Android phones and gooligan malware -Don't Panic

Gooligan malware and android phones.

A couple of days ago it was in announced that Google has suffered a massive malware infection affecting over one million android users across the globe.

A security firm named Check Point Technologies was the one the found this malware and announced it. There is a website they have posted where users can enter the email account they use for  google (usually is a gmail account) and it will let the users know if the account has been compromised.  Below is the link.

Gooligan Check Point

Tips for today:

DON'T PANIC

1) If your phone or tablet is running androig 6.0 (marshmallow) or newer, then it is not affected.
2) Moreover if you only install apps on your phone from the google play store and don't install apps from third party places then more likely your account hasn't been compromised.

WHO REALLY NEEDS TO WORRY?

If you own an old phone (running android 4.0 kitkat or 5.0 lollipop ) and are the kind of user that likes to jail brake the phones or install apps from third party app stores (other than amazon) in order the get free apps that are supposed to be paid. Then you might be infected.


I want to wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2017.

See you soon with more tips :)

what is the cloud???

About the cloud and other storage. 

I love that commercial where a woman ask "Where is the cloud? Are we in the cloud?". So I thought it would be nice to talk about Cloud Storage.

Cloud storage is internet base storage or put in another terms, it is storage that you access through internet. "The cloud" is just a metaphoric name for internet computing.

Is this the cloud?

There are several companies that offer free cloud storage as: iCloud, Dropbox, Onedrive, Google Drive, and many more. They are all different but at the same time they offer the same, storage space that can be accessed over the internet.

And you might wonder why would people store their information on the cloud? well, it makes it easier to share files between your different devices, as your computer and mobile devices. Also, it gives you the opportunity to access your files from any computer as long as you have access to internet and can remember your log in and password. And you could also share files and collaborate with other users.

As many users I have seen having problems with corrupted or ran over flash drives, I would really recommend them to give cloud services a shot.You could still use your flash drives as a secondary backup option.

Which one is the best? they all have their pros and cons.

My tip for today:

 If your current email service provides cloud storage, then, than would be your best option because at least you already know that user name and password.

See you all soon with more tips.

Always, always log off

Students : always, always log off.

always log off

This is a very important rule to follow, students should always log off or sign out of the workstations they have been working on. By doing so, they would be sure that nobody else will delete files from their network drive or browse inappropriate internet sites using their credentials.

Also, when a student leaves a workstations and they are still logged on, it uses resources from the computer making it slower,  and sometimes locking the computer so it has to be forced to shutdown for other user to log in.

Our user credentials leave a footprint in all that is done on our network and internet too. User credentials is in a way a signature, so it must be treated like that too.

So my tip is : LOG OFF

It takes some of your time to log back in but I assure you it is worth it!

How many user accounts and passwords??? say what?

It is 21st century and yes it is important to learn and be able to handle several user accounts and passwords.
 
I myself have so many user different accounts and passwords that i have a app installed in my iPad to administrate and keep a record of all of them. And the punch line is that to enter that app i need to type a pin number for security !!!

That is how many users would feel. What a person has to do in the name of security.

I know people that use the same username and password for everything, yes EVERYTHING, like tv commercial and it is not a good practice at all. It is all about controlling a risk. There are some places like bank accounts, etc, that I put more complicated passwords and try to change them every so often. In some cases i have no other option but to do it.

My recommendation would be to use a different email or account name for your financial matters and another one for play (facebook, linked in, twitter etc).

So that's all for today, hope you find this tip useful.

:)