Category: Uncategorized

Dear NTCHelp.net – Update popups: which ones should I go ahead and update?

Dear NTCHelp,
On occasion I get pop-ups regarding various product upgrades/updates and I really don’t know which ones I should be updating and which ones I should ignore.As an example, right now I have one from SUPERAntiSpyware; is this something that I should Update or ignore? Perhaps there is a master or semi-master list of what we need and don’t need around or one could be generated – I don’t want to ask (Bill) every time I get a pop-up but I also probably shouldn’t just be ignoring them, either. Please advise me what to do.

Your friend and frequent user,
Katie.

Dear Katie,
That is a great question and an awesome idea. You can safely update SUPERAntiSpyware. And based on your suggestion, I’ve created a list that you can access anytime at NTCHelp.net. Here’s the link: http://ntchelp.net/2015/10/21/updates-on-your-computer-that-you-can-and-should-approve-master-list/

You can bookmark that page, or print it out (or both). If you come across an update message, check it against this list. If you encounter an update that’s not on the list, put a ticket in at NTCHelp.net, and I’ll either add it to the list and let you know or let you know that you shouldn’t update.

Thank you for your question and for using NTCHelp.net!

“Mr. Coca Cola” -or- Hackers never sleep: Protecting Data at rest

Data at rest is stored data that isn’t currently being used or transferred.

For instance, at the Coca Cola factory: when Mr. Coca Cola sends all the “cola artists” (I’m assuming he calls them that) home for the evening, the secret recipe won’t be needed for at least another 8 hours.

Mr. Ebenezer Coca-Cola (artist’s rendering)

So of course, he just takes the piece of paper with the secret recipe on it, and sticks it to his personal office vending machine with a refrigerator magnet, and heads home to watch “Fired Up,” right? Wrong!

First, “Fired Up” went off the air years ago, lasted only two seasons, only aired briefly in syndication and is not available on Netflix. Not even star Sharon Lawrence has any copies. It’s gone gone.

Second, Mr. Coca Cola needs the secret recipe to remain a secret. During the day, he can personally add the ingredients for Coca Cola to the giant mixing vat located in earthquake-proof bedrock five miles below the factory floor. But at night. At night he needs to store the recipe safely, while it is Data at rest. That’s because a) it’s always night somewhere b) hackers never sleep.

So what he really does is quite simple: he encrypts the file that contains the recipe. Only Mr. Coca Cola and the President of the United States know the password to decrypt it. The recipe is safe until tomorrow morning.

The end.

Next time…protecting Data in motion.

What is your favorite Sci-Fi series?

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Encryption: “♫ Doo-dot, deeyowwww, da-doo-daaa! ♫”

That’s what James Bond sings to himself as he walks down the street, or skis down a bobsled run as he’s being chased by henchman on motorcycles with ridiculous spikes on their tires. Unless he’s listening to Astley.

Singing to himself in the face of mortal danger: that kind of confidence comes from years of training and discipline, and the knowledge that all of his secret spy files are safely encrypted.

Now you can enjoy that same level of confidence when you need to keep information safe. It’s called encryption, and it’s pretty simple to use, with a free program called 7-zip. If you want to learn how to do it, watch the slideshow below. You can come back here any time to get a refresher:

Which of these actors only played James Bond in one film?

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Cranium Control Panel: Protecting “Data in Use”

Sensitive data is arguably at its most vulnerable to hackers and looky-loos  when it is in use by someone who needs to work with it to do their job.

data-in-use
“Aha! I see the problem. You got some water weed in your floatatronic propeller extrapolator!”

To work with encrypted data, you need to take it out of it’s encrypted “vault.” While it’s in that decrypted state, it is easier to steal or alter.

Here are a few simple things you can do when you’re working with sensitive information to help keep the data secure:

  1. If possible, save a version of the data that doesn’t contain the sensitive information, and work with that. If you only need to count the number of records, or do some other work with the data that doesn’t involve the sensitive portion of the info, you can, say, remove the sensitive columns of a spreadsheet and do a “save as…” of the file.
  2. Re-encrypt the data as soon as you’re done working with it. Don’t leave sensitive in an unencrypted form when you’re not using it.
  3. Lock your computer when you’re away from it.
    1. Mac: ctrl-shift-eject
    2. PC: lock

 

What is a way to protect data in use?

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Next time: Protecting Data at rest.

data-at-rest-ha-ha

IT Pop Quiz – Are you Treksperienced? -or- The Three States of Data

A very simple quiz:

Q: In your job, do you deal with other people’s Personally Identifiable Information?

Q: Are you a Star Trek fan?

A: If you answered, “yes,” to one of these, this post is relevant to you. Read on!

This is a quick explanation of the “three states of data,” that are important to consider when protecting Personally Identifiable Information:

  1. Data in use
  2. Data at rest
  3. Data in motion

data-in-use

Data in use:
Data in use is data that is currently being worked on by an employee to do their job (usually on a computer, but could also be a printout of the data, etc.)

 

data-at-rest-ha-ha

Data at rest:
Data at rest is stored data that is not currently being used.

 

 

1998 Brent Spiner stars in the new movie "Star Trek: Insurrection."Data in motion:
Data in motion is data sent over networks, like an internal network, or the Internet.

 

 

Why should you care? Different states require different handling. For instance, Data at rest can be encrypted to keep it safe from prying eyes and hackers. Data in use is by definition unencrypted: you have to decrypt it to work with it. That potentially makes the data more vulnerable, and different measures need to be taken to ensure its security.

Data in motion also needs special consideration. You could encrypt a file before sending it to someone over email, but how do you get the decryption key to them? If you send that over plain email, you’ve defeated your own security.

The next post will cover some key ways to handle Data in use.

Breaking news – TaskRay layout update

TaskRay, your favorite project management tool, is coming out with a new release this weekend.  One of the most noticeable changes is that they are moving the Project navigation sidebar from the right side to the left:

new-taskray-layout-2

The new update will happen over this weekend (on Saturday, September 5th).

If you want more information, you can attend their release webinar on September 9th (register here), or stay tuned to NTCHelp.net.

If you’d like a quick refresher on how to use TaskRay, they have a bunch of bite-sized tutorials at this link.

Take care, be aware.

Bill

I Don’t Remember How to Do That

CC BY by Wednesday Elf – Mountainside Crochet

It’s hard to keep everything you need to remember in your head. Especially if it’s not something you’re used to, or interested in, or if you’re an anthropomorphic egg.

If you forget how to do something I’ve emailed about (how to use LastPass, how to lock your computer, how to archive your emails), you can find archives of most of the emails (including this one!) as articles on NTCHelp.net.

You can search for articles by text search, “tags” (like “security” or “lastpass”), or you can search by date.

ntchelpnet-by-text-search
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So when you find yourself saying “I Don’t Remember How to Do That,” reach for a cold glass of NTCHelp.net!

P.S. If there’s something you’d like to see covered in a future article. Put your question/topic in a help ticket, and I’ll put it on the list. Thanks!

Meet your new password manager, LastPass!

Hi, I’m LastPass!

lastpass-icon
I’m a red square with an asterisk in it! Or maybe I’m a snowflake on a red trampoline! I live in your browser and on your phone!

Some call me “The Last Password You’ll Have to Remember,” and I’d have to say: that’s pretty accurate!* My job is to make it easy to secure your passwords. You only have to remember one (sufficiently strong)** unique master password.

How I work, in a nutshell:

Instead of typing in your username and password to sites you visit (or having your web browser remember them, which is convenient but generally very insecure), you log into LastPass (that’s me!), and I enter your username and password for you.

Or, in video form:

In my next post, I’ll explain how to install me on your computer. It’s pretty easy, not to mention “required by NTC’s Information Security Policy.” Which is really another way of saying, “It’s fun!”

Your Friend,

LastPass

*   (There may be a password or two you’ll have to keep in your head, but the majority of passwords  you can “set and forget”)

** How strong is a “sufficiently strong” master password? For NTC, it means your password must be at least 8 characters, and have at least one letter and one number, and it must be unique, as in you are not using it for anything but your LastPass master password.