Public computers in libraries, Internet cafes, airports, and copy shops are an extreme security risk. While you can take steps to reduce these risks, it is still very dangerous to access sensitive personal or client information on them. Start with the assumption that most public computers will have malware on them and let this govern your activities accordingly. The following steps can reduce some of the risks associated with public computers:

• Try to turn on the “private browsing” feature.
• Watch for over-the-shoulder thieves who may be peeking as you enter sensitive passwords to collect your information.
• Uncheck or disable the “remember me” or “log in automatically next time” option.
• Always log out of websites clicking “log out” on the site. It’s not enough to simply close the browser window or type in another address.
• Delete your temporary Internet files, cookies and your history.
• Never leave the computer unattended with sensitive information on the screen, even for a moment.
• Never save documents on a public computer.

These measures will provide some protection against a casual hacker who searches a public computer you have used for any information that may remain on it. But keep in mind, a more sophisticated hacker may have installed a keylogger to capture passwords and other personal information entered on a public computer. In this scenario the above steps won’t prevent your information from falling into the hands of the hacker. This is why it is not a good idea to access sensitive client information or enter credit card numbers or other banking information on a public computer.

This is an excerpt from the “Cybercrime and law firms” issue LAWRPO Magazine, published December, 2013.

I have given this tip before, but it is worth giving again (thanks to the nudge in this LifeHacker post): Two-factor authentication is one of the best things you can do to make sure your online accounts are more secure and don’t get hacked. More and more popular services are offering it, including: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google/Gmail, BlackBerry, Yahoo, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon web services, PayPal, Dropbox, Hootsuite, Twitter, Evernote, WordPress and LastPass.
Two-factor authentication is a feature that asks for more than just your password. It requires both something you know (a password) and something you have (for example, your phone). After you enter your password, you’ll get a second code sent to your phone, and only after you enter it will you get into your account. It’s a lot more secure than a password and can help keep hackers out of your online accounts. If you use any of the above services, enable two-factor authentication right now.
See this LifeHacker post for more info and a video that demos it: Here’s Everywhere You Should Enable Two-Factor Authentication Right Now.

Activating a password-protected screensaver is a simple and very effective way to prevent an unauthorized person from rifling through the data on a computer or other device that’s been inadvertently left on or lost. All versions of Windows and Apple operating systems allow you to add a password to a screensaver. Remember to log out of any applications containing sensitive data and lock your screen when you leave your desk, or set a fairly short wait time on your screensaver so that it locks automatically if you step away. BlackBerry, Android, iOS and Windows mobile devices also have an automatic screenlocking feature. Turn it on so prevent anyone that finds your lost or misplaced phone or tablet from accessing the data on it.

It is very important to remember that installing updates can unintentionally interfere with the way your computer/device or individual programs/apps on it operate. It is possible that a program/app may not operate properly or at all, that data could be lost, or that a device will fail to restart after an update is installed. Creating a restore point (a temporary backup of your configuration and data) and/or making a proper backup of all the programs and data on a device before you install updates can help you recover if there are unanticipated problems. Always remember to back things up before you install updates so you don’t lose any of your data in the event an app or even your device no longer operates properly.

Ideally you have one or more types of properly updated anti-malware software running on your computers and networks. And hopefully that software detects and prevents any malware infections from occurring. However, because anti-malware software may not detect an infection, watch for the symptoms that can indicate a computer is infected with malware. These include:

• It takes longer than usual for your computer to start up, it restarts on its own or doesn’t start up at all;
• It takes a long time for one or more programs to launch;
• Your computer and/or programs frequently lock up or crash;
• Programs are starting and running by themselves;
• Your hard drive runs continuously, even when you aren’t working on the computer;
• Your files or data have disappeared;
• You find files with new or unfamiliar filenames;
• Space on your hard drive(s) is disappearing;
• The homepage on your web browser has changed;
• Your browser starts launching multiple tabs;
• Web pages are slow to load;
• There is a lot of network or web traffic, even when you are not browsing the web or using the computer; and/or
• Parts, or all, of your computer screen look distorted.

If one or more of the above things are happening, make sure your security software is up to date and run it to check for an infection. If the first scan finds nothing, try running a scan with a second product. If the odd behaviours continue or there are other problems, seek technical help.

While email attachments are frequently used to share documents between lawyers, law firm staff, and clients, they are also one of the most common delivery mechanisms for malware. While most messages that have infected attachments will be stopped if your anti-malware software and/or spam filter are working properly and updated, some will make it through. For this reason, staff and lawyers at every firm should follow should follow these two simple rules:
1. No matter how interesting or enticing they appear to be (e.g., jokes, celebrity gossip or pictures), never open attachments from strangers.
2. No matter how interesting or enticing they appear to be, never open attachments unexpectedly sent to you by people you know.
The reason for Rule #1 should be obvious – enticing attachments from strangers usually have a malware payload. The reason for Rule #2 might be less obvious: to trick you into feeling comfortable about opening an attachment, some types of malware will send an email with an infected attachment to all the address book contacts it finds on a computer that it has just successfully infected. This is done intentionally with hope that people getting such a message will be comfortable opening the attachment as it came from someone they know – and bingo – the person opening the attachment will become infected and all their contacts will get a similar message.
Avoid the headaches of dealing with a malware infection by making sure everyone at your firm follows the above two rules.

Creating a long, unique, complex (letters in upper and lower case, numbers and symbols) and random password for every service you use is the best practice standard when it comes to using secure and strong passwords. If you follow this advice however, your passwords will be an unreadable mix of letters, numbers and characters. While good for security, they will be hard to remember.
As a solution, consider using a “passphrase” to remember complex passwords. A passphrase is a mix of letters, numbers and characters that has a translation that makes it easier for you to remember the correct sequence. Here are some sample passphrases:

• !am@#1DJ!nuSSr “I’m a number one DJ in Russia”
• Rm@y0risKrayz “Our mayor is crazy”
• l@wPR0!sgr8! “LAWPRO is great!”

The search functionality on many websites is dismal, and in sometimes it is non-existent. If you are looking for something on a specific website and can’t find it, don’t despair, Google comes to the rescue.
You can use Google to search within a specific website by preceding your query with “site:SpecificSiteURL” [substitute your URL and don’t use the double quotes]. For example, to find the retainers on the practicePRO site, type “site:practicepro.ca retainers” in the Google search box [don’t include the double quotes].
You can also search within a specific type of site by doing the following: “site:edu YourSearchTerm”.

With DSLRs, it has become very easy to fill your SD or memory card to capacity. Many of us have will have found ourselves deleting pictures when we run out of space. Doing this in the middle of a photo shoot is fine. However, if you are taking a bunch of pictures off a memory card, remember to reformat the card. This wipes the card clean and will remove all picture and camera data. Simply erasing your pictures can leave data on the card and can make it more likely corruption may happen. For this reason when you take pictures off your camera you should always reformat your memory cards to reduce the risk of data corruption occurring. You will find the reformat memory card command in the the setup menu on most digital cameras.

Microsoft will no longer be supporting Windows XP SP3 (Service Pack 3) and Office 2003 (SP3) as of April 8, 2014. After this date there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates from Microsoft. Your computer will still operate, but if you continue to use Windows XP or Office 2003, you will become more vulnerable to security risks including harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information or destroy your data. For this reason, you should immediately start planning to migrate to more current versions of Windows and Office on all law firm and home computers running Windows XP SP3 and/or Office 2003. .

• Nicholas on Software Tools for Editing
• Jamie on Software Tools for Editing
• Steve Coughlan on ‘I Hope This E-Mail Finds You Well’
• Lyn on Womxn
• Celia Chandler on Gross Negligence

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