Ben is using LastPass and he's wondering if it's secure if he makes up all the passwords. Leo suggests having LastPass generate all the passwords so he doesn't have to make up or input them. It has a built in password generator to help. Also, he should install the browser extension and get the app for his smartphone.
Having a secure password is one of the most important things you can do to protect your accounts online. You might not think it would happen to you, but it's very common and no one is really safe. Here are some easy things you can do to create rock solid passwords that will significantly decrease the chance of someone gaining access to your accounts.
Ann has Cricket Wireless and she's seeing other connections on her system. Leo says to make sure that her OS is updated and her AntiVirus is up to date. Also, she should go into the settings of the Cricket Router and make it private so that no one will see it. She can do it by typing the address of the router into her browser (most routers are 192.168.1.1, but she should consult her manual for this).
Tony wants to know if internet enabled TVs are secure. Is there an antivirus for them? Leo says that internet TVs work on a heavily sandboxed and modified version of Linux and it's very unlikely that a hacker could install something onto a computer's system. Linux isn't really on a hacker's radar. So there's little to worry about.
Mike scanned his friend's computers using his Eset Nod32 software and it brings up results that their free AVS software doesn't see. Mike's friends are suspecting that ESET is creating threats. Is there a way to prove that these results are accurate?
Leo says being anonymous isn't the same thing as being secure. He can be anonymous and not secure on the net, and vice versa. How can Jimmy be more secure while? Leo says a good place to start is with TWiTs netcast Security Now. There's security issues popping up all the time and the only way to be completely secure is to stay off the internet. That really isn't practical in today's information age.
George lives in an apartment and he has an outside Wi-Fi security camera. A neighbor would like to have access to the video feed, and is wondering if he could do that without giving out access to his network. Leo says that a lot of security cams have a web based interface, but George says he needs to be on his network to access the camera.
John wants to secure his wireless network, and is wondering if he should set it up with MAC addresses. Leo says MAC addresses don't really do anything. He recommends setting up the router with WPA2 (NOT WEP) encryption and give it a good password with alpha and numeric digits. He should also set the SSID for something that is easy to remember (Leo uses dead rock stars).
Brian wants to know if he really needs to have java on his computer. Leo says probably not. Java is a programming language that allows a program to run on any platform. It was the flavor of the month in the mid 90s and has been around ever since. However, Java has security flaws that have been exploited, including three last month. So now Leo recommends turning it off in the browser.
Jeffrey has been on a dating website and now he's having trouble connecting to the internet. He has been getting notified that his cookies were disabled. Leo says it's DNS malware that has redirected traffic through the DNS servers to control what he sees. It could have impacted his computer, or his network's router. Since Jeffrey has only seen it on his computer, that's an easier thing to repair. He should backup his data, and then format his hard drive and reinstall his OS from a known, good source.
