doe, meet the McGeeks.
Archive for July, 2008
Internet Security
Jul 30th
Every time we get online we risk the security of our computers as well as our personal privacy and financial security.
From “script kiddies” who get their kicks from malicious behavior to highly educated hackers that are well funded by criminals who can afford the best when they steal it… someone is almost always trying to access your computer and your information.
But we don’t enjoy sounding like prophits of doom, and you can spend time online in relative safety with the right information and tools.
We hope you know these already, but if not here are a few rules for safe Internet usage:
1. Never share passwords
2. Never share personal information on insecure sites (look for the security lock icon in your browser to ensure a web site requesting your information has the appropriate security protocols in place)
3. Never download files attached to an eMail message unless you know and trust the sender
4. Never follow links from eMail messages if you don’t know the sender
5. If you do follow a link from an eMail message and the web page asks for a username or password don’t enter it. Even if the web page looks legitimate, it may be fake. This is called Phishing and is commonly used by crooks to get your passwords.
6. Be midful of what information and images you place on social web sites such as MySpace or Facebook, and also watch what information and images your children place on their pages. Think about how much what you’re sharing really tells about you and where you live, and how that information could be used by someone with malicious intent. What may seem like an innocent picture of your daughter’s cheerleading squad could tell a predator exactly what neghborhood you’re from if the school name is on the uniform and your daughter mentions what city you live in on her profile page.
Beyond the information you can control, there is also the task of protecting the information you don’t necessarily control. The biggest step to doing this is having a reliable and updated Internet Security suite installed on your system that will block intruders from gaining access to your computer and files.
There are plenty of options out there and we’re not going to review them all. I’ll say that the old saying of “you get what you pay for” should be kept in mind when selecting one. The types and number of threats that exist online are growing every day, so the companies that can afford to keep up with them are the companies that can provide you with the best security.
We love to promote free and open source software whenever possible, but unfortunately when it comes to threat protection the people behind those or low priced options are understandably behind the pack in every case we’ve looked at. They just can’t afford to stay as current as the larger suites.
We’ve used several different security suites over the years, changing brands whenever we find one that we feel is better than what we’re already using, and for some time now our suite of choice has been Computer Associates Internet Security Suite.
It’s easy to setup and use, and we’ve been completely happy with the protection it provides.
This isn’t meant to be an endorsement of CA’s Internet Security Suite, I’m just sharing our thoughts on it, but you should look at multiple options before picking a suite and decide what’s right for you.
If you do want to try CA’s we’ve found a coupon that gives you 15% off on CA’s Internet Security Suite Plus 2008- Enter coupon code CAISS15 during checkout.
Video Games As Educational Tools?
Jul 29th
Software companies and experts from the National Education Association see a future where gaming devices become classroom tools rather than just home entertainment systems.
Jayel Gibson, author and adjunct professor at Southwestern Oregon Community College says “Gaming has enormous potential as a teaching tool”, and we couldn’t agree more.
Today’s teens and younger children are tech-oriented. Studies have shown that information is often better consumed in chunks, which is in-line with how computer and gaming devices present data.
Think of your favorite news network, whether it’s CNN or FOX you always see the anchor on-screen giving the story, with a related image over their shoulder, a bold related headline across their chest and a scroll-ticker along the bottom giving the latest unrelated news headlines.
For many adults all of this information presented in this manner can be distracting, but for a lot of adults and most younger people today that’s how we consume information. It feels natural for us, and we get more faster because of it.
If this can be applied to learning educators could easily double or even triple the yearly curriculum for their courses with the potential of also increasing comprehension and retention rates with students.
Your Internet Usage Is Being Watched
Jul 15th
Regardless of who you are or where you stand on privacy, if you’re visiting web sites (even this one) there are complicated scripts and programs tracking what you look at, what links you click on and what your overall online tendencies are.
The majority of this monitoring is not malicious in nature (by most people’s opinions). The monitoring is done by advertisers so that they can best see how to wisely spend their online advertising budgets. They want the most bang for their bucks, just as most individuals do.
And there is great benefit to individuals and end users in this monitoring. Basically, the more profitable advertisers can make their investments online, the more revenue that pours into developers and publishers of online content.
Given that the monitoring doesn’t personally identify people online, but rather creates a pool of data for advertisers to review and use for spotting trends or tendencies in behaviors, is this a privacy issue that needs to be watched and federally regulated?
Governments and businesses do the same sort of monitoring every day in neighborhoods across the country. They build elaborate models from statistical data on vehicle and pedestrian traffic for every street and road in your community; and they do it without asking your permission or informing you of their monitoring. Is this an invasion of privacy?
New Partnership Improves Victim Notification System
Jul 12th
Don’t worry if you don’t know what VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday) is, or have never heard of an Offender Management System; most people have never heard these terms before.
Basically, VINE is a free service that allows victims of crime and concerned citizens to receive real-time information on the custody status of offenders in prison. People may also register to be notified when an offender is transferred, released or escapes.
Unfortunately, to date VINE has only been able to monitor about 75% of the incarcerated offenders in America. This has been because many smaller facilities lacked the technical infrastructure or resources required for the VINE system to communicate with them.
This is where the partnership between Appriss Inc. and Digital Solutions Inc. comes in. Digital Solutions provides a low-cost, web based and secure Offender Management System that even the smallest jails can implement, thus connecting them to the VINE system and affords the opportunity to provide a complete blanket of information coverage for victims of crime and communities.