Usually, my tips are directed at finding tech solutions to better your overall business. But today, I’ve decided to do something a bit different. Because we are in the midst of home improvement season, I wanted to showcase a couple of helpful phone apps that have made my 2015 fixit-yourself projects run a LOT smoother. Below I describe the 5 essential iPhone apps for home improvement DIY projects. Let’s call it the iPhone DIY suite.
To get started you probably will need an application to figure out how to implement the projects on your To-Do list. Get started by checking out: WikiHow and iFIXIT.
WikiHow will tell you how to do anything from tenderizing chicken to building a frame wall in your basement. I use this app often.
iFIXIT specifically focuses on how to fix things (appliances, electronics and even computers). Even if you opt for a handyman, it will give you a good idea what work needs to be done—this app can help to gauge whether quoted work seems reasonable.
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A popular online malware marketplace used by cybercriminals all over the world has been shut down by authorities.
The website, known as Darkode, established in 2007, was the largest-known English-language malware themed forum in the world. Darkode had between 250 and 300 active members and worked as a means for online criminals to buy and sell everything from stolen data, to various hacking tools.
As means to previously avoid unwanted infiltration, to become a member of the site, one had to be vouched for or nominated by existing members in order to utilize the forum. To further protect themselves, Darkode was hosted on web servers that were set up to resist law enforcement penetration.
It is believe that users of this forum were responsible for the cyber-attacks on Sony’s PlayStation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live services from last year, among others.
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A recently discovered computer bug known as “Stagefright” is being called one of the worst Android vulnerabilities ever discovered. The bug, which affects Android versions 2.2 and up, currently leaves 95% of Google Android phones open for a cyber-attack.
All a hacker needs to victimize a user is their phone number. Once they have that, the hacker can send a multimedia message called Stagefright to an affected phone. This allows them to steal the user’s data and hijack the device’s functions (such as camera and audio functions).
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In the wake of recent massive data breaches and increasing rates of credit card fraud, US card issuers are migrating to a new chip-based card technology (formally known as EMV—Europay Mastercard and Visa). Currently, most US credit cards operate by magnetic strip—technology that can be captured and copied relatively easily. Most other countries use a small chip on the credit card to authenticate transactions. This chip technology implements cryptography and a several other security features ensuring multiple dimensions of protection against card fraud, which cost US banks $8.6 billion annually [1].
American card providers are launching EMV with chip and signature—to start— with aims to migrate to more secure chip and PIN down the road.
The first round of EMV cards – many of which are already in consumers’ hands – will be equipped with both chip and magnetic-strip functions to prevent disruptions to consumer spending during the migration to chip technology. For most consumers, this card migration is trivial as they have little stake in fraud prevention—many credit cards heavily advertise zero consumer liability [2].
Unfortunately, this card shift could add substantial costs to your business if you fail to comply with new credit card policy changes from the nearing chip migration.
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Even if you spend the majority of your time nurturing the growth of your business, you’ve probably noticed some disturbing headlines lately: “Forty Million Target Customers Affected By Data Breach,” “Cyber Attack Could Cost Sony Studio As Much As $100 Million,” “Hackers Penetrate West Wing Computer Network.”
Ten years ago, reports of computer hacking were rarely published in the mainstream media. Today it’s almost as common as the local weather. As a consumer, you’ve probably been worried about the safety of your personal data and what it might cost you if it got into the wrong hands. As a business owner, though, have you given it any serious thought? After all, what’s the real possibility that a hacker group would target the data stored on the servers of your individual company?
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If you are a CEO that is concerned about employees wasting time online using non-work-related websites like Facebook or Twitter, you may be missing the boat. The bigger risk to employee productivity is a very dangerous new virus called CryptoWall which cannot be stopped by your antivirus software. Here’s how it works: your employee goes to a website that has an infected advertisement on it. When the ad loads on the computer screen a pop-up is displayed. When your employee closes or clicks on the popup, their computer becomes infected.
I know what you are thinking: big deal. The computer is infected. We will just call Dynamic Edge, and they will remove the virus, per normal. Right? Wrong. The problem is that this virus works VERY quickly. So quickly that it destroys the data on the computer and any shared data on your network before you even notice the problem! Yep, you heard me right: ALL of your data. Imagine how this would affect your business.
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