This blog complements my book, The Essential Guide to Home Computer Security, to help you keep your home computers and smartphones secure.

Sunday 31 March 2013

App Security Provider MyPermissions Raises $1M in Funding

A company providing a service that allows users to police access to their personal data has raised $1million. The only surprise here is how little this is. By linking directly to application permission pages for services like Facebook, Twitter and Google, it alerts the consumer when an app access their personal data, giving them control over their personal information. Great idea. App Security Provider MyPermissions Secures $1M in Funding

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Latest Advice on Browser Security Settings

The Veracode blog, 'All Things Security', has provided a useful set of security settings for 3 popular browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and MS Internet Explorer 10. It's interesting to see the 3 together and the different ways each has to control security and privacy. In Chrome you select 'Settings' and then click on 'Show Advanced Settings' - hidden at the bottom of the screen. In Firefox they are in the 'Options' menu under tabs 'Security' and 'Privacy'. In IE10 you click on Internet Options where there are tabs again for 'Security' and 'Privacy', but you also need to go to the 'Advanced' tab and scroll down to 'Security' there. Veracode have suggested turning off Javascript but this makes most sites unusable. As ever, security is a trade-off!

Wednesday 6 March 2013

eCrime Wales - excellent cyber security resource

Have to give top marks for the eCrime Wales website. Full of useful info, helpful videos and a link to report eCrime if you become a victim.

Monday 4 March 2013

Would you let your children wander a red light district?

Some of our children's friends were given tablets for Xmas and it just came to light that some of them still have no parental control software installed. The analogy here is: would you let your children wander a red light district? They would certainly see inappropriate things by accident, and older ones might be tempted to indulge their natural curiosity. It doesn't take long to install something like K9 from the Android Play store, or from the Apple Appstore, to make sure their web browsing is suitably filtered.

Saturday 2 March 2013

Essential Home Computer Security - Protect your Children

I've just published a post with my top 10 tips for home computer security. They cover the basic activities that everyone should be aware of, and follow. However I did miss something very important. It only applies to families, and it's easy to overlook as children grow up and start to access the internet. It is essential that they are protected from accidental, and deliberate, access to inappropriate material. Free e-safety applications such as K9 should be used to filter web browsing. If you have children accessing the internet this is your priority.