Chances are, you wouldn’t give someone your Social Security number or address to a stranger who asked for it on the street. Likewise, you shouldn’t hand it over to someone who calls purporting to be a tech support specialist (a common scam) or in an email saying you’ve won a prize and need to fill in […]

A digital signature—a type of electronic signature—is a mathematical algorithm routinely used to validate the authenticity and integrity of a message (e.g., an email, a credit card transaction, or a digital document). Digital signatures create a virtual fingerprint that is unique to a person or entity and are used to identify users and protect information […]

Phone call spam has gotten much worse throughout the 2010s, with many people receiving multiple scam calls per day. Most smartphones allow specific numbers to be blocked, which is advisable for any number that you don’t know and aren’t expecting any calls from.

Creating a strong password is only part of the password battle. You also need to update it regularly to hedge against the possibility it’s been compromised. If there’s a publicly disclosed data breach that affects your account, then you’ll want to change your password immediately.  

URL typos aren’t always harmless – the slightly misspelled website might actually be a registered domain that could put your device in harm’s way. The risk has grown as the number of top-level domains has increased; instead of just .com or .org, now there’s also .xyz, .capital and many more. Double-check any URL you type […]

Just because a connector fits your device doesn’t mean you should use it for charging. Unlicensed third-party cables might damage your phone or PC. There’s also the more subtle risk of quicker-than-normal battery degradation through fast-charging. All batteries lose their ability to hold a charge over time, but high-voltage charging accelerates this process.