Top FREE Applications Every Mac 💻 Should Have

Top FREE Applications Every Mac 💻 Should Have

by ipconfigzNo Comments
A Mac Operating System has plenty of useful applications built right into it (like telnet, ssh, tftp, ftp) but depending on your use, the list below could really add value especially if you're into privacy and security. Security (Anti-virus/Malware) Myth: Macs don't require an antivirus. Truth: Most viruses are created to target the bulk of the users who are on Windows. But the list below has some very effective and light weight free apps that will help defend agains and clean your Mac. They all come with a paid version, but for most users, the free version should suffice. Malware Bytes Great for detecting suspicious files on your Mac. BitDefender Free virus scanner for your Mac. Avast Security For Mac Another free and decent virus scanner for the Mac. Privacy BitWarden My choice for storing, sorting and managing all your passwords. You can keep notes in it as well, access it anywhere from any device. Don't forget to enable multi-factor authentication for added security. You can use the web version...
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DNS for Privacy 1.1.1.1

DNS for Privacy 1.1.1.1

by ipconfigzNo Comments
First and foremost, this is an awesome domain name!!! Whois shows it was registered in 1997! But I'm sidetracking. This is CloudFlares privacy focussed DNS service. DNS recap: Just like your phone book translates names into phone numbers, DNS translates URLs (like google.com) to it's actual IP address (like 74.125.124.10) which no one has the time to remember. Or telling your GPS to "go Home" rather than your street address. Here's a fun explanation of how DNS works: https://howdns.works The Problem: Most people or routers have their DNS server pointed towards their Internet Service Provider. Your ISP keeps a track of all the DNS queries you make to it to reach a website. And tailors ads or services accordingly. This information is gold to them. They sell this information to data brokers who then send you more spam, junk and mail. You have an online profile with them that you probably don't know about. Privacy Concerns: Your ISP (Like Comcast or AT&T) also know if you prefer Netflix, youtube over...
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What’s with this GDPR?

What’s with this GDPR?

by ipconfigzNo Comments
What is GDPR? GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the new EU regulation around data privacy. It primarily highlights that their citizens data should be fully in the control of the citizen and with complete transparency on how it's used. In a nutshell, the exact opposite of what happens with user data in the US. What is the Checklist? Take explicit user consent on how/where their data will be used in simple language (no 50 page agreements with "I agree" at the bottom) Must provide the collected data to the user free of charge at their request Destroy user data records at their request (data brokers watch out!!!) Notify customers of data breaches that may affect privacy Privacy must be baked into a product and not be a bandage What are the fines for non-compliance? Fines can be up to 20 Million Euros or 4% of the companies turnover. Who needs to comply? It's a regulation that all EU countries need to comply with. Furthermore, all...
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Remembering 100s of passwords 🗒, a thing of the past (Top 6 Password Managers)

Remembering 100s of passwords 🗒, a thing of the past (Top 6 Password Managers)

by ipconfigzNo Comments
Gone are the days when you only needed to remember 3-5 passwords. Passwords were primarily for email accounts and a handful of social media and maybe an online bank account. Now you need at least 10 accounts for literally everything, from emails, eCommerce sites, social media, cloud apps, your thermostat, all your gov sites. You probably think you don't have that many but the average person has well over a 100 passwords (I just made that up, but I have way over that, I lost count). I often end up using the same password for most accounts, until some website tries to be secure and tells me I need an "special character". I don't need a $%!&(*@ character if I don't want one! Or a combination of Capitals and numbers! Pretty soon my passwords are appended by numbers and some sites don't allow repeated passwords over time! Needless to say, this can't keep up for too long. Until a better way comes...
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Preparing for Death 💀 in a Digital World (Top 10 Checklist)

Preparing for Death 💀 in a Digital World (Top 10 Checklist)

by ipconfigz1 Comment
Death does not come to anyone by asking. It is always sudden and people never expect it. Our lives are heavily intertwined in the digital world. As such, when (not if) that happens we should be prepared from a Cyber perspective. We have hundreds of online credentials that our lives depend on. It would make the life of our next of kin much easier if we had settled them or let them know how to settle them before our number is up. Some of the important things we can do are as follows. The best way to incorporate these tasks are to gradually implement every one of them over a period of a few weeks/months. 1. 📝 Will I always thought wills were just about money! But that's only one aspect of it. No one would want their children (under 18) to go to foster homes or go through a year of court hearings (probate) to decide who their guardians should be and how their assets should be...
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Dark Web, Deep Web, Clear Web 🕸, what’s the different?

Dark Web, Deep Web, Clear Web 🕸, what’s the different?

by ipconfigzNo Comments
There's a lot of talk about the Deep Dark web. These words are used interchangeably, but they are very different. Surface or Clear Web This is what most of us are familiar with. Anything searchable by Google (hence indexed or crawled by search engines) is part of the Surface web 🕸. We may think that this is all the content on the internet, but you'll be surprised, it's estimated that this accounts for only 4% of the content on the internet. Deep Web This is where 90% of the content lives. You've come across it all the time, but probably didn't know that it was categorized as Deep Web. This is everything you CAN'T search with a popular search engine like google, (who uses Bing or Yahoo 🤷🏻‍♂️), DuckDuckGo, etc. Like, Uber ride fairs from point A to point B. You must do so by searching within their own databases, you have to search DEEPER. Things like eCommerce websites, property info, people search engines, traffic violation data,...
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Sign/Verify Emails ✉️ with Encryption 🔐 (for Free)

Sign/Verify Emails ✉️ with Encryption 🔐 (for Free)

by ipconfigzNo Comments
What is it? Signing is essentially showing the recipient that your email address is verified by a certificate authority (CA) (hence legit) and that you are presenting that certificate to the recipient so that they can use the public key in it to encrypt the reply back. Once both parties are using each others' public keys to encrypt the messages and their own private keys to decrypt it, no one in between can intercept it and make sense of it without those private keys that are stored in your computer/phone. Why do it? Encryption: If this is a private email (which email always is, otherwise we use forums), the contents should remain PRIVATE. There is a long route your email takes from your keyboard to the destination screen! It can be intercepted anywhere in between by either hackers, phishing scams, data miners, government, your email provider that snoops on the contents of your email and creates a profile of you, sells it to advertisers...
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