Here is an excellent article for yourself, friends and family explaining the dangers of being addicted to your technology. There are also good suggestions of how to detox!
How and When To Back Up Your Data
Simply put, the more important the data
the more often you should back up
the more back up copies you should have.
EXAMPLES:
Pictures of my daily Wordle results
Back up once a quarter
One copy on a thumb drive is enough.
QuickBooks back ups for my company
Back up every 2 times I close the program
Keep a copy on my external hard drive and a copy on Dropbox
Payroll records
Back up after each payroll period
Keep a copy on my external hard drive and a copy on Dropbox
Not only can your hard drive go bad, your external hard drive, thumb drive or DVD can also go bad. So important data needs to be backed up in multiple places. For years, when the standard back up method was to a DVD, I kept one copy in my office and another copy in the trunk of my car. I figured the office and the car wouldn’t be destroyed at the same time!!
Now with online options, it’s even easier.
Thumb Drive
Large thumb drives allow you to back up all of your files or a major project quickly. The process is manual which means you have to discipline yourself to do the back ups.
External Hard Drive
BBBS can assist you with purchasing and configuring an external hard drive that sits in your office and automatically backs up your entire hard drive. If the computer hard drive goes, you can download everything you need from the external hard drive.
Online Back Up Services
There are multiple options for you. BBBS can assist you in choosing the best service and help you configure the settings.
- One Drive is part of your Microsoft 365 account.
- Drive is part of your Google account.
- Dropbox is my favorite but there are many Software-As-A-Service (Saas) companies.
How Can Cloud Services Protect Stored Data?
Cloud services have become an integral part of our daily lives, catering to various needs such as storage, computing resources, and application hosting. With the increasing amount of data being generated and stored in the cloud, data security has become a major concern for both individuals and businesses. In this document, we will discuss how cloud services protect stored data and provide a comprehensive understanding of the measures taken to ensure the security of our valuable information.
Is It Really Necessary to Log Out of Online Accounts? Or Can I Just Close My Browser?
This is a question with a lot of maybe answers!! Let’s see if we can break it down so you can take the best actions possible.
Why? Think for a moment how much information about you a hacker would have if they accessed your email account. Bank info. Credit card processer for your business. Doctor info. Client information. Friends lists. Employee info. Employer info. Amazon account. Travel plans. Children’s schedules.
Public Computers
If you are using a public computer (library, hotel, etc.) ABSOLUTELY log out of every program, every time. Best option: Don’t use a public computer ever for highly sensitive work like your bank, your doctor’s portal, Amazon.)
Your Family Computer / Shared Office Computer
You have multiple people sharing a computer. Yes! Log out of every program every time. Don’t take the risk of someone getting access to your accounts. They may not intend to mess things up but they could accidentally cause you big problems.
Your Personal Computer/Tablet/Phone
Should the devise be stolen, the thief can open it up and use any app that is open. Yes, you have a password to open the devise. Do you think a good hacker can’t get past your password? Don’t place any money on that bet!
And since when did you plan to lose your device? No, it’s one of those nasty accidents of life.
A hacker can also access your Internet connection and waylay the session cookie to get into the app. Some session cookies are predictable so hackers can generate possible cookies! This is one of the common uses of malware on a computer. Even a friendly person using your wireless network can pick up on session cookies.
BEST Practice
Log out of every online software every time.
If you think logging in just takes tooooooo much time, use a Password Manager like Last Pass. It will autofill login information for you from a desktop, tablet or phone.
The Federal Trade Commission estimates that it can take approximately six months and 200 hours of work to recover from an identity theft. This estimation is based on the amount of work needed to follow the necessary steps to ensure the victim is not responsible for the debt incurred.
Don’t be a victim! Log out!