Tag Archives: safe

Are you smart enough to not be Phished? Let’s find out!

Take the Sonicwall Phishing quiz. [It’s free, and fun!]

CLICK HERE to get started.

Phishing = sending out fake emails to trick someone into giving you their email address, login information, any sorts of “useful” information if you are looking to scam someone.

Take the Quiz, and see if you can stay safe online!

Mr. Rule got 9 out of 10 correct on 1/13/2023.
Can you do better?

Top Tips for staying secure online

Top tips for staying secure online, borrowed from https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online

While you can find a TON of articles explaining how to stay safe online, many are either too wordy, take too long to get to the point, or are annoying in other ways.

Here, borrowed from https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online, are some pretty easily do-able things you can do to stay safe online.


  • Use a strong AND SEPARATE password for your email
    • After all, you probably stash a LOT of personal information in your mailboxes. Don’t reuse that password – that is just asking for trouble.
  • Install the latest app updates and software
    • Yes, there are a LOT of them, and they are constant [especially if you use a lot of software]. But update anyway – MDS Tech suggests starting updates before you go to sleep, so you are not aware of how long it takes.
    • Seriously – update. You’ll save headaches!
  • Turn on MFA/2FA – i.e. that thing where you get a text with a code when trying to login to an account.
    • Turn that on where you can – no, it is not perfect, but it is a bit like adding another lock on the door so the “bad guys” can’t get in.
  • Use Password Managers
    • This way you can have all of your passwords stored in one [VERY secure] place…. but make sure you have that one password stashed somewhere safe. There are lots of options out there.
  • Back up your data
    • Your computer WILL die [just like your car or refrigerator]. It is inevitable [see Murphy’s Law] that it will happen at the worst possible time. SO make sure you have backups of your data.
    • The hard part is figuring out how – and that is well beyond the scope of this article. Do a web search – something like ‘how backup [your operating system]”. For example – “how backup mac”.
  • Three Random Words
    • This is some advice that has changed over the years. Using three random words is FAR more secure than using just a few letters or numbers, and MUCH harder to guess. Some examples of decent passwords:
      • threerandomvehicles
      • FredGeorgeLIzrds [note the deliberate misspelling!]
      • IhaveNOidea!
    • Some website will require numbers, special characters like a period or an exclamation point, etc. The common theme here is to mix up type [upper case, lower case, number, characters] and make it as long as practical. 12 characters is far more secure than 8. 24 characters might be too aggravating to type in!

Thanks to Britain’s Nation Cyber Security Centre for posting the article serving as the source for this posting.

Parental Controls on your Home Network

An article for Parents who are trying to maintain some safety on their home network. Note that this is for information only – please do not think of this as an “official endorsement”.

MDS Tech does think it’s a pretty interesting idea, and worth a look.


http://bark.us

Bark is able to provide monitoring for iPads with the help of the Bark Desktop Application. The Bark Desktop is downloaded onto the main computer and will analyze the iPad for text, photos, videos, web browsing, and voice memos every time the device is detected over Wifi or plugged in.
How to Monitor an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch
 
However, if you want to take advantage of our “on the go” screentime and web-filtering on the device, you’ll need to download the Bark VPN. This allows parents to apply rules such as what apps or websites can be accessed and blocked during scheduled times.  These rules sets will apply even when the child is away from the home and off the main network. You do not need this feature for monitoring the device as it works independently. 
[NOTE: This may involve working with MDS Tech to get the VPN setup.]
What is Screen Time & Web Filtering?
 
If you want to apply the same limitations to the device without using our VPN, you’ll want to purchase our Bark Home product. This applies your screentime and web-filtering rules for every device in the household – including devices that can’t download the VPN [ such as smart TVs, watches, etc.] The Bark Home works as a gatekeeper for the router and filters websites based on the rules that you have set for each profile. You decide which profile rules get set for which device. Remember that once the device leaves the Home WiFi network, the screentime and web-filtering rules will not take place. 
What is Bark Home or In-Home Controls?