Open Enterprise Solutions

BEWARE FAKE FACEBOOK PROFILES "Imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery, but that is hardly the case on Facebook. We receive countless reports from people and page administrators that have had their profiles or pages copied by scammers or bullies". "The most common scenario is someone copies the name, profile picture and other available photos of their intended victim. The next thing they do is block the person they are impersonating and send friend requests to ...everyone on the victim’s friends list. This is done to infiltrate their social network. Once this part of the mission is complete, the scammer has a variety of options at their disposal". #technology #security #socialmedia #facebook

9 ESSENTIAL WORDPRESS PLUGINS Wordpress is the world's most popular content manager for building websites. Free, open-source, extremely powerful and used by many of the largest corporate sites in the world. Neil Patel is an SEO Master and it just so happens his list of 9 essential plugins happens to be my own core set of plugins I recommend/use on most client sites. "You need a website for your business. But websites aren’t simple things. The design needs to look great. Cust...omers need to be able to navigate it easily. You need to optimize it for search engines. And you need to protect it from spammers. The list goes on. So how do you manage to do all these things and more? Use WordPress, of course. WordPress is the world’s most popular system for managing content." #technology #wordpress

RANSOMWARE IS ON THE RISE! If you are business, institution, non-profit or government and do not know what ransomware is - or how to protect your staff, computers, networks and data from such CRIPPLING attacks - YOU SHOULD! Ransomware is malicious software which encrypts (locks) all your business, customer (or government) data, followed by a demand for payment to be given the "key". Ransomware attacks can be DEVASTATING to a business or government and they are in the rise lat...ely. Currently the entire Resort Municipality of Whistler is technologically/operationally shut down due to a ransomware attack in progress! If you would like to learn more about how to protect your business, non-profit or government office from ransomware attacks, drop us a line. "A student with access to a European research institute's network exposed his login credentials after installing pirated software that turned out to be password-stealing malware, according to security firm Sophos." #technology #security #ransomware

WORLD PASSWORD DAY Did you know that 99% of all security breaches - hacks - occur as a result of ONLY using a password - often a bad password - to protect your account? Today is World Password Day and a reminder to everyone with online accounts (social-media, email, shopping, banking etc) to do these two things to prevent 99% of all hacking/account breaches. 1: Setup Two Factor Authentication... 2: Use a Password Manager to create GOOD passwords And if you are on Google, go to your account and review your security settings. #technology #security #privacy #WorldPasswordDay

SIGNAL CAUGHT TRYING TO EXPOSE FACEBOOK'S INVASIVENESS "The ad account of the encrypted messaging app Signal has been banned from Facebook for running what Signal calls the most honest ad campaign on the social network." It is no surprise to anyone that if you are online you are tracked and no platform is more invasive and wide-spread in it's tracking than Facebook. So Signal (one of the most popular and secure messaging apps) decided to create some ads that would use Faceboo...k's own tracking capabilities to tailor the post to the person reading them (based on the info collected by Facebook). And in short order Facebook shut them down. #technology #socialmedia #facebook #security #privacy

RASPBERRY PI 4 GETS USB BOOTLOADER "While we've run the Raspberry Pi off an SSD before, the Raspberry Pi 4 has lacked USB boot functionality since launch. This new update will allow complete USB boot support, eliminating the need for a microSD card entirely. With the beta firmware, Pi 4 owners can boot operating systems using USB 3.0. You can see full details about how bootloader configurations on the Raspberry Pi website." #technology #raspberrypi

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP FIND A VACCINE FOR COVID-19? Well you can by donating spare CPU/GPU (computing) power to the Folding@Home Project out of the Pande labs at Stanford University. This is legit, not some sort of scam and involves something called "Distributed Computing" where you install a small client on your computer and when your system is idle, the client will work on small portions (Work Unit) of large-scale mathematical problems involved in protein folding. Check... out the great article by Stephen Smith which explains a bit more about how this works and how to install/configure the client. There is also a growing group of Sunshine Coast "folders" contributing collectively under the Sunshine Coast Folding Team (253800). Ask a Geek https://www.facebook.com/groups/sunshinecoastgeeks #covid19 #coronavirus #foldingathome #technologyzen

UBUNTU "Ubuntu is a concept that we have in our Bantu languages at home. Ubuntu is the essence of being a person. It means that we are people through other people. We cannot be fully human alone. We are made for interdependence, we are made for family. When you have ubuntu, you embrace others. You are generous, compassionate. If the world had more ubuntu, we would not have war. We would not have this huge gap between the rich and the poor. You are rich so that you can make up what is lacking for others. You are powerful so that you can help the weak, just as a mother or father helps their children..." ~Bishop Desmond Tutu

MINDFULNESS: THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW Unless you have been living under a rock during the past couple decades, the simple habit of shifting your attention and awareness to the present moment without judgement, has broad mental-health benefits. There is all sorts of neurological "default mode network" and other lingo behind the science which underlies how mindfulness changes the brain and mind. But you don't need to understand any of the brain science in order to st...art taking advantage of the benefits to mindfulness or meditation. "In this harrowing and unforeseen time of COVID-19 and social distancing, most of us are looking for ways to subdue the spikes of anxiety, boredom, and depression from being cooped up at home." Mindfulness and meditation are not some 60's hippie woo-woo, but plain, simple, medical, neurological and psychological brain science that can help reduce stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure, improve sleep, memory,attention and even boost the immune system. And how much does this miracle medicine cost? NADA!! $0.00!! And EVERYONE can do it, any time, all the time. A quick search through YouTube ("how to practice mindfulness" etc) will turn up thousands of quick tips and suggestions on how to get started. It's a stressful time, you have the time, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Give it a try. "So why is now a good time to start a mindfulness practice, if turning towards all that COVID anxiety seems so tumultuous? Starting now means that you are building a consistent practice that will help you when life returns to normalcy. Developing self-awareness techniques around self-reflection, responding vs. reacting, and turning inward now means that when your life faces upheaval again, you’ll be ten steps ahead of where you are today. You won’t be hopelessly trying to follow a guided meditation and feeling frustrated that it’s not working. You’ll already know what types of meditation work for you, how to turn inward without overloading yourself, what those icky feelings coming up actually mean, and how to continue having compassionate relationships despite the inner turmoil." "Mindfulness is a critical tool for self-care, a habit we all are trying to engage in right now. Until the world goes back to normal, previous rates of productivity aren’t sustainable. We will simply drive ourselves mad chasing distraction after distraction, avoiding what is lying just beneath the surface. Instead, this is a fantastic time to slow down, to pause, to reflect, to acknowledge the weight we’re holding. Doing so is enough." #covid19 #coronavirus #mentalhealth #psychology #mindfulness #meditation

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR CELL PHONE FROM SECURITY THREATS. HIGHLY recommended solutions by Cloudflare for securing your DNS internet traffic as well as your cell phone through your own private gateway to the Internet. For more security or technology tips and FREE support, check out the volunteer-run Ask a Geek ... Ask a Geek https://www.facebook.com/groups/sunshinecoastgeeks "Cloudflare Gateway protects users and devices from security threats. You can now use Gateway inside the 1.1.1.1 w/ WARP app to secure your phone from malware, phishing and other security threats." "The 1.1.1.1 w/ WARP app has secured millions of mobile Internet connections. When installed, 1.1.1.1 w/ WARP encrypts the traffic leaving your device, giving you a more private browsing experience." "Starting today, you can get even more out of your 1.1.1.1 w/ WARP. By adding Cloudflare Gateway’s secure DNS filtering to the app, you can add a layer of security and block malicious domains flagged as phishing, command and control, or spam. This protection isn’t dependent on what network you’re connected to - it follows you everywhere you go." #security #cloudflare #privacy https://blog.cloudflare.com/how-to-use-1-1-1-1-w-warp-app-/

TRAFFIC TO YOUR BUSINESS WEB SITE IS PROBABLY INCREASING NOW! If you are like many businesses over the past 5 years, you may have neglected the quality or performance of the desktop version of your website. Since mobile traffic to most sites have surpassed desktop visits in the past few years, this is understandable. But now that much of the planet is stuck at home, desktop traffic to most sites have increased while mobile access has declined. Time to get that website up to s...nuff if you have been neglecting it lately. "In the past few years, users of these services were increasingly moving to their smartphones, creating an industrywide focus on mobile. Now that we are spending our days at home, with computers close at hand, Americans appear to be remembering how unpleasant it can be to squint at those little phone screens." "Facebook, Netflix and YouTube have all seen user numbers on their phone apps stagnate or fall off as their websites have grown, the data from SimilarWeb and Apptopia indicates. SimilarWeb and Apptopia both draw their traffic numbers from several independent sources to create data that can be compared across the internet." #technology #seo #websites #covid19 #coronavirus

HOW TO PREVENT 99% OF MOST ACCOUNT HACKS Internet use has skyrocketed 75% or more, depending on where you are in the world. Especially remote access connections (work/school) and social-media use. As billions of people are now stuck in their homes to help stop the spread of COVID-19 much of it spent online the hackers have also been busy taking advantage of the panic. Malware, phishing attempts, data breaches, ransomware and all manner of cyber attacks have increased sign...ificantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever you should take precautions by implementing Two Factor (TFA) or Multi Factor Authentication (MFA), which will prevent 99% of most common account breaches. #technology #security #covid19 #coronavirus #technologyzen https://www.technologyzen.ca/how-to-prevent-common-account/

USING TECHNOLOGY POSITIVELY IN OUR SCHOOLS Beginning with a healthy balance between screen and human time. Could it be that parents are waking up to the realization that too much screen time is part of what ails our education system?... We are now immersed in a world of digital technologies for communication, education, business, entertainment and learning. In order to engage with these technologies we must direct our attention towards them and use various physical and visual interfaces (screens). We are only starting to understand how these technologies are impacting us psychologically, socially or culturally but one thing is becoming increasingly clear. Balancing screen time with direct human contact and engagement is critical. "Education is of dire importance for a strong democracy, and we must view product development for education as an ethical obligation. Technology can and should be used with fidelity in schools, but we must balance technology use with developmental psychology, the psychology of addiction and educational psychology." "It is human interaction that truly engages children and inspires them." #positivetechnology #technologyzen #psychology #wellbeing