Category: News & Trends

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Opera VPN for Smartphone Security

Opera VPN
Opera VPN

If you use your phone on travel, sitting at Starbucks, at Target and even Macy’s, you’d better make sure you are secure by using this free app called Opera VPN.

I have my phone set up to minimize data use. As a result when I am out an about, my phone is looking for Wi-Fi spots to connect to to save data.  As a result, if you connect to any Wi-Fi, you may be setting yourself up for a hack attack and potentially even identity theft.

Opera has introduced a free super easy to use app called Opera VPN that makes it easy to stay secure on Wi-Fi anywhere. Download the app for Android or Apple at Google Play or ITunes. The app is simple to use, click the Wi-Fi icon and it lets you know a letter grade of your security. Turn it on and the app gives you a new grade with cute visuals helping you to understand how the app keeps you safe. Additionally, you’ll get an integrated ad tracking blocker.

As this app is easy to use, has cute visual cues, and is free, I consider it a great app for kids, teens, and those on a budget. If you have kids using smartphones, make sure to review this important security information with them. It is not common knowledge and we have to as parents instruct them how to be safe from identity and banking theft through the use of unsecured or compromised Wi-Fi access points.

I am not being paid for this review, just like the app and wanted to share it with you. Make sure you keep an eye on this app in the future. For now it is ad-free, but it may be ad supported in the future and may sell aggregated data, but for now, it is a smart, free, and easy to use way to be safe online with your smartphone.

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HTML Website Hack – Are You Secure?

Confused senior man
Hacked? You Need to Monitor Your Website for Hacking Proactively!

I just saw another html website hack this last week. We all know that WordPress websites and blogs can be hacked, and can actually be targets for spammers and porn spammers. But did you know that regular websites using html can be hacked too?

If you are not watching and monitoring your site proactively, your website can be a target for hackers too. On top of that think about the potential website traffic and loss of reputation for your business when you leave a hacked site uncorrected. for a long period of time.

Website Hacked This Past Week

A customer came to me for website updates this past week. His site had not been updated since 2014.  Before starting his updates this is what I found:

  • Weird php files were interspersed in his site files.
  • On the server a hidden folder was installed.
  • Self propagating files were embedded in his page code.

The key is that the site had been compromised in September 2015 (based on the file date stamp). Google had marked the site as containing malware in their index, but the client had not been watching. Over a year later I found that the site had been hacked.

The take away on this is that all website owners should register with the Google Search Console. At least this way if malware is found by Google on your website, Google will email you a note so you can take action.

Better yet is to hire a webmaster to do a monthly or quarterly review of the website to assure you are safe and not helping spammer and sellers of porn to sell their wares.

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What’s Your Mobile Security IQ?

It's time to review your security on your smartphone.
It’s time to review the security on your smartphone.

This past month, my husband’s identity was stolen and my access to our bank account was hacked. In my husband’s case a credit card was opened in his name. In my case my online bank user name, password and PIN was used to raise credit limits and then steal over $3,000 from our checking account.

Our bank took care of the matter, but what was problematic was just how robbers got access to my own personal online access information. The only thing we can think of is that I was using mobile banking features and may have accessed my bank while I was connected away from my home base.

As a result, here are the things that I have done to improve my smartphone security.

1. My entire family now uses on their mobile devices face or voice recognition biometrics to access our most important bank. For our other bank, we use two step verification. All family members use two step verification via text messages to smartphones to access bank accounts online through desktops.

2. My entire family now has withdrawal, deposit and transaction alerts set up for banking, savings accounts, and credit cards. The focus is to catch robbers early before too much damage has been done.

3. I personally am using NordVPN which ia a subscription base security tool for my smartphone that encrypts my communication on mobile data or when I am connected to any Wi-Fi hotspots out of my office. This will be especially important to me as I will be traveling in the months to come and this secure tunnel will allow me to encrypt data I exchange on the internet, geomask my location as well as to prevent eavesdroppers from snatching my user names and passwords.

Stay safe when you are online with your smartphone and encourage your family members to embrace new levels of mobile security to prevent the headaches that happened to us.

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Tips on Handling a Bad Review

Bright Idea Tips for Handling a Bad Review
Bright Idea Tips for Handling a Bad Review

Sometimes a well meaning friend will send you a link to a bad review about you or your business that they found online and it can spoil your day. Here are a few things to know about how to handle a bad review.

Not all bad reviews need a response
Not everything needs you to respond. In some cases a response may be worse than just letting the review stay out there. If you do decide to write a response, take a deep breath. Never respond to or write a rebuttal when you are upset or angry. Take time to craft a thoughtful response and be conciliatory in your comments. Acknowledge the feelings of the reviewer.

You cannot please everyone
This is hard for some business owners, but you cannot please everyone every time. Take the bad along with the good and know that there are simply some “trolls” out there that get their jollies crushing you online.

Consider the review placement
If the review is on Google+, Yelp, or another highly visible site, I do recommend that you consider writing a rebuttal. If appropriate, I would encourage you to even contact the client – if they have given enough information for you to identify them and see if you can fix the problem. A customer who has had a problem resolved can be your biggest advocate. Don’t forget to ask them to update their review after you have fixed the problem. If the review is not on a high profile site, know that even then, it may still be visible to others and may still need your attention.

Move forward and learn from any errors
If you did get a bad review that is warranted, use the opportunity as a chance to retrain staff or challenge your current processes. You can really learn a lot about how customers perceive you from reviews even bad ones.

Move forward after a bad review, remember you’ve pleased plenty of other customers and stay focused on what you do right and work to improve areas where you may be weak.

Need help solving a problem like a bad review?  Visit our website at www.McCordWeb.com to find out how we can help today.