March 28, 2024

Tech We’re Using: Setting Up Your Tech on the Assumption You’ll Be Hacked

What are the worst information security practices that you see many people doing?

Passwords! One day tech companies will invent something better than passwords for security, but for now they are still the weakest link in the average person’s setup. If I could get people to stop two practices, they would be: Don’t use an obvious password like your name, your kid’s name or your birthday, and don’t use the same password for everything.

Most tech companies do a terrible job of educating people about their security, because they tend to just flood the zone with information and make it seem that if you aren’t doing everything, you are a failure. Most people I talk to say they are intimidated by what they think they need to do to stay safe online — and end up doing nothing at all.

I wish there were a five-step program for online safety. It would start with basic things, like how to come up with a strong password and use a password manager, and build from there.

What tech product are you and your family currently obsessed with at home?

We aren’t a big tech family! We try really hard to keep tech out of sight of our 1-year-old daughter. Kids are funny, though — even though we don’t watch TV around her, she loves to carry the remote around the house. My iPhone is her favorite teething toy, and she has learned how to get my laptop out of my backpack and slide it across the floor until she can hide it under the sofa.

So I would say the one piece of tech that has been really useful is the tracking function — Find My iPhone or Find My Mac — on both devices. I’ve had to put the Tile location devices, which are wireless trackers that help us keep tabs on items, on everything else.

Over the last year, I’ve also been given a lot of internet-connected toys designed for kids and their parents. All of them were either returned or left in their boxes when I saw how bad the security was.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/technology/personaltech/hacking-protection-passwords.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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