Owners of routers worldwide are being asked to turn off their routers then reboot them, to "thwart a sophisticated malware network linked to Russia". This issue has been reported by the FBI in the USA.

At the Be Connected afternoon on Wednesday this week (30/5), we talked again about Staying Safe Online - how to spot a scam, avoid it, what to do if you get caught, and how to best protect yourself.

We talked about being careful when providing any financial, private or personal details online, to ensure that the website you are using is secure - that it has a lock on it in the search/address bar. 

I was reading just today that Apple has introduced a new Safari feature to help keep us stay safer online.  It was introduced in iOS 11.3 and MacOS 10.13.4.

Another great Mac Monday (Mac User Group) on May 28th - and the time just flew! We covered such a great range of topics. ​

I so love my Mac for the built in features that it offers - features that mean that I don't need to purchase other (often expensive) apps to achieve what I want to achieve. So many Mac users that I meet have no idea of the capabilities of these great computers.

Here's what we covered at May's Free Friday on 16/5/18:

iTandCoffee Club Members with Plus, Online or Premium membership can view this video by selecting the button below.

The iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch have been around for many years now. As the years have gone by, the age of those who use these devices has become lower and lower.

In allowing younger (and not-so-young) children on these devices, many adults fail to consider just what they are putting into the hands of their kids. Many others know there are dangers, but are not sure how to make the device/s safer. It's just too hard.

These small devices are actually powerful computers that open up the whole, dangerous online world to our children. Without adequate protection and controls, children can so easily be exposed to terrible sites, images and people - putting both their mental and physical safety at risk.

So, what can you do to protect your child?

Final Update 14/6/18

​After two weeks of investigation, the Telstra agent handling the complaint (see below for further details of this lengthy saga) has reported today that they have ascertained that there was a lack of adequate checking of the identity of the iTandCoffee client.

The Live Chat staff team will receive further training to ensure such a breakdown in security does not occur again. 

This was the assurance that I was seeking in raising the issue initially. So much time and resources wasted to get this far.

We have officially closed the case, but I have the contact details for this complaints agent should any such incident occur again.

Update 22/5/18. 

So, I finally got a call from Telstra at 6:17pm on 21/5/18 (not before 9am that day, as had been promised by the agent on preceding Saturday).

I was told that the previous agent who had been assigned my complaint had 'met with an accident'. Oh dear! 

This new agent had not yet reviewed the complaint and obviously had no idea what it was about. Not a great way to start our conversation! I suggested that he read the case notes then call me back, rather than waste my time on the phone while he reviewed these notes.

When he called back 45 minutes later, he expressed his confusion about why I had complained. When I explained again that Telstra had given away account information without doing sufficient identity checking, he told me that he felt they had - that only the account holder would know their first name, last name and email address.

Really? I think I might have said "Are You Kidding?". Was someone who was supposed to be from the 'Privacy Complaints' team really suggesting that it would be ok for Telstra to provide account access to a person who only provided a name and email address, and no other identifying information?

The conversation got nowhere - this agent failed to see the point of the complaint and was the opposite of helpful, more concerned with why I was raising the complaint when it wasn't my account on which the incident occurred.

I gave up, telling him that I would be contacting the TIO (Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman) about the security breach and Telstra's lack of responsiveness on this matter. He suggested I do whatever I need to do. I got off the phone fuming, further appalled at the way Telstra handles complaints.

Update 28/5/18:  

So, on 28/5, I lodged the complaint with the TIO (took me a few days to work up the energy!), in the hope that their involvement will put me in touch with someone in Telstra who cares to investigate this matter further, and provide assurance that they take the matter seriously.  At the very least, the person involved surely needs further training.

If other agents (like the person I spoke to on Monday) think it's OK to give away password resets for Telstra accounts when all they are given is a name and email address, then there is a wider training issue that requires urgent attention.

​As a Telstra customer, I remain very concerned about the security of my own accounts.

Update 29/5/18: 

Contacting the TIO certainly helped. Within 24 hours, I received call from Telstra in response to my TIO complaint.

I was asked to send through the 'live chat' transcript and other 'authority to act' confirmation emails from the client involved, and received a commitment that I will receive another call on Monday 4/6.

Stay tuned for the next update on 4/6.

Here's what happened earlier ...  (Written 20/5/18).

This is a question that we get asked so regularly. What are the steps that are involved in downloading and installing software like Adobe Flash on the Mac? iTandCoffee Club member Sandra F asked this question this week in relation to Adobe Flash, which needed updating so that she could watch an ABC iView program on her Mac.