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When you just want IT to work!
There are a lot of computer shops out there that you can call up to fix an issue or install a piece of equipment. They might be able to get you out of crisis mode, but they aren’t looking at the full picture.
At 415 IT, we understand business. We consult. We provide solutions to solve everyday challenges. We just happen to fix computers as well.
We believe (and have proven) that if you proactively manage technology, run maintenance religiously, and monitor a business network, everyday issues and downtime will be greatly reduced.
This is what makes us different than your typical tech support company. Sure, we can fix computer issues when you have them, but our specialty is preventing them in the first place.
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Every so often, an update or change to some major software that everyone uses causes a big stir on social media. For example, several years ago when the Facebook app on Android requested access to use your smartphone’s camera, some people on social media had a lot to say about it. As it turns out, Facebook lets you take pictures directly from the app, so of course you would need to give Facebook permission to your camera if you wanted to use it for that.
A lot of these shifts in technology and privacy are concerning, but they often get mixed in with a lot of misinformation. We’re not saying you shouldn’t be concerned over the giant tech companies and the data that they collect on you every day - you should, and typically do, have some control over what is gathered. The point is, we’re seeing a very similar reaction to Apple and Google’s recent COVID-19 contact tracing app framework.
No. They didn’t. Not technically. Google and Apple worked together to build a framework that app developers can use for apps that track COVID-19 cases. They didn’t sneak a COVID-19 app onto your phone without your consent.
Why are folks worried? A big part is due to social media sensationalism. We’ve seen some posts going around Facebook that read like this example:
**VERY IMPORTANT ALERT!***
A COVID-19 sensor has been secretly installed into every phone.
Apparently, when everyone was having “phone disruption” over the weekend, they were adding COVID-19 Tracker [SIC] to our phones!
If you have an Android phone, go under settings, then look for google settings and you will find it installed there.
If you are using an iPhone, go under settings, privacy, then health. It is there but not yet functional.
The App can notify you if you’ve been near someone who has been reported having COVID-19.
The post above is pretty misleading. There is no new “sensor” that Google or Apple secretly installed. Instead, during recent security updates, the two companies added a setting to enable the use of Google and Apple’s COVID-19 Exposure Notification system. This means that when official apps are developed, you not only need to install the app and set it up, but you also have to opt in to tell either Google or Apple that you want to participate.
This update is essentially two things - it gives local governments and the health industry in general the ability to use a secure, singular framework to build COVID-19 apps on, and it gives users the choice whether or not they want to opt in at all.
I can’t reiterate this enough, unless you installed something, your Android or iPhone isn’t just going to start tracking you and your friends and family to see if you have COVID-19. If you go into your settings as mentioned in the above Facebook post, you’ll see that you either need to install or finish setting up a participating app before the notifications can even be turned on.
In a joint statement from Apple and Google (which doesn’t happen very often!), they state that “What we’ve built is not an app - rather public agencies will incorporate the API into their own apps that people install.”
To explain this, an API stands for Application Programming Interface. Basically, Google and Apple have laid some groundwork that these apps can use. It also makes it much easier for users to opt in and out.
Ironically, the system won’t work if users don’t adopt it - if half of all users decide they won’t use the COVID-19 notification system, the system might not be reliable enough to work for those that do use it.
The system is still in its infancy, and it’s really up to state and local governments to deploy the official apps themselves. The platform that Google and Apple have built allow it to be decentralized and secure.
To put it simply, when you opt in and use one of these apps, a random ID is generated and exchanged between your phone and nearby phones within Bluetooth range. These random, anonymous IDs are stored on your phone. Basically, your phone keeps a tally of other phones it has been near.
If someone is diagnosed with COVID-19 and manually shares that information with one of the official contact tracing apps, all of the random IDs your phone has collected over the past 14 days are uploaded (with your permission) and the users of those IDs are notified that they may have been exposed. The system doesn’t track your location, or share other users’ identities within the app, or even with Google or Apple. On top of that, the random ID that your phone generates is changed every 10 to 20 minutes. According to Google, the apps are not allowed to use your phone’s location or track your location in the background.
In other words, it is safe, anonymous, and if you don’t want to opt in, you simply shouldn’t install any official (or unofficial) COVID-19 tracking apps.
Since this question is undoubtedly going to come up, we figured we’d answer it here. As mentioned, because this API isn’t actually an app, you can’t uninstall it. It’s built into Android and iOS’s operating systems and pushed through recent security updates.
There are walkthroughs on the Internet that will walk users through rolling back their phone or other risky procedures, but that only puts your phone at risk for other threats. There is nothing to uninstall, and rolling back your phone and preventing future security updates from ever getting installed is a very bad idea.
You don’t need to worry about the API being there. It’s just a setting, and by default, you are opted out. If you are worried about it, both Apple and Google state that by simply not installing a COVID-19 Exposure Notification app, or uninstalling one if you did install one, is all it takes to not participate.
DO NOT FOLLOW ANY INSTRUCTIONS ONLINE THAT WALK YOU THROUGH ROLLING BACK YOUR PHONE AND OPTING OUT OF SECURITY UPDATES.
If you are that serious about your privacy, you are only putting your privacy and data at more risk.
After reading and understanding the technology behind the COVID-19 Exposure Notification system, it does sound like they are taking every step to make the system secure and anonymous. After all, it does need to comply with healthcare regulations, which many of our clients know are very strict when it comes to data privacy.
The decision to opt in or out of the COVID-19 Exposure Notification system is yours and yours alone, but Google and Apple appear to be doing all the right things to ensure that the system is safe and secure, without violating anyone’s privacy.
One of the largest threats inherent in a phishing scam is that there is a relatively low barrier for entry. There’s a tendency to romanticize hackers somewhat, picturing them in dark rooms lit only by an array of computer monitors as their fingers dance across their keyboard. While cinematic, this imagery is grossly inaccurate. In truth, hacking has trended more towards the psychological, focusing on user manipulation over fancy programming skills.
Which sounds easier to you, learning how to pick a lock, or asking someone for their keys?
Phishing attacks are not only easier on the cybercriminal, they’re also effective. It’s easy to be fooled by a legitimate-looking email or website, especially when you aren’t anticipating being scammed.
Let’s say someone poses as your bank. At first glance, there may be every indication that the email they send is legitimate. A quick look at the sender’s address may pass muster, the bank’s logo and contact information may be present, even any filters you have set up to organize your emails may work.
At a glance, all may be in order… which is exactly how many phishing emails will get you.
While phishing emails themselves aren’t usually dangerous, they contain links to risky and insecure websites or have nefarious files attached to them. Generally, these elements are where the danger lies.
Let’s go through a step-by-step process to check any email that you may receive. The first sign of phishing can be found in its tone: if it has a too-good-to-be-true offer, is overly urgent, or is requesting information about one of your accounts unprompted, you’re right to be suspicious.
Check all links to confirm they direct to a legitimate URL. DON’T CLICK THEM. For example, if the email were from Amazon, links would most likely lead back to amazon-dot-com. However, anything added between “amazon” and “dot-com” is a sign of trouble. Furthermore, the dot-com should be immediately followed by a forward slash (/).
Let’s go through a few examples to demonstrate how important the little details of a URL can be, using PayPal as our subject.
Check how the email address appears in the header. If you ever receive an email from Google, the address isn’t going to be “gooogle@gmail-dot-com”. If you’re unsure, throw any email addresses into a quick search for legitimacy.
Be wary of any attachments. As we mentioned above, most email-borne threats are going to be transmitted as an infected attachment, or as a link to a malicious website. If an incoming email has either a link or an attachment, exercise caution.
Don’t take password alerts at face value. Some scammers will use phishing emails to steal your credentials. Stating that your password has been stolen or some similar breach has occurred, the email will prompt you to supply your password—springing the trap.
If all this sounds like we’re telling you to wonder if any of your emails are legitimate, it’s because we are, in a way. With a healthy sense of skepticism, email and email correspondence can be very useful business tools. Many phishing attempts can also be weeded through with a reliable spam-blocker as well.
Want us to assist you with your email security? Call up our team of professionals by dialing (415) 295-4898.
As careful as so many are with their data security, mobile applications can be a glaring blind spot. While access to certain files on the phone is required for certain applications to function, other applications should have no need for the data they request. Each application you use should have its requested permissions evaluated, and should one ask for too much, you need to reconsider using that app. This is also one of the reasons it is important to only source your applications from an established applications store—these app stores are vetted and regularly reviewed to catch malicious apps.
Time for a basic physics lesson: the first law of thermodynamics states that the amount of energy in the universe is a set amount. This means that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted to a different form. While the battery in your phone is an imperfect example of this, the theory stands: if you don’t use it much, the phone should remain charged. So, if your phone suddenly drops in battery life seemingly without explanation, that’s a bad sign.
Malware could be the explanation you’re looking for. Running in the background, some mobile malware will collect assorted data. To find out which applications are responsible, it helps to check how much power different applications consume in your battery settings.
So, you type in your password, just as you always do, and press the enter key. Incorrect password. Whoops, you must have hit two keys at once or something, so you type it again. Incorrect again. Again and again, you type your password, making sure it is perfect, only to have it kickback.
This is an almost sure sign that your account has been taken over and your credentials changed. Reclaim the account if you can and reset passwords for all your accounts using best practices. It may also be wise to restore your device entirely from a backup to wipe any malware that may have been lurking.
415 IT can help your company manage its entire technology infrastructure, down to the mobile devices that we so commonly see. Learn more about what we can offer you by calling (415) 295-4898.
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