Archives - Security Best Practice


Watch what info you give away

Be alert to the kinds of information being collected to complete your transaction. If the merchant is requesting more data than you feel comfortable sharing, cancel the transaction. You only need to fill out required fields at checkout and you should not save your payment information in your profile. If the account autosaves it, after […]

Use automatic updates and reboots

A patch issue causing problems (or your own lack of IT urgency) can entice you to turn off automatic updates — no more annoying alerts! Months down the road, though, a hack through an unpatched vulnerability can infiltrate your system. Employ automatic updates and reboots so that you’re proactively dealing with issues before they become […]

Only buy from security-minded providers

Your security is only as strong as the weakest link. Ensure that every company you work with — ISP, SaaS, Bluetooth-enabled consumer electronics, etc. — has the same strict security requirements as your home and work environment demand. Advanced security across the board can help protect you from provider-side vulnerabilities.

Implement automated policy enforcement

You can increase security exponentially by applying rules based on traffic type, location and application. By automating the enforcement of certain security rules, you can reduce the risk of security breaches.

Operate with the principle of least privilege

In many examples of malware infection, the malware may only function using the privileges of the logged-in user. To lessen the effect of malware infections, think about using a standard or restricted user account (i.e., a non-administrator account) for day-to-day activities. Only log in with an administrator account—which has full operating privileges on the system—when […]

Use a URL expander on Twitter

Truncated links, created by services like Buffer and dlvr.it are common on Twitter, since they’re clean-looking and short. But they make it impossible to know what exactly is on the other end of the link. Consider using a URL expander, plenty of which are available for major browsers, to see what each link really leads […]