Month: February 2017

Over 189 websites have been compromised over the past few years leaking over 2 billion email accounts and their passwords. Since a lot of us end up using the same passwords for multiple accounts, these hacks can be very damaging. Once websites are hacked user’s passwords are made available to the world. So how do you know if your account has been compromised? There is a great site called haveibeenpwned. You can for free go to www.haveibeenpwned.com and enter your email address to see if any account tied to your email address has ever been part of any of these leaks. Find out if… Read moreHave your accounts been compromised?

When you write a letter in real life, there’s nothing stopping you from putting any return address you want on the top of the envelope to potentially mislead the recipient as to its origins. In theory, that’s a security hole that email is not supposed to have; when you send an email to someone, the address you sent it from is attached to it automatically, and you’re not given the option to edit or alter this information. Unfortunately, that’s not exactly true. A hacking technique called “spoofing” does indeed make it possible for emails to appear to be coming from one address… Read more“Spoofed” Emails: What They Are And How To Guard Against Them

People aren’t good at creating strong passwords and remembering them. Far too many people use obvious choices like “password” and “123456.” As a result, criminals can break into accounts and steal information or install malware. Surely there’s a better way. One way to improve security is to require a second piece of information, in addition to the password. That’s called two-step verification. There are a lot of ways to do this, and people are always devising more. All of them involve a tradeoff. They make it harder for unauthorized people to get in, but it’s also a bit less convenient for… Read more2-Step Verification: Make the Right Tradeoff