Since I’ve seen an increase in websites getting hacked, I wanted to repost this about passwords. These tools are useful resources to help you keep your passwords secure…. I recently came across a list of hacked email addresses. The list, which was published in a forum, detailed hundreds of email addresses, along with their passwords. This prompted me to research how to keep passwords secure. A common practice is to use the same...

Two clients recently have had their WordPress websites “hacked”. One of the hacks was a virus that resulted in Viagra and other pharmaceutical tags layered all over the website. This is called the “pharma-hack”. Another hack or virus, resulted in the whole site being shut down. The site just showed as a blank screen. There are very simple preventive measures you can take from this happening to your WordPress site: Do not...

Can you remember all the times when you’ve been logged into Facebook and someone sends a Birthday request or We’re Related request? Or, when your on another site and it asks you to login to Facebook? When you click “Allow” to connect, you are granting all those apps or sites permission to access certain aspects of your information. With so much hacking, malware and privacy issues taking place, it’s a good idea to...

I’ve posted about this before, but this is so important, I will re-post periodically. Don’t forget to initiate a backup system for your computer or laptop.  Today, a friend spilled a glass of water on her laptop and her laptop is no more. She’s in the process of obtaining a replacement laptop via her warranty, which is headache enough. It would be so much worse for her if she did not have a backup system in place and lost all...

Last week, I had the misfortune of someone hacking into my iTunes account. They made over three hundred dollars worth of purchases (on apps), which were charged to the credit card I had on file.  My bank flagged the purchases and a dispute/investigation is currently in progress. Meanwhile, the money is gone from my account until the matter is resolved. So this doesn’t happen to you, please take a few security measures now. Although it may...

Backing up your files is one of those dreaded chores. You know you should do it, but it somehow gets to the bottom of your To Do list. I’ve had the misfortune of having a computer crash and have lost all of my files, including personal pictures, that I will always regret losing. This memory haunted me recently as my laptop started randomly shutting down on it’s own. I was reminded how much I had to lose if this laptop died on me. ...

I was in DC last month and met an interesting man from Kentucky that teaches government agencies how to keep their computer systems secure. He had 14 flash drives on him and was a serious self-professed tech geek or guru. He was happy to find in me another tech geek, although I have no problem admitting that he was wayyyy above my head. Anyways, he described his clients as those with “stars, bars or 3-letter acronyms”. Being in DC, I...

There is a commonly held belief that Macs do not get viruses. That assumption was actually true in the days of old, but these days, I’m sad to say that it’s a myth. Mac’s DO in fact get viruses and/or are susceptible to malware. There is little info out there about Mac viruses and there is also plenty of conflicting views and advice. The forums I scoured were several years old and I view anything over 6-9 months old...