February 2020 - Monthly Mini-Bytes

Is it time for a Password Audit? A few weeks ago there were a flurry of reports of Ring cameras being hacked. Panic ensued. Tech talking heads immediately piled on Ring and other similar service providers as evil, unsecure, and heartless capitalists who could care less about their customers. They said that children were in peril, privacy was over, and small flightless birds were soon to rise up and become our overlords. It was classic fake news... except for the birds, of course. The truth of the matter is it was the customers who failed to configure their devices with secure passwords on a secure infrastructure. Hackers look for soft targets. Having no password or not changing the default password (the one that came with the device) is like putting a bird feeder on the ground and not expecting squirrels to plunder the seed. It's not the device's fault. It's not the fault of the company that built the device. It is totally the fault of the end-user (consumer) who chose not to take their security seriously. Passwords are a pain. They are hard to remember. They cause confusion and lost productivity. Well, until a better system is developed, we are stuck with them, so it's best to learn how to co-exist and maybe even love your passwords. (Okay, maybe not.) Here are the rules for good passwords: At least 10 characters. 12 is better. 14 or more is awesome. Use a mix of numbers, letters (capitals, too), and symbols if allowed. Don't use the same password for everything. It's like having no password at all. Do not make the passwords similar to others. Once one is compromised, the rest will fall quickly. Write down your passwords, or save them somewhere. No one remembers their passwords. It is okay to use fowl language when talking about the subject of passwords with others. If you use iCloud Keychain and save passwords in Safari, you can "audit" the state of your passwords by going into Safari, choosing Preferences from the Safari drop-down menu, and selecting the Passwords menu tab. It will ask you for your computer password. Here you can see what you have saved. Accounts with passwords that are reused or easily guessed will show a symbol on the right. Happy auditing!

How To Clean Your Stuff There's a lot of advice on the news about staying healthy, and although it's not possible to encase oneself in hand sanitizer, there are things that you can do with your computer and devices to keep them clean. There was a study several years ago that a computer keyboard has more bacteria on it than a public restroom toilet seat. Seriously... ick! Fortunately Apple has created a page on how to safely clean everything from a keyboard, to an iPhone, and even the Apple Watch. You can check it out here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204172

Old Speakers, the End of Music, and You I think there is a subset of Americans who love their Sonos Systems more than their children. The wireless speaker system has made it easy to play all types of music around the house. The systems are expensive, and with that type of investment you can understand the anger when Sonos announced in January that it was ending support for older speaker models. Of course, since then the CEO backtracked, but it still brings up an excellent point on devices and longevity, especially when it comes to music. It used to be that purchasing a good stereo system meant that it could last a lifetime. Older speakers from 40 years ago arguably sound as good as anything today, and who would turn away the opportunity to own a tubed amplifier -- technology from the 30s! But now that $3,000 invested in a digital music system does not have the longevity. At some point it will not be supported. As file systems change it will have a difficult time playing music that you want to hear. And it will break. Then, good luck trying to find someone to fix it. Digital products are expendable, and once they go through their lifecycle, then the only thing that can be done with those systems is, well, recycle. Sonos backed off for now, but they will have to end support for older systems at some point. This is also true for any smart or connected device imaginable including doorbells, alarms, refrigerators, home automation systems, or even those fancy connected lightbulbs. It's food for thought.