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 In recent online news about security, privacy, scams and threats, there have been some scary articles about new threats to millions of Windows users.
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 You may have heard in the press this week about the new My Health Record system that will be available from October 15th 2018, where our health records may be available to up to 900,000 health professionals around Australia.
11/4/2018 0 Comments Have you checked yet if your Facebook Data was shared with Cambridge Analytica? No doubt you have heard all about the Cambridge Analytical scandal - the unauthorised use of the Facebook data belonging to millions of people.
Facebook has made it possible now for you to easily check if your data was shared as part of this breach. Below is a 1-minute video that shows you where to look in your iPhone's Facebook app. Alternatively, select this link to perform a quick check from your web browser of whether your privacy was breached.
20/10/2016 0 Comments What does Facebook know about you? Have you ever wondered just why you get presented with all that rubbish and advertising on Facebook? Maybe you have wondered if there is a way to stop certain types of posts from appearing on your timeline.
Here is an article that Macworld published recently that I found really interesting. How to find out what Facebook knows about you - Macworld Australia Have a read, and then make any necessary adjustments to the personal information and preferences that Facebook has recorded about you!  Have you ever seen a message on your iPad, iPhone or computer advising you that a website wants to store 'Cookies' on your device? What are these things called 'Cookies'? Cookies are small files saved to your device, holding a bit of data relating to you and the website you have visited. For example, your name, address and email address details that you entered for that website may be saved as a Cookie for that website, so that the same information can be filled in next time you visit the website. When you save your login details for a website by ticking a 'remember me' box, a cookie will be created on your device. Cookies are not the only things that websites save to your device. Some websites save 'Website Data' to your device - data that tracks what you looked at (for example, that chair that you were looking at buying, or that hotel you were looking at), then re-uses that data next time you visit. Depending on your settings, this saved 'Website Data' may then be shared with other, so that tailored ads can be 'served' to you based on your previous browsing history Control whether your iPad and iPhone store and use Cookies and Website Data You have control over whether websites are allowed to store cookies and website data while you browse, and over what websites can use those your website data. This is done in Settings->Safari->Block Cookies.
If you don't want to store ANY Cookies or Website Data, choose Always Block. But just be aware that some sites will not operate without the use of cookies. And you will never be able to 'autofill' fields for websites based on data you have previously entered. To stop Website Data being shared with other websites - in particular, to avoid those ads that seem to follow you wherever you go - select Allow from Current Website Only. I would never choose the Always Allow, as this provides an 'open slather' for websites to use the data stored by other websites How do I know what websites are storing data on my device? You can view the list of the websites that store data on your device, and how much data each of these websites is storing. You can even delete the website data for specific sites - especially those that keep 'serving' their ads to you, as if they are stalking as you browse! Go to Settings -> Safari -> Advanced -> Website Data. The sites that store data are listed in size order, with only top 10 shown initially. Tap on Show All Sites to see the full list of websites saving data to your device.
How do I delete the saved Website Data? To delete the website data for individual sites, tap Edit at top right (while in the Settings -> Safari -> Advanced -> Website Data option) then tap the red left-hand circle to delete saved data for a specific website. Or, you can choose to Remove All Website Data (which is shown at the bottom of that screen), to start a clean slate!
Alternatively, to clear all cookies, website data AND History, choose the option Settings ->Safari -> Clear History and Website Data. This will clear out the list of websites that you have visited in the past year (or since you last did such a clear). Related Articles (for iTandCoffee Club members)
Below are some other previously published handy hints about the Safari and web browsing on your iPad and iPhone. An iTandCoffee Club membership is required to view these past Handy Hints. Not yet a member? Why not join today - see here for details!
 If you own an Android mobile phone or tablet, you really need to read this article published this week in The Age.
If you value your privacy, you may want to check what apps you have installed on your device - Big Brother may be watching you! Click/tap on the link below to read the article from The Age. One in four apps on your Android mobile needlessly mining your personal data | theage.com.au 27/3/2015 0 Comments How to get access to Australian content when you travel - while keeping your online world secureIf you have ever travelled overseas with your iPad or iPhone, you may have been frustrated to find that you could not catch up on your favourite ABC programs on ABC iView, or watch the ABC News via the ABC app.  This will have been due to the fact that online catchup TV providers block internet users who are accessing the service from outside Australia. So, how do you get around this? Well, you do what I have finally got around to doing. You sign up to a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service. Here is an article that reviews several such providers.  Once you have created your and account with your VPN service, you install and sign in to this service on each of your devices.
You then choose which 'country' you want to be 'connected to' by choosing a VPN server that your service provider offers in that country. (Different service providers will offer different countries and server locations within those countries.) Not only will this allow you to access Australian content when you are not in Australia, you will also be able to access overseas content that is normally only available to locals. And the best part when travelling (or even when using a public WiFi network here in Australia)? Your privacy is protected when you use any public WiFi network, since the VPN creates something called an 'encrypted link' for any communications between your device and the internet. This will prevent anyone from 'stealing' your information - something that can happen to unsuspecting technology users at airports, in hotels and in cafes. If you plan on travelling in future and taking along your technology, this is something that you should definitely consider. iTandCoffee will run a session on the topic of VPN's later this year. If you are interested in attending such a session, click here to register for future updates on dates and times for this topic.  Oh my goodness! Did you see this article yesterday in The Age?
Not only can your TV 'hear' and transmit your conversations to Samsung, but Samsung has warned that this information "could be transmitted to a third party"! This might include some very sensitive, private information that you have inadvertently discussed while near your TV! We have one of these Smart TV's, so I am most definitely going to be checking the settings on it today to make sure this feature is turned off. I'm fairly sure we did already turn it off pretty soon after we got the TV, as it kept 'listening' and changing channels unexpectedly - very annoying! But the worry is what it might have 'heard' and transmitted to Samsung while it was turned on - and I'm not sure how long we had the feature enabled! Once this information is 'out there', there is no getting it back. Is your TV listening in on your conversations? Update Friday 13th Feb, 2015 The Age has published a follow-up article where Samsung clarifies how the voice-recognition software works, and reports that Samsung has changed the wording of its Privacy Policy to clarify this. 6/9/2014 0 Comments Macs can catch viruses too! I must say that, until recently, I didn't have any anti-virus products on the Macs that I use for my work. I am very careful about what sites I visit and what I click on if ads pop up. So I have never had any problems. However, my recent visits to two clients have caused me to re-think my unprotected status, and I have now download a free virus scanning tool and run regular checks of my Mac. Two iTandCoffee clients with Adware Trojans on their Macs in one week! The first iTandCoffee client had a problem with Safari on her Mac. When she visited the Webjet website and tried to book flights, her Webjet session seemed to be 'hijacked' and all sorts of advertisements would pop up on the screen, making it impossible to search for her flights. Yontoo Adware Trojan causes strange Safari behaviour Well, in this case the problem was that her computer had been infected with a Malware product known as Yontoo - in this case, most likely introduced by kids accessing illegal download sites. The below information about Yontoo is extracted from an article on the cnet website ... Security company Dr. Web is reporting on a new adware Trojan attack that is targeting Mac users, where malicious Web sites will trick users into installing a plugin that will track your browsing and display ads to you. When the malware is running, affected systems will be actively tracked for browsing behaviors, and legitimate Web sites will be hijacked with ad banners and other content that attempts to lure you into clicking it. If you have noticed similar strange behaviour in Safari (or any other web browser on your Mac), you too may have this Adware Trojan on your Mac. Check out this cnet article for details of what to do to remove the Yontoo trojan. Genieo Adware Trojan replaces Google as search engine A visit to a second client in the same week involved uninstalling a similar, but less obvious, Adware product that had installed itself on that client's computer. This particular one was Genieo, which was causing every search that the client did using her Mac's Safari search bar to return results using something called Genieo - even though she had specified in her Safari Preferences that she wanted to use Google. This was another case where a unwanted product - similar to Yontoo - had installed itself as part of the download of another legitimate product. If you notice similar behaviour on your own Mac, check out this article for information about Genieo and how it appeared on your Mac, and of how to remove this Adware product. Products for detecting and removing malware from your Mac For an article that looks at various options for anti-malware products for Mac (many of which are free), check out the below article scooped on the iTandCoffee Scoop.it page recently. Need Help?
Contact iTandCoffee if you need help with getting rid of malware or installing an anti-malware product on your Mac - call n1300 885 420 or email enquiry@itandcoffee.com.au. |
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