10 Don'ts on Your Digital Devices: The Non-Techies Survival Guide to Cyber Security and Privacy

Book description

In nontechnical language and engaging style, 10 Donts on Your Digital Devices explains to non-techie users of PCs and handheld devices exactly what to do and what not to do to protect their digital data from security and privacy threats at home, at work, and on the road. These include chronic threats such as malware and phishing attacks and emerging threats that exploit cloud-based storage and mobile apps.

Its a wonderful thing to be able to use any of your cloud-synced assortment of desktop, portable, mobile, and wearable computing devices to work from home, shop at work, pay in a store, do your banking from a coffee shop, submit your tax returns from the airport, or post your selfies from the Oscars. But with this new world of connectivity and convenience comes a host of new perils for the lazy, the greedy, the unwary, and the ignorant. The 10 Donts cant do much for the lazy and the greedy, but they can save the unwary and the ignorant a world of trouble.

10 Donts employs personal anecdotes and major news stories to illustrate what canand all too often doeshappen when users are careless with their devices and data. Each chapter describes a common type of blunder (one of the 10 Donts), reveals how it opens a particular port of entry to predatory incursions and privacy invasions, and details all the unpleasant consequences that may come from doing a Dont. The chapter then shows you how to diagnose and fix the resulting problems, how to undo or mitigate their costs, and how to protect against repetitions with specific software defenses and behavioral changes.

Through ten vignettes told in accessible language and illustrated with helpful screenshots, 10 Donts teaches non-technical readers ten key lessons for protecting your digital security and privacy with the same care you reflexively give to your physical security and privacy, so that you dont get phished, give up your password, get lost in the cloud, look for a free lunch, do secure things from insecure places, let the snoops in, be careless when going mobile, use dinosaurs, or forget the physicalin short, so that you dont trust anyone overanything.

Non-techie readers are not unsophisticated readers. They spend much of their waking lives on their devices and are bombarded with and alarmed by news stories of unimaginably huge data breaches, unimaginably sophisticated "advanced persistent threat" activities by criminal organizations and hostile nation-states, and unimaginably intrusive clandestine mass electronic surveillance and data mining sweeps by corporations, data brokers, and the various intelligence and law enforcement arms of our own governments. The authors lift the veil on these shadowy realms, show how the little guy is affected, and what individuals can do to shield themselves from big predators and snoops.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Apress Business: The Unbiased Source of Business Information
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Foreword
  8. About the Authors
  9. Acknowledgments
  10. Introduction
  11. Chapter 1: Don’t Get Phished
    1. A Closer Look at “Phishing”
      1. “Target”-ed Phishing
      2. Other Forms
    2. What Should You Do?
    3. Additional Reading
  12. Chapter 2: Don’t Give Up Your Passwords
    1. Where Did Passwords Come From?
    2. Password Threats and New Solutions
      1. Alternatives to the “Simple” Password: Biometrics and Two-Factor Authentication
      2. Bigger Can Be Better. . .
      3. Mix It Up
      4. Protecting Passwords
    3. What Should You Do?
    4. Additional Reading
  13. Chapter 3: Don’t Get Lost in “The Cloud”
    1. What Is “The Cloud”?
    2. Cloud Controversy and Risks
      1. Formalizing an Informal Relationship
      2. Data Breaches
      3. Not Just for Storage Anymore
      4. Reliability
      5. Accessibility
    3. What Should You Do?
    4. Additional Reading
  14. Chapter 4: Don’t Look for a Free Lunch
    1. Software—Consider the Source
      1. Issues with Warez
      2. Hidden Agenda
      3. Lesser Threats
    2. How to Protect Yourself
    3. Additional Reading
  15. Chapter 5: Don’t Do Secure Things from Insecure Places
    1. Background: Wireless Networking at Home, at Work, and on the Road
      1. Home Sweet Home. . .
      2. Back at the Office. . .
      3. On the Road Again. . .
    2. Encryption Standards
    3. VPN
      1. Workplace Security, on the Road
      2. Extra Layers of Protection
      3. Other Uses for VPNs
    4. Additional Reading
  16. Chapter 6: Don’t Let the Snoops In
    1. Who Are the “Snoops”?
      1. Boundless Informant
      2. PRISM
      3. Tempora
      4. MUSCULAR
      5. FASCIA
      6. Dishfire
      7. Optic Nerve
    2. So, Who Else Is Snooping?
      1. For-Profit Corporations
      2. Employers
    3. Where Your Data Are…
      1. Data on the Move
      2. Taking an Active Role in Protecting Your Data
      3. Data at Rest
    4. Additional Reading
  17. Chapter 7: Don’t Be Careless with Your Phone
    1. Mobility in the 21st Century
      1. When It’s the Employee’s Device, but the Company’s Resources—BYOD
      2. When It’s the Company’s Device, but Used at the Employee’s Discretion—COPE
      3. Know Your Rights
    2. Physically Securing Your Phone
      1. Start Me Up—but Not Without a Password
      2. When a Password Isn’t Enough
      3. Losing (and Finding!) the Key to Your Digital Life
    3. Mobile Law
    4. Insecure Background Wireless Networks
      1. Don’t Trust a Wireless Network Based on Its Name
      2. Don’t Trust Your Phone to Connect for You
    5. Bluetooth Hacking
    6. Malware Apps
    7. Operating System Updates
    8. Additional Reading
  18. Chapter 8: Don’t Use Dinosaurs
    1. Software: It Has an Expiration Date
      1. The “Good Old Days” of Software
      2. New Software for a New Era
      3. Don’t Forget About Mobile Apps
      4. Windows XP
      5. Not Just Windows
    2. Not Just Operating Systems
    3. Not Just Desktops and Laptops
    4. What Can You Do?
    5. Additional Reading
  19. Chapter 9: Don’t Trust Anyone Over . . . Anything
    1. What Is Social Engineering?
      1. Keep Your Eye on the Ball
      2. Hooking the Phish
    2. Social Engineering via Social Networking
      1. Knowledge Is Power
      2. Big Companies, Big Problems
      3. Ransomware
    3. In-Person Tricks
      1. Not Your Mother’s Kind of Tailgating
    4. How to Combat Social Engineering
    5. Additional Reading
  20. Chapter 10: Don’t Forget the Physical
    1. Physical Security: An Overview
    2. Physical Security at Home
    3. Letting Outsiders In
      1. Removing Temptation
      2. Don’t Blanket the Neighborhood with Wi-Fi
    4. Physical Security at Work
      1. Limit Your Paper (or Whiteboard) Trails
      2. Keep Company Devices Secured and Keep Them out of the Wrong Hands
    5. Physical Security on the Road
      1. Thieves Are Everywhere
      2. Don’t Let Your Devices out of Your Sight, Ever
      3. Don’t Let Strangers Touch Your Devices
      4. What if It Gets Stolen?
    6. Additional Reading
  21. Conclusion
    1. Don’t Make It Easy for the Bad Guys
    2. Be Suspicious, and Trust Your Instincts
    3. Keep the Home Front Safe
    4. Watch for New Technologies
    5. Keep Your Hands off Old Machines
    6. Maintain Your Privacy
    7. Most Important—Be an Educated and Informed Digital Consumer!
  22. Index
  23. Other Apress Business Titles You Will Find Useful

Product information

  • Title: 10 Don'ts on Your Digital Devices: The Non-Techies Survival Guide to Cyber Security and Privacy
  • Author(s): Daniel G. Bachrach, Eric J. Rzeszut
  • Release date: October 2014
  • Publisher(s): Apress
  • ISBN: 9781484203675