Tag Archive for: setting

Essential security steps when setting up a new phone or computer

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For the new tech in your life, there are options to secure your privacy and security.

Most tech is easy enough to set up and start using. The secret Big Tech companies don’t want you to know? Some settings are great for them but not for you. Tap or click for privacy defaults you need to change.

It’s never too late to go back and change your settings or do some cleanup to get more years out of even an older gadget. Tap or click for the smartphone cleanup you need to do if yours is more than three months old.

For the new tech in your life, there are countless options. Here are a few important ones to prioritize:

Start your day with the top tech news

If you got a new computer

Microsoft places ads and suggested apps in the Start menu. That’s annoying, but it’s simple to turn them off:

• Click the Start menu, then open Settings.

• Choose Personalization.

• Select Start from the left pane.

• Toggle off Show suggestions occasionally in Start.

On a Mac, this quick privacy step stops companies from tracking you across websites to advertise products and services.

• Open the Safari browser. Go to Safari > Preferences > Privacy.

• Next to Website tracking, check the box for Prevent cross-site tracking.

• You can also choose to hide your IP address for extra privacy.

Get the most out of it: Malware can ravage your new computer. Here are five ways to think like a hacker, starting today.

If you got an Amazon Echo

Amazon Sidewalk is basically a mesh network that extends your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection range by up to a mile by using some Echo speakers and Ring gadgets into bridge devices.

That gives internet-connected tech far from your router, like lights at the edge of your driveway, a real boost. That’s nice, but what does it mean for your security?

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The UK’s National AI Strategy: setting a 10-year agenda to make the UK a “global AI superpower” | Allen & Overy LLP

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Why do we need a National AI Strategy

The AI Council recognised that its Roadmap of sixteen recommendations (regarding R&D, skills and diversity, data, infrastructure, public trust, investment and adoption) would need to be rolled out over time and therefore, it encouraged the UK Government to produce a National AI Strategy.

In its published form, the National AI Strategy (the Strategy) sets out a 10-year plan to make the UK “a global AI superpower” building on research and development success in the field as well as previous AI Sector Deal investment and establishment of AI bodies and structures (not least the AI Council and Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI)).

The Strategy notes specific goals for the UK to experience significant growth in AI discoveries made, commercialised and exploited in the UK, associated economic and productivity growth and to establish a trusted and pro-innovation AI governance system. But more generally, the Strategy mirrors other recent publications, highlighting the UK Government’s desire to provide a pro-innovation environment, with a business-friendly regulatory framework, whilst protecting the public and fundamental values.

The Strategy differentiates AI (defined as “machines that perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, especially when the machines learn from data how to do those tasks”) from other technology or digital policy, calling out features that the UK Government considers require a unique policy response. These include, for example, questions regarding liability, fairness, transparency bias, risk and safety arising from AI system autonomy and algorithm complexity; issues regarding greater infrastructure requirements necessary to perform; multiple skills sets necessary and lengthy commercialisation journeys.

The three pillars

The National AI Strategy points to three core pillars:

• Investment in long term needs of the AI ecosystem-to ensure competitiveness
• Supporting transition to an AI enabled economy-considering all sectors and regions
• Ensuring the right national and international governance of AI technologies-working with global partners to promote responsible AI development

It identifies…

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FBI ‘Drive-By’ Hacking Warning Suddenly Gets Real—Change This Critical Setting Today

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When the FBI warned that hackers can use the smart gadgets you have at home “to do a virtual drive-by of your digital life,” it was smart connected gadgets they had in mind. This week’s report into a vulnerability with cheap smart plugs available on Amazon can be added to recent warnings about kitchen gadgets and security cameras.

But there was also a more worrying story this week—one that is much more of a concern. Reports suggested that a home internet router had been remotely attacked, exploiting its factory-set password to hijack an IP address to mask “illicit” activity. In my view, the specific attack alleged in these reports is implausible, but I agree that a router in such a default state is a very serious risk.

I don’t think people even understand what a router does,” warns ESET cyber guru Jake Moore. “Most people don’t want to change the password, let alone go into the settings on the router. Many people don’t even realize there are two passwords.”

And so, the highlighting of this issue this week is critical. Treat your router like your internet “mothership,” Moore says. “Lots of people haven’t changed their ISP for years, and so they’ll have an old router, possible six, even ten years old.” And that means that the security on the device itself is likely lacking, and you probably haven’t been into the settings, updated the firmware or changed the password for years—if ever.

Routers are computers, air traffic control systems for all the connections in your house. And while your WiFi SSID and password enable someone to join you network, that person needs to be nearby. Clearly, the router itself can be compromised remotely.

I have commented before on broader IoT security—give some thought to the number of devices you connect to your home internet, remember, each device is a bridge between your home and the outside world. Think that through.

For those you do connect—including computers, phones tablets, smart toys, kitchen gadgets, appliances, TVs and the rest, change all default passwords, and make each one unique—use a password manager or write them down. Update the firmware and enable auto-updates if…

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Setting a Course Away from the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

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As the new administration reassesses U.S. nuclear policy, it will be forced to make decisions about the future of the country’s ground-based, nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) arsenal. Many advocates of maintaining the nuclear status quo have argued that it is essential to completely replace America’s aging Minuteman ICBMs with a new set of missiles, commonly referred to as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent. And yet, to justify this approach, advocates have falsely presented the decision as a binary choice. They claim the United States must either fully replace its ICBMs or jettison them entirely. There is, however, an alternative approach: Extend the lifespan of the Minuteman ICBMs and use arms control to reduce the deterrence requirements that ostensibly justify them.

We argue that extending the lifespan of the currently deployed Minuteman missiles is preferable to replacing them with a new arsenal of ICBMs. Silo-based ICBMs are ultimately ill-suited to counter the emergence of regional nuclear — and especially non-nuclear — threats to U.S. national security. Doubling down on ICBMs would in fact create additional risks to U.S. security. Rather than committing to ICBMs for the next five decades or more, the United States should begin to move its nuclear force structure away from silo ICBMs and look to reduce the comparable elements of Russia’s nuclear forces in tandem through arms control.

 

 

Adding to the Minuteman’s current life span is technically feasible, and would be a reasonable political compromise between Democrats and Republicans as both parties seek to support U.S. nuclear modernization and additional arms limitations on Russia (and China). Finally, U.S. negotiators seeking to shape the development of Russia’s strategic forces by limiting the deployment of large, multi-warhead silo ICBMs will be better served by trading away currently deployed Minutemen missiles instead of waiting for new missiles to be deployed in ten years.

Don’t Double Down on the Past

The first question is whether ICBMs are still the best weapons to address the strategic challenges America faces today. There is little reason to think they are.

When…

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