Securing your home wireless network - priceless!

Laptop: $1,000; wireless router: $100; being able to connect to the Internet with peace of mind, knowing that you did it safely: priceless. Wireless networks are inherently unsafe because anyone within range can use them and potentially steal your info if things are not set up properly. You definitely want to utilize best practices & encryption to secure your network. If you don't know what needs to be done to secure it, get help from a technical friend or use a professional from the store where you bought the router. Source: SANS Institute

Yesterday was Microsoft Patch Tuesday…

On 7/9/13, Microsoft released 20+ updates for Windows, etc. If you haven’t already installed the updates, or if you see a notification icon that looks like these,   it is a good idea to shutdown and restart soon. This will enable the latest updates & security patches to be installed on your computer! Please contact TSS Helpline at ext. 5872 if you have any questions.

Use variations of a strong "core" password…

It’s tough to create and remember strong passwords for each online system or site you access. It’s a BAD idea though to use the same password for several or all systems and sites! A helpful option is to create a strong "core" password and then use unique variations of it for the systems you use. Here's a strong password: 5P0ky!3Z. It contains 8 characters, a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, at least one number and one non-alphanumeric character or symbol, and no personally identifiable info. By adding a character or two at the beginning or the end, you can have many variations to use - effectively creating a series of new strong passwords to use. Remember to change your "core" password and its variations on a regular basis.   Source: SANS Institute