Month: June 2022

What to do:
A PC that’s not switched on cannot be hacked into, and if already compromised, cannot be used by the attacker to download info from it, or spend it’s idle time being part of a botnet.

Why do it?
Also, if your main PC is a notebook then turning it off and removing the power plug from it will save your battery from unnecessary charging and performance deterioration.

Regular PC restarts are recommended to allow your Windows (or other operating system) to clean up open files, get rid of temporary files, and update itself.

What to do:
Use a RFID blocking wallet, purse, bag, or use RFID blocking sleeves to prevent mobile RFID skimming.

Why do it?
Have you seen a person gain access to his office by just touching his wallet to the card reader, or a lady get on the metro by tapping her purse on the ticket gantry? Similarly, a person armed with a mobile RFID reader can skim the data off your credit card in your back pocket or purse.

A RFID blocking wallet, clutch, or individual RFID blocking sleeves can prevent that. I have found that you don’t need to put the cards into the sleeves. Merely having these sleeves slotted into the wallet as the outermost layer will prevent your cards from being read.

What to do:
Put some black electrical tape over the camera on your computer notebook/laptop/tablet/mobile phone.

Why do it?
There have been cases where malware on a computer gave an attacker access to the camera, and compromising pictures of the user have been remotely taken.

I currently have tape over my notebook computer and tablet device, but not my phone.
Sure you could buy a fancy one, but tape will do. Just remove for any video conferencing calls you have to make or selfies you have to take, then replace it.