It seems that there is a security threat or leak in the news almost every week. The majority of these leaks tend to revolve around account information and passwords being stolen and released on the Internet for anyone to view. In truth, most of the passwords released are secure, but not 100% secure. Anyone with a powerful enough computer and the right tools can crack almost any security measure. The only thing you can really do is come up with strong passwords.

If you want to minimize the chances of your password being hacked, here are five things you should NOT do.

1. Don’t pick short passwords

While short passwords are easier to remember, they are also easier and quicker to hack. The most common way to hack passwords is by using brute force: Developing a list of every possible password, then trying this list with a username.

Using a mid-range computer like the one many have on their desk, with a normal Internet connection, you can develop a list of all potential passwords astonishingly quickly. For example it would take 11.9 seconds to generate a list of all possible passwords using five lowercase characters (a,b,c,d,etc.) only. It will take about 2.15 hours to develop a list of all possible passwords using five of any computer character. Once a hacker has the list, they just have to try every potential password with your user name.

On the other hand, a list of all 8 character passwords with at least one special character (!,@,%,etc.) and one capital letter would take this computer 2.14 centuries to develop. In other words, the longer the password, the harder it will be to hack. That being said, longer passwords aren’t impossible to hack, they just take more time. So, most hackers will usually go after the shorter passwords first.

2. Don’t use the same password

The way most hackers work is that they assume users have the same password for different accounts. If they can get one password, it’s as simple as looking through that account’s information for any related accounts and trying the original password with the other accounts. If one of these happens to be your email where you have kept bank information, you will likely see your bank account drained.

It’s therefore important to use a different password for every online account. They key here is to try and use a password that’s as different as possible. Don’t just add a number or character onto the end of a word. If you have trouble remembering all of your passwords, try using a password manager like LastPass.

3. Don’t use words from the dictionary or all numbers

This article published last year on ZDnet highlights the 25 most popular passwords. Notice that more than 15 contain words from the dictionary, and most of the rest are strings of common numbers. To have a secure password, most security experts agree that you should not use words from the dictionary or number combinations that are beside each other (e.g., 1234).

4. Don’t use standard number substitutions

Some users have passwords where they replace letters with a number that looks similar, for example: h31lo (hello). Most new password hacking tools actually have combinations like this built in and will try a normal word, followed by replacing letters with similar numbers. It’s best to avoid this.

5. Don’t use available information as a password

What we mean by this is using information that can be easily found on the Internet. For example, doing a quick search for your name will likely return your email address and social media profiles. If you have pictures of your kids, spouse, pets, family, their dates of birth, etc. on your Facebook profile and have put their names in captions, it’s possible for a hacker to see this (assuming the pictures are shared with the public).

You can bet that they will try these names as your password. You would be surprised with the amount of personal information on the web. We suggest searching for yourself using your email address(s), social media profile names, etc. and seeing what information can be found. If your passwords are close to what you find, it would be a good idea to change them immediately.

There are numerous things you can do to minimize the chance that your passwords are stolen and accounts hacked.

In this constantly changing world that seems to be focused on tech, communication needs to be instant and direct. Allowing this, email has become one of the most important business tools. Because almost everyone has an email account now, it’s not uncommon to see inboxes with hundreds of new emails, many of which are left unread. There are things you can do to better manage your email.

Here are five tips on how you can better manage your inbox.

1. Address last Most people start an email by typing in the address of the recipient(s). While there is nothing wrong with this practice, it can lead to emails being sent before they are finished, which could mean more emails in your inbox asking for clarifications or you having to send a correction email.

To stop this, try writing the body of the email first and when you have finished, put the addresses of the recipients.

2. Merge social with email Sometimes it can be hard to know who you are writing or replying to in your email. Using an app like Rapportive, which brings social information into Gmail can help. This app puts a bar to the right-side of an email with information about the sender, including their social profiles, recent tweets and even links to their LinkedIn profile. You can look up your recipients and connect with them directly from the email.

3. Use links, not attachments With the increasing number of cloud storage and productivity apps like Microsoft SkyDrive and Google Drive which allow you to share files by sending people links, there’s no need to attach files to an email. This is incredibly useful if you find yourself sending document versions back and forth on a regular basis and struggle to keep everything up to date.

These services use one version of the document that users you share it with have access to. Everyone sees the same document, which will cut down on the number of emails and confusion when it comes to version control of important documents.

4. Don’t use email for everything Email is so quick and easy that we tend to rely on it for everything. However, there are certain situations when email is not the best form of communication. For example, if you have a tough problem, need to reprimand an employee, etc. it would not be a good idea to do so in email, it’s just too impersonal.

As a rule of thumb: If there’s any chance of human emotions entering into a response or being affected by an email, it may be a better idea to communicate face-to-face.

5. Cook all your bacn at once Bacn (pronounced Bacon) is solicited email; email you want, just not right now. Social media updates, newsletters, website update notifications, etc. are all forms of bacn. Checking these takes time and can be a distraction if you have work to get done. It would be a good idea to schedule a set amount of time where you focus on reading, deleting or archiving these emails.

Alternatively, you can unsubscribe from these alerts or set up a new email account that is just for this type of emails.

There are thousands of things you can do to make your email easier to manage. What do you do? Let us know. If you are looking for even more ways to manage your inbox, contact us today.

Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR for short, is the idea of integrating social and environmental ideas into your company, daily operations and interactions with all stakeholders. One of the more common CSR practices adopted by companies of all sizes is the idea of ‘going green’, or helping the environment. This is a great idea, not only does it make the Earth a better place, it makes your company look more caring; human even. The thing is, it can be hard to actually go green, but there are some apps that can help.

Here are four great apps that can help you and your employees make your company a little more green.

1. GoodGuide

GoodGuide is an app that can help you find out more about products. Utilizing a barcode scanner, it can provide you with information like where the product comes from, whether it’s safe and if it’s green.

With over 170,000 ranked products in the app’s database, it’s a great way to start learning about sustainable and environmentally friendly products. The only downside of this app is that it currently focuses on the US only, and there is no word as to when, or if, service will expand. You can download it to your Apple and Android device for free.

2. PaperKarma

While we are currently living in a digital age, we still get a lot of paper-based junk mail. This is incredibly wasteful, as most people just throw it away. PaperKarma is an app that aims to reduce or eliminate waste paper.

How it works is you take a picture of unwanted mail, the developers will then contact the distributor and ask that they stop sending mail to you. This app could go a long way in helping reduce the amount of paper your office uses, which will mean lower costs for you and less trees felled. It’s really a win-win. You can download it to your iPhone or Android device for free.

3. iRecycle

An important part of any green initiative is recycling. The problem is, it can be hard to find out what, how and where to recycle. iRecycle is an app that aims to set this straight. It provides information on how to recycle almost everything and the nearest recycle points to you.

The app also provides you with recycling centric updates, news and tips to help encourage you to do more. It’s available for Apple (iPhone and iPad) and Android devices for free.

4. greenMeter

If your company has a fleet of vehicles, you are probably always on the lookout for ways to make them more efficient. Whether it be switching tires used, driving at slower speeds to conserve gas or carpooling, finding a way to cut costs is important. greenMeter is an app that could help. What it does is use your iPhone’s accelerometer and manually entered data to assess your vehicle’s power and gas usage.

While driving, this app provides real-time feedback on how efficient your driving is and how much gas you are using. This will help you conserve fuel (as you can see when you are burning more than usual) which will reduce operating costs and negative environmental impact. It’s available for the iPhone and costs USD$5.99.

These are just four apps that can help your company go green. What other CSR initiatives do you take in your company? Let us know! And if you would like more tips on how technology can help you reduce your environmental impact, let us know, we can help.

When it comes to mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, there is an abundance of technical terms and jargon thrown around, often confusing average users. A common term seen on many blogs and mobile carriers’ websites in relation to tablets is tethering. If you have an Android tablet, do you know what tethering is?

Here is an overview of tethering. It focuses on Android tablets, but this process be applied to almost any Android device.

What exactly is tethering? You’ve probably seen this term mentioned in marketing collateral or contracts from your mobile provider, or heard users talk about it. In the most basic sense, tethering is sharing one device’s Internet or data connection with another. The most common type of tethering you will see is someone using their smartphone’s data connection to surf the Internet on their computer or tablet.

When it comes to tethering on Android devices, there are three main options:

• Portable Wi-Fi hotspot - Turns your device into a Wi-Fi router, allowing it to share its data connection with up to five other devices.
• Bluetooth - Shares the device’s data connection with one device over Bluetooth.
• USB – Shares the device’s data connection with one device, usually a computer.

A word of warning: As you share connections, the speed of the data will be diminished. Some devices are also data hungry, and if you have a set amount of data each month, you will likely use it up. If you go over the amount, you may be in for a bit of a shock when you see your next bill.

Can I tether on my tablet? Technically all Android tablets and devices can share their connection as long as they can connect to mobile data. The ability to tether actually hinges on the provider of the data connection – some allow it, others don’t while some will apply extra charges. Before you try to tether any device, you should check with your device’s data/mobile provider to ensure tethering is allowed. As a rule of thumb: If you are already paying for a data connection with a set amount of bandwidth (e.g., 2GB a month), tethering is likely ok.

Because many Android tablets don’t have a mobile data connection, most users will likely share their smartphone’s connection with their tablet. If you have a smartphone with a data plan, tethering will depend on your phone as the tablet just sees an Internet connection.

How do I share my data connection? If you have a smartphone with a data connection and would like to share it with your tablet, you have a couple of options:

For iPhone/iPad (with a data connection) users

1. Open Settings on your phone.
2. Tap on General followed by Network.
3. Select Personal Hotspot followed by Wi-Fi Password.
4. Set the Wi-Fi password and select Done.
5. Slide the button beside Personal Hotspot from Off to On.
6. On your Android device, open the Wi-Fi settings and look for the network with the iPhone’s name. Tap on it and enter the password you set above. It should connect within a few seconds.

For Android users

1. Open your phone’s Settings app.
2. Press More under Wireless & Networks (Android 4.2)
3. Tap on Tethering & portable hotspot.
4. Select Set up Wi-Fi hotspot and enter a network name under Network SSID.
5. Enter a password under the Password section and press Save.
6. Select Portable Wi-Fi hotspot and the device will create a wireless network.
7. On your tablet, open the Wi-Fi settings and look for the name you have set in the Network SSID field above. By default it’s Android AP.

It would be a good idea to use a password when setting up tethering to ensure that no one will be able to connect to your network without your permission.

If you are looking for more ways to get your Android tablet online or wondering how a tablet can help you, contact us today.

Winston Churchill once said, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” This saying is something almost every company in the tech industry takes to heart. There are very few products that stay the same, software included. Because of this rapid pace of change, there will come a time when older software is no longer supported. Microsoft has made a recent announcement that businesses should be aware of.

For businesses running Office 2003 or Microsoft XP SP3, you need to be aware that Microsoft has announced that they will stop supporting these products on April 8, 2014. This could have far reaching consequences for businesses that use these platforms.

What does this mean for my business? When a company like Microsoft says they will ‘stop supporting’ what they mean is that they will usually stop providing updates, paid support, security updates and maybe even online based support.

The biggest problem with a move like this hinges on security. If a hacker finds a security exploit on an older system that a developer has stopped supporting, your systems could be open to attack. Beyond that, if you have paid for support, you will no longer have it if the software stops working. These two reasons alone will eventually lead to higher IT costs.

When it comes to programs like Office and XP, there is another downside to this withdrawal of support: It is highly likely that future versions of the software will be incompatible with what you are running. This means you likely won’t be able to open newer versions of Office documents, which could create problems especially if you have clients who use newer versions; you won’t be able to read/edit the documents. What can we do? The easiest thing to do is to upgrade your software. This may be easier said than done, especially if you have a tighter budget. Luckily, you have more or less one year to upgrade, and in this modern age you have more than one way to update. Possibly the best is to work with an IT partner who can help develop a solution that will fit your business and budget.

If you’re still using Office 2003 or XP SP3 in your office, contact us today to see how we can help.