The upcoming holidays can be rife with cyber-crime. Many of us are experiencing the joys of the season and may be less inclined to keep our guards up. Crooks know this and respond by bringing their A game. Here are some key areas of concerns as well as a few tips to avoid getting hacked: Public Wi-Fi Use public Wi-Fi networks sparingly and certainly not for viewing personal or financial information. These open and free networks are very low hanging fruit for cyber thieves who are known for frequenting malls, airports, train stations, bus terminals, coffee shops and bars. You’ve already seen these people and had no idea what they were scheming to do. They are among us, and they’re eavesdropping. Home Wi-Fi Yes, this isn’t always your safest option. Ethernet cable connections are best for doing online transactions. For many, ethernet is not an option since many devices only provide Wi-Fi and cellular connections. In these instances, use a secure Wi-Fi (one which is password protected). If you are unsure if your Wi-Fi connection is secure, use your carrier’s personal hotspot provided; it’s 4G or LTE. Fake credit card readers Also known as scanners and often referred to as “skimmers” – these devices grab data off your card's magnetic stripe. Criminals then use the data to create cloned cards or gain access to your bank account. Flimsy construction, poorly painted panels, over-sized or bulging materials, any type of exposed wiring, and other outliers that look out of the ordinary are dead giveaways. However, card readers are also showing up at mainstream establishments in nicer neighborhoods. And these devices may be more difficult to spot as criminal technology and ingenuity advance. You should also beware aware of nearby cameras when using any type of card reader. A well-placed camera can capture your PIN. Malvertising Malvertising is a fancy word for bogus ads that usually lead to sites that are not secure or have already been breached. The ads can also bear a 100% likeness to well-established companies. If you hover over the ad with your mouse, you can verify the URL. Misspellings and odd characters, sometimes in another language should tip you off not to go any further. For example, make sure you are on “amazon.com” not “amazonn.com” (a fake site). You should also beware of ads with offers that sound too good to be true. Most of us have seen these on Facebook and should apply the same healthy level of skepticism to other websites, unknown links and unexpected pop ups. Look for “https://” and avoid “http://”. Another way to check is to look for a lock icon, on the left, next to the URL in the address bar. If you get an alert from your browser that this site may not be safe, close the browser immediately. Charity scams Charity scams are rampant around the holiday season. Be wary of requests for donations received via email and phone. Always contact the organization directly to explore how you can help. Never take the word of someone who blindly reaches out to you via email or phone. Especially since phone numbers can be so easily spoofed. Imitation products When hot products sell out at brick and mortar stores, finding them online may be your only option. Criminals know this and set up fake web sites or sell imitation products. Make sure to buy from reputable sellers. Look for seller ratings on eBay, Amazon, etc. Do searches on the seller to see if no ratings exist. Look at the seller’s country of origin. If the price is too high or too low, these are bright red flags you cannot afford to ignore. Baseline your finances and audit them frequently Make sure you take inventory of credit card charges, balances, special accounts, retirement accounts and mortgages. This will be your baseline or a current snapshot of your authorized charges and balances. Once the holidays are over, gather the same financial information again and review it for unauthorized changes and charges. And, be sure to hone in on your credit cards; many of which have multiple protection features. If a fraudulent purchase is made, you have zero liability if you report it on time. Monitor your credit card charges frequently instead of waiting for the statement that will arrive after the holidays. If alerting and locking your cards is not enough, a credit freeze is always the ultimate safeguard. Cybercriminals love establishing credit in your name and this holiday season is no exception. If you have not frozen your credit with the major bureaus, now is a great time to make a move. You can always unfreeze it before making a major credit purchase. Keep yourself and your business safe from criminals by making use of these Cyber-Safety tips. If you would like to know more give Multi IT a call on 011 435 0450.

Twenty-four hours seem to pass by in the blink of an eye, especially if you’re a small business owner. In order to stand a chance against the competition, the last thing you should do is bury yourself in a pile of endless emails. With the following Gmail tips and tricks, you’ll spend less time with your inbox and more time driving business growth. Undo Send We’ve all had an email or two we wish we could take back. Gmail has a neat feature that gives you a short period of time to recall a mistakenly sent message. Simply click the Undo link that appears to the right of the "Your message has been sent" notification. Canned Responses Dubbed as “email for the truly lazy,” Canned Responses is a new feature that allows you to save time and reuse an email that you designate as a Canned Response. Similar to an email template, it saves copious amounts of time since you won’t have to retype the same responses over and over again. It comes in handy for businesses that send plenty of routine emails. To do this, go to Settings, open the Advanced tab, and enable Canned Responses (Templates). Send large attachments with Google Drive With Gmail, users can easily send attachments up to 25 MB. But say you have a huge zip file for a photo shoot that a client wants to review — you’re going to need more space. If you use Google Drive with your Google account, you can send larger files in Gmail. Copy the large file to your Google Drive, then click Compose in Gmail and type your message. When you’re ready to attach the large file, click the Google Drive icon (next to the emoji icon that looks like a smiling face). Insert the files you want to attach and send your message. Turn on Priority Inbox Priority Inbox organizes your messages by their importance using machine learning. You’ll be able to divide your inbox into five sections, where the messages will be displayed in the following order: Important and unread messages Starred messages [Customizable section] [Customizable section] Everything else To enable Priority Inbox, hover your mouse over the Inbox button in the upper left corner of the screen until a dropdown arrow appears. Click on it, and choose Priority Inbox. Back up your messages If you ever need to back up or migrate your Gmail messages, Gmvault can help. It’s an open source solution that can back up your entire Gmail directory or just a handful of messages. The email data is then available whenever you need to restore or recreate your Gmail folders. You can also use it to migrate messages from one account to another. Enable advanced settings Configuring Gmail's Advanced Settings is an excellent way to increase email efficiency. Some of these features include Multiple Inboxes, Preview Pane, and custom keyboard shortcuts. Access them by going to Settings and clicking on the Advanced tab. Spending the right amount of time with emails while managing other crucial business areas is a balancing act many business owners find difficult. If you have questions or need further assistance regarding Gmail or IT in general, feel free to contact Multi IT on 011 435 0450.

Major companies like Google, Apple, and Microsoft are investing a lot of money in the Internet of Things (IoT). But just like any other technological trend, it comes with minor bugs and setbacks. Because of the diversity in IoT, developers have yet to develop large-scale security solutions. In the meantime, here are some things you can do to keep IoT cyberattacks at bay. Set passwords Not many people know they can set passwords for IoT devices, making their gadgets easy to hack. You have to make sure to set new and strong passwords — preferably with a combination of upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Then, use a password manager to keep track of all your passwords. Disable Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) UPnP helps IoT gadgets discover and connect to other network devices. But this feature also serves as a gateway for hackers to infiltrate your devices and network. To prevent this, disable this feature. Create a separate network It’s a good idea to keep your IoT devices connected to their own network that’s separate from your main office network. This way, gadgets can connect to the internet but won’t have access to mission-critical files. You can also invest in device access management tools. These allow you to control which devices can access what data, and prevent unauthorized access. Update your firmware You need to keep your software up to date if you want to secure your devices against cyberattacks. Manufacturers are always releasing new patches for the latest vulnerabilities, so make it a habit to check and install IoT firmware updates regularly. If you have several devices, use patch management software to automate patch distribution and schedule regular updates. Unplug it Simply disconnecting your devices or turning them off when not in use can significantly reduce your vulnerability to cyberattacks. It removes potential entry points into your network and minimizes the chances of unauthorized access to your network. With the advent of IoT devices in homes and offices, hackers also developed more cunning ways to exploit them. Adopting the above mentioned security habits can prevent a variety of IoT attacks, but if you need to beef up your security, contact Multi IT on 011 435 0450 today. We have robust security solutions to keep your hardware and systems safe.