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Share 2FA Setup for Team Access to a Single Account
When your team or family shares access to a single account (such as for banking or social media, which seldom offer multi-user access), using two-factor authentication via SMS is awkward—whose phone receives the 2FA codes? One solution is to use an authentication app. Authentication apps are more secure, and multiple people can add 2FA support to the same account by scanning the QR code at setu... Read more -
Audit Your Trusted Device Lists for Greater Security
One of the ways companies protect critical account information is by remembering the devices you use to log in as “trusted devices” or “authorized devices.” Those logins will usually have been protected by two-factor authentication or another mechanism that guarantees the device is being used by you, its owner. Subsequent logins from those devices may be more convenient for you due to requiring... Read more -
Loose Lips Sink Chips: Beware What You Say to AI Chatbots
Generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing/CoPilot, and Google’s Gemini are the vanguard of a significant advance in computing. Among much else, they can be compelling tools for finding just the right word, drafting simple legal documents, starting awkward emails, and coding in unfamiliar languages. Much has been written about how AI chatbots “hallucinate,” making up plausible detail... Read more -
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC: What They Are and Why You Need Them
The ease of sending and receiving email makes it an attractive way to run scams like phishing attacks. One telltale mark of a phishing attack is the sender’s address not matching their purported domain; attacks that appear to come from legitimate email addresses are much more likely to fool the victim. You can protect your organization’s email accounts from being compromised and used in phis... Read more -
Six Reasons Why You Should Restart Your Mac Periodically
Long ago, before macOS was as stable as it is today, Mac users restarted their Macs regularly. Back then, Macs couldn’t sleep, either, so it was common for users to shut down at the end of the day and start up the next morning, effectively restarting daily. With modern Macs using the barest trickle of power in sleep and both apps and macOS almost never crashing, many Mac users have gone to t... Read more -
Changing Passwords Periodically Doesn’t Increase Security
Does your organization or some financial website require you to create a new password periodically? This practice was recommended long ago, but some organizations haven’t kept up with current recommendations that discourage such policies. If you’re bound by a password expiration policy, you can use this article to encourage your IT department or financial institution to update its approach to p... Read more -
Use 1Password to Enter Your Mac Login Password
We think of 1Password as being helpful for entering passwords on websites and in iPhone and iPad apps. But its Universal Autofill feature has a hidden capability that lets 1Password enter your Mac login password when you have to provide it to change certain system settings,... Read more -
The Importance of Staying Updated
Does it feel like your Apple devices are always asking you to install operating system updates? You’re not wrong—from September 2022 to January 2024, we saw the following releases in Apple’s previous set of operating systems:- macOS 13 Ventura: 20 releases
- iOS 16: 25 releases
- iPadOS 16: 20 releases
- watchOS 9: 15 release... Read more
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Help! My Account Has Been Hacked—What Should I Do?
How would you realize that one or more of your Internet accounts—email, social media, financial—have been hacked? (Some prefer the terms “compromised” or “breached”—you may hear them from support techs.) Unfortunately, there’s no telltale warning sign because “hacked” could mean any number of things. Here are some possible indications:- People you trust report receiving email that y... Read more
