Software Security for you

You got a brand new Android mobile ? Great. Got lots of app pre-installed ? Yeah.  Mobile manufactures (Samsung/LG/Asus/HTC/Nokia and others) pre-install loads of apps by default. They partner with other app developers to promote apps and make money in turn. Great business sense to pre-install and get people use those apps with ease. There are apps that are common and people do install it eventually (e.g. Gmail/facebook/Whatsapp). It make sense to install it by default and make it available for people to start using right away on their new phone.  However there are ton of other apps  that mobile manufactures pre-install and that is annoying to users. As a user you may never use these pre-loaded apps. Just an example, I got Samsung S4 (from phone service provider) and it came with 80 odd apps, out of that I never ever used 40 apps!  That's huge set of apps pre-loaded. It may vary based on which phone you buy, however its obvious that new mobiles does comes with good number

If you are using Windows/Linux/Mac then you would have installed an Anti-Virus(AV). If not then better get one and setup. Its too easy for a machine to get infected and it has been reported that malware and viruses are on their all-time high. Here are some reasons why you need Anti-Virus You connect to internet and download/install files  You exchange data with your colleagues or friends via pen-drives   You connect you machine to different Wi-Fi networks  You use shared folders or use torrent for file sharing    How to know if your Anti-Virus is working ?  Any Anti-Virus product generally operates in three modes to give you full protection.  Here is gist that you need to know before you proceed Real time scanning (RTS) - In this more Anti-Virus product is active under the hood and constantly monitoring files that are open/written/closed/downloaded. AV product will scan them immediately and flag an alert if there is any virus detected On-Demand scanning - User initi

Security is not one-stop shop and you get everything. It’s not about you install a product and forget everything about keeping every things secure. Here are numerous topics around security that you should be aware of to keep up to security. Anti-Virus and Firewall: This is the most common term people think of security. It’s still valid, however it’s not everything. All of us now do things on internet and there has many more things to take care. You still need to worry about what you download/install or connect your friends pen-drive to your machine. Security products does great job here. Web security: Internet is full of good and bad sites. You need to ensure either not to land on those or be careful about those. Good browser plugins do help in to give us rating and categorization. You need to keep an eye and ensure not land-up into unwanted sites.  Security products does great job here. Here is good read on it. Social networking: This has become part of our lives now. You

Global reports on mobile theft has reported 1 in 3 phones are stolen or lost. You lose your photos, contacts, messages, data within apps and expose your identity (email, facebook, google+, banking apps) and importantly your two-factor authenticator app! That’s quite of a risk in addition to value of your phone. Better option is to be prepared in case it happens. It takes less than 5 minutes to setup your phone so that you can remotely locate, lock and wipe it if required. If you have Android phone, here is how you do it. For iPhone users, here is another blog . Android comes with built-in ' Android Device Manager ' functionality that you need to setup. Here is how - Step 1 - Enable 'Android Device Manager' (ADM) Android Device Manager is functionality of Android to allow user to lock or erase a lost device. This is installed by default in android beyond Android version 4.1 (Jelly Bean). You need to tell give permissions to 'Android device manager'

All modern browsers support " Private Browsing " mode or " Incognito " mode as in Google Chrome. No traces are left behind when you browse in private mode. No history, no temporary files, no web cookies to track users and no cache. Files you explicitly download do remain. Private browsing mode shield you only on local machine; your Internet service provider or your company can still know what your are browsing. Private-browsing still make sense from security point as explained below. Here are good reason why you should use private-browsing mode  Public computer usage - You are using a public computer and accessing your email/Facebook or bank accounts. Use private mode. No history, no passwords will be stored back for others to use. Temporary login to friends machine - Logging in from friends/colleagues machine to do a quick email/Facebook/etc. check. Leave no traces for friend to see. Login to bank website - Accessing bank account for any transactio

Using userID and password only to login to your account is old method to ensure security to your account(email, bank, facebook, etc.). It has been reported numerous times that passwords can be stolen, leaked, cracked, captured, sniffed & guessed. Bad guys (may be your own people with bad motives) are trying hard to get your password and get into your account to steal data/money/identity/photos. You need to protect your account with something more than just UserID and password. Strong password is not enough to protect your account and you need to go beyond that to make your account secure. What is two factor authentication ? In simple terms you can consider two factor authentication as "Two Locks" for your account. You need to open both the locks before your get into your account. And to open two locks you of course need two separate keys. Two factor authentication is security process in which you use your userID+Password and physical token. Its "something you

Your browser is the point of contact to internet and *the* most vulnerable spot. In addition to which browser you use, its most important to use it with right set of apps (plugins). Plugins are apps that run within your browser and enhances your browsing experience. Using random plugins can expose all your browsing history and data to external world. Every plugin has access to all your web history and data that you send. All your user names, passwords, emails, and chats can be accessed by plugins. So make sure you monitor your usage of plugins in your browser. Plugins can also ensure your safety online. Here is good list of plugins that improves your online experience and keeps your safe. I am using Google Chrome as reference browser to demonstrate various plugins. Almost all of the below plugins are also supported on other browsers (Internet explorer, FireFox & Safari). Google Chrome claims to be most secure browser plus its fast and comes with great user interface - try s