It`s hoped new technology could help fight Caulerpa. Read...

Emily Blythe will trial her fog-detecting technology in a new deal with Air New Zealand Read...

More and more appliances are being connected to the internet. Read...

Japanese company Elecom has unveiled the world’s first power bank using sodium-ion battery technology, according to the company’s official press release. The sodium-ion power bank consists of 3 battery cells of 3,000mAh each, for a total capacity of 9,000mAh. It comes with USB-A and USB-C ports, with a maximum output of 45 watts. Compared to the ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries we all know and use, sodium-ion batteries offer several advantages. Advantages of sodium-ion batteries For starters, sodium-ion batteries are considered to be more environmentally friendly, as the main substance used—sodium chloride—is much more prevalent and easier to acquire than lithium. Furthermore, sodium tends to be safer as it isn’t as reactive as lithium. Sodium-ion batteries also tolerate lower temperatures better. According to Elecom, the new power bank tech can be used in temperatures as low as -35 degrees up to 50 degrees Celsius (or -31 to 122 Fahrenheit). However, the main advantage rests in the charging cycles. According to Elecom, a sodium-ion power bank can go through up to 5,000 charging cycles before experiencing a significant reduction in total charging capacity. This is remarkable when you compare it to lithium-ion batteries, which only keep around 80 percent of their total charging capacity after around 500 complete charging cycles. Disadvantages of sodium-ion batteries If sodium-ion batteries fall short compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries, it’s in size and weight. Elecom’s newly announced power bank weighs a hefty 350 grams (0.77 pounds) and measures 106 x 87 x 31mm (4.17 x 3.42 x 1.22 inches). Comparable lithium-ion power banks with 10,000mAh capacity weigh around 150 grams (0.33 pounds) less and are more compact. In addition, Elecom’s new sodium-ion power bank retails for 9,980 yen (~$67 USD) in their official online shop, which is understandably more expensive than its lithium-ion counterparts because it doesn’t yet benefit from economies of scale and production efficiencies. The technology is simply too new right now. But lithium-ion batteries have come a long way since they were first made in the 1970s, so who knows how good sodium-ion batteries can be with some more R&D in the coming years? This first one is already pretty promising, so the future is looking bright. Read...

It’s always a big letdown when new performance-boosting technologies come out but aren’t supported in all games. That’s been the case with AMD’s fourth-generation resolution upscaling technology, FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR 4), which remains exclusively supported on AMD’s new 9000-series RDNA 4 graphics cards. FSR 4 isn’t widely available, not even across high-profile games. Cyberpunk 2077 fans, for example, have been unimpressed that CD Projekt Red hasn’t yet gotten around to adding FSR 4 support. So, what’s a gamer to do? Well, you could go out and buy a new Nvidia RTX 50-series card to reap the benefits of DLSS 4 instead, which is the competitor technology to AMD’s FSR 4. But you likely aren’t keen on that option if you’ve already invested $600 in a new AMD GPU. Thankfully, you have another option due to the efforts of one modder who has created an app that unlocks FSR 4 in games that don’t support it. The OptiScaler app by High Yield makes FSR 4 work in any game that supports Nvidia’s DLSS 2 (or later) or Intel’s XeSS. Additionally, it can enable Frame Generation in games that don’t support it, and it can even add anti-lag support through Nvidia Reflex technologies. In order for the app to work, though, you need to have DirectX 12 installed and either a Radeon RX 9070 or RX 9070 XT graphics card. But the results speak for themselves and make it all worth it. High Yield shows off full path tracing with 60+ FPS at 1440p resolution with FSR 4 in Cyberpunk 2077, powered by an AMD RX 9070 XT and OptiScaler, with textures that look almost too good to be real. Other gamers have also begun posting their own YouTube videos of games with FSR 4, and there’s no doubt FSR 4 makes a marked difference to the image quality in side-by-side comparisons with FSR 3. While OptiScaler is great news for gamers with AMD Radeon 9000 series GPUs, it’s worth noting that it isn’t officially sanctioned by AMD, so there’s no guarantee it’ll work flawlessly all the time. Indeed, there may be some bugs that need ironing out in some instances. Some tech-savvy gamers have pointed out, for example, that it may not work for games with anti-cheat since it’ll likely detect OptiScaler’s modified files. Until more games get FSR 4 support, though, I’m glad OptiScaler exists. You can find a list of FSR 4 compatible games here. Read...

Some PC gamers use the terms frame rate and refresh rate interchangeably. But while they’re related, your gaming PC’s frame rate and refresh rate measure two very different things — one fixed, the other varies. Frame rate explained The frame rate, which is measured in frames per second (FPS), indicates the number of images displayed on the monitor per second. The higher the number of frames, the smoother the animation appears. In games, FPS determines how smoothly you see the animations and how quickly inputs are registered. A low FPS means that animations are not displayed correctly or are even skipped completely, which can lead to a stuttering display. Radeon RX 9070 XT Read our review The performance of the graphics card (GPU) and the processor (CPU) mainly influences the FPS. The GPU does the main work in most games while the CPU plays a particularly important role in games with complex calculations such as physics or artificial intelligence. 30 FPS is considered acceptable for many games that do not rely on fast reactions. However, 60 FPS is the target for most games in order to guarantee a smooth experience. Higher FPS such as 120 or 144 offer advantages in competitive games in which every millisecond counts. Refresh rate explained The refresh rate, measured in Hertz (Hz), indicates how often the screen refreshes the image per second. The refresh rate depends on the display technology and the capabilities of the screen. Standard monitors offer a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which is sufficient for general use and casual gamers. However, gaming monitors can go up to 500 Hz. MSI MPG 341CQPX Read our review Best Prices Today: $749.99 at Amazon | $849.99 at MSI Although both the refresh rate and the frame rate are crucial for smooth displays, there are important differences. For example, the frame rate is mainly influenced by the GPU while the refresh rate depends solely on the monitor technology. It’s crucial that the frame rate does not exceed the refresh rate of the monitor, as this can otherwise lead to image errors such as tearing. An imbalance can also lead to stuttering, which is when the image is displayed several times in succession. To achieve the best results, you should check the refresh rate of your monitor and adjust the frame rate in the game settings accordingly. For example, if your monitor has a refresh rate of 60 Hz, you should set the game to 60 FPS. Tearing (image tearing) is a problem with asynchronous refresh rates and refresh rates. However, there are techniques to prevent this. IDG Technologies such as VSync, G-Sync, or FreeSync can help here. VSync synchronizes the FPS with the refresh rate to prevent tearing, but leads to a slight input delay. G-Sync and FreeSync flexibly adjust the refresh rate of the screen to the FPS to prevent tearing without causing a noticeable input delay. A balanced combination of refresh rate and frame rate is essential for a smooth gaming experience. Additional frames that your computer calculates but your monitor cannot display will only waste resources and increase the load on your device. A customized balance between frame rate and refresh rate not only ensures a smooth display, but also protects your system’s hardware. Read...

In August 2024, National Public Data (NPD), a background check company, experienced a massive data breach that impacted around 2.9 billion records with sensitive information. Millions of people’s full names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, and addresses were all up for grabs on the dark web. Faced with the overwhelming financial strain from numerous lawsuits and the costs associated with the breach, NPD filed for bankruptcy just a few months later. This breach, one of the largest in recent history, highlighted the growing risks businesses face in protecting sensitive data. With cybercriminals constantly evolving their tactics, companies can no longer afford to rely on reactive security measures alone. The bittersweet truth is that a breach like that could have been avoided — or at least minimized — with the right security measures in place. Threat exposure management platforms like NordStellar help with data breach prevention by catching vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. Prevent breaches with NordStellar 716 million user contacts leaked on the dark web in 2024 According to research conducted by NordStellar, 716 million user contacts were leaked on the dark web in 2024. This included 554 million email addresses and 162 million phone numbers, leaving a vast number of people vulnerable to cyber threats. Most of the leaked data came from companies in the technology, media, financial services, commerce, and healthcare industries. Once data is stolen in a breach, it often appears on dark web marketplaces within days or weeks — sometimes selling for pocket change. A credit card might go for just $15, a full identity package with your Social Security number for $20. But it doesn’t just sit there — it gets put to use fast. Cybercriminals, from small-time scammers to organized crime groups, exploit sensitive personal data in many ways, including identity theft, phishing, financial fraud, and account takeovers. Cybercriminals use stolen data to scam, hack, and exploit victims, often combining breaches for more targeted attacks. Average data breach costs reached $4.88M in 2024 According to IBM’s 2024 report, the global average cost of a data breach reached an all-time high of about $4.88 million. These costs usually include a range of expenses such as incident investigation, regulatory fines, legal fees, customer notification, credit monitoring services, system recovery, and lost business due to reputational damage. However, the damaging consequences of a data breach don’t just end here. Beyond the immediate financial hit, businesses face long-term challenges that can be even more devastating. Reputational damage can erode customer trust, driving people to competitors and amplifying negative publicity. Once trust is broken, it takes years to rebuild, affecting customer retention, brand perception, and even future business opportunities. Operational disruptions also take a heavy toll. Recovering from a breach requires shutting down systems, investigating the incident, and implementing new security measures — all of which divert resources from growth and innovation. Then come the legal and compliance issues. Data protection laws like GDPR and CCPA impose strict penalties, with fines reaching 4% of annual revenue or millions of dollars in penalties. High-profile cases like Meta’s €1.2 billion fine and Marriott’s $23.8 million penalty highlight how failing to protect user data can have severe consequences. NordStellar: Proactive threat exposure management for businesses Reactive security measures aren’t enough to protect your business from the avalanche of consequences that follow a data breach. IBM highlights that it can take around six months to even become aware that a data breach has happened, preventing companies from acting before it’s too late. NordStellar, a threat exposure management platform created by the company behind NordVPN, detects threats early, minimizes damage, and ensures businesses can respond before a breach escalates. NordStellar Get a NordStellar demo Data breach monitoring NordStellar keeps an eye on data breaches, malware infections, and leaked credentials to spot compromised employee or client information. It sends real-time alerts so security teams can act fast and limit damage. By assessing risk levels and prioritizing incidents, it helps businesses handle breaches more efficiently. With data from both public and private sources, NordStellar makes sure teams stay informed and ready to respond. Account takeover prevention For instance, if hackers obtained the login details of a high-level employee like a CFO, they could approve fake wire transfers to drain company accounts. Or they could unlock payroll systems to redirect employee salaries. All of this could happen within hours of gaining access. The account takeover prevention scans the deep and dark web for leaked credentials and checks them against employee, customer, and partner accounts. It blocks stolen passwords from being used during login, registration, and password changes. Its password fuzzing feature analyzes breached passwords and generates variations based on common hacking techniques, preventing users from creating similar weak passwords that attackers could easily guess. Session hijacking prevention It monitors the dark web 24/7 for stolen session cookies and compromised credentials and alerts users when their data is found and detects malware-infected accounts. Session cookies are small bits of data that websites use to keep you logged in, like a digital key proving it’s really you. If hackers steal them, they can slip into your account without needing your password, bypassing two-factor authentication (2FA) entirely. If a session is stolen, NordStellar automatically invalidates it to block attackers from gaining access. This prevents hackers from using stolen cookies to log in, transfer money, or take other unauthorized actions. Other tips for avoiding data breaches Besides using a data breach monitoring system like NordStellar, businesses should take additional steps to protect their data and minimize security risks. Here are some key measures to strengthen your defenses: Use strong access controls. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) and limit access to sensitive data based on user roles. Encrypt important data. Protect stored and transmitted data with end-to-end encryption and secure password hashing. Keep software updated. Install security updates regularly to fix weak spots hackers could exploit. Train employees on cybersecurity. Teach staff to spot phishing scams, weak passwords, and social engineering tricks. Enforce strong passwords. Require unique, complex passwords and encourage password managers. Use a business VPN. Secure remote connections and protect company data from cyber threats, especially when accessing sensitive systems from outside the office. Back up data regularly. Store secure backups and test recovery plans to avoid losing data in an attack. Conclusion: don’t wait for a data breach A data breach can have devastating consequences, from financial losses and legal troubles to reputational damage and business disruptions. Being proactive is the only way to stay ahead of cyber threats. Businesses must identify vulnerabilities, monitor for leaked data, and respond quickly to prevent stolen information from being exploited. NordStellar helps businesses do exactly that. Its threat exposure management solutions detect compromised credentials, block unauthorized access, and provide real-time alerts to stop cyberattacks before they escalate. Instead of waiting for a breach to happen, companies can take control of their security and protect their most valuable assets before it’s too late. Get a NordStellar Demo Read...

Imagine being woken up late one Tuesday night by a phone call from your young relative. They’ve been in a car accident and urgently need money sent to their phone, not having their wallet on them. The connection is bad but it does sound like them. Still groggy and confused, you start making the transfer. Only it’s not them calling you, they’re asleep, safe and sound. You’re talking to a robocall, steered by a scammer and made from a spoofed number. The scammer has cloned your relative’s voice by using their TikTok videos to train a so-called AI model. They’re sitting at a keyboard, guiding the conversation, probably from a country halfway around the globe. Let’s take a closer look at what’s happening here. There are two threads that come together in these kinds of scams: the popularity of imposter calls (even as robocalls continue to decline) and the increasing availability of voice-cloning technology. Imposter calls holding steady According to an Incogni study, reports of unwanted calls in general, and robocalls in particular, had generally been on the decline from 2017 to 2023. Still, robocalls accounted for 55% of all reported unwanted calls in 2023, even though the ratio of robocalls to live calls was also in decline from 2021 (3.1 robocalls to every live call) to 2023 (1.6:1). Drilling down into the topics covered during unwanted calls, the same study found that “imposter calls” held steady as being the most common type of call from 2019 to 2023, making up around a third of all reported calls in 2022 and 2023. Imposter calls were defined as “all unwanted calls where the caller impersonated someone else, an agency, or a company.” To impersonate someone, a scammer would need not only their number and yours, but also some basic information like the person’s name, age and sex. To make a more elaborate imposter call convincing, they’d need a whole host of additional personal data, like ethnicity, hobbies, shopping habits, online activity, criminal and court records, even sexual preferences. This is exactly the kind of data a personal information removal service like Incogni removes from circulation, online and off. Protect yourself from imposter scams with Incogni There’s a significant proportion of unwanted calls that rely on impersonation. It’s reasonable to assume that a large number of these calls are scam calls, as it’s difficult to imagine a legitimate reason for a caller pretending to be someone else. What happens when new technologies make it easier for scammers to impersonate not only celebrities and politicians, but everyday people as well? Voice-cloning technology enters the mix Recent advances in “AI” technology have resulted in high-quality voice-generating and voice-cloning software being readily available, often for free. These technologies make the nightmare scenario of someone cloning the voice of a loved one and impersonating them on the phone possible. Combined with number spoofing (making Caller ID display a number different from the one they’re calling from) and the availability of vast amounts of personal information online—including, for many people, voice-samples—these technologies can make for some extremely convincing impersonations. Here’s how a criminal could execute such a scam: Step 1: Target selection If they’re going to go after you, it’s going to have to be worth their while. Scammers can: Buy a ready-made list of people vulnerable to scams directly from a data broker, Browse data broker records, looking for the perfect victim (like someone who’s older and has just sold a property, for example), Buy or download breached or leaked data sets on the dark web, Come across your social media profiles and decide to target you based on what you share there. Ultimately, anything that suggests to a scammer that you both have something worth stealing and are sufficiently gullible is enough to make you a target. Step 2: Background research A scammer is going to need to know at least a few key things about you if they’re going to target you with a convincing scenario. These are some of the more common data points used in impersonation scams: Full name, Contact details, like phone number, email and address, Employment history, Educational background, Financial situation, Criminal history, Relatives, Known associates. And, of course, they’ll need a similar set of data points on each of your relatives and associates, especially if they’re going to be impersonating one or more of them. Where can they find all this data, nicely packaged into detailed profiles? Data brokers are companies that specialize in collecting, organizing, and monetizing personal information just like this. With trial memberships available for as little as $1, basically anyone can end up with detailed profiles on you and your close ones with just a few clicks. Personal information removal services like Incogni take these profiles down and request that data brokers stop collecting your data. Remove yourself from the web with Incogni Step 3: Collecting voice samples (optional) If the scammer is planning on impersonating someone over the phone, they’ll need some recordings of that person speaking to give their “AI” software something to imitate. If you post videos of yourself on social media, have a YouTube channel or have appeared on a podcast, this won’t be a problem for them. Step 4: Number spoofing (also optional) Again, if the scammer is impersonating someone close to you, it’d be more convincing if the call appeared to be coming from that person’s number. There are several ways to achieve this at little-to-no cost to the scammer, although it might require some technical know-how. They can’t spoof a number they don’t know, though, so having this kind of personal data purged from the internet can stop even these very technical attacks dead in their tracks. Step 5: Execution By now, the scammer now knows a lot about you, about the person they’re going to impersonate, and your shared network of friends, colleagues and relatives. They just need to choose the right time (often when you’re likely to be tired, in a rush or distracted) and make the call. The relative simplicity of perpetrating a fraud like this goes some way to explaining why the FCC made the use of “AI-generated voices” in robocalls illegal in 2024. Of course, making something illegal only discourages law-abiding people from doing it—scammers are unlikely to take notice. You might be feeling pretty safe at this point: maybe your loved ones don’t have any voice-recordings out there for the scammer to sample, maybe your phone or carrier has anti-spoofing measures in place, maybe you’re confident that you’d pick up on the fake voice, even if the scammer lowers the audio quality and adds background noise. The fact is, if you’re an everyday person with not much of an online presence and not much in the way of money to lose, then it’s unlikely you’d be targeted with such an involved scam. The more likely nightmare scenario We started with a scenario in which a scammer clones the voice of someone close to you. But we also saw that the voice-cloning and number-spoofing steps are optional—how so? Well, if the scammer knows enough about you and your close one, they don’t need to impersonate them for the scam to work. It’s late Tuesday night, you’re asleep when your phone wakes you up. You don’t recognize the number. You pick up. It’s a police officer, he says your young relative has been in a car accident and they’re in custody. Your relative asked the police officer to call you, they want to keep the situation under wraps until they can talk to their parents. In the meantime, they need you to bail them out. Still groggy and confused, you start making the transfer. In this scenario, the scammer doesn’t need to sound like anyone in particular, just a random police officer. The need for voice cloning goes away, as does the need for number spoofing. The scammer might still need to synthesize a voice, to cover up poor English skills or a suspiciously strong accent, for example, but that’s easy enough to do. All they really need is to find your and your relative’s records on a data broker’s website. What you can do Staying off social media is always a good idea, but not always feasible. Also, not taking part in recorded interviews or presenting your ideas publicly just to avoid voice-cloning attacks seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Scammers can’t or at least aren’t likely to target you if they can’t find your information on data brokers’ websites in the first place. They also can’t easily figure out who your friends and family are (especially if you’ve set your social media profiles to “private”). There’s a big difference between a “police officer” calling you to ask about your nephew Daniel Thomas Walsh, born on the 11th of March, 2006, who drives a blue Silverado and would have been on his way home from work at the pizza place, and the same “police officer” umming and ahhing as he can’t really give any details concerning Daniel other than his name. Take scammers’ best tool away from them by having your personal information removed from data-broker databases. An automated personal information removal service like Incogni can make this an easy, set-and-forget process. When choosing a data removal service, look for one that covers a wide range of data brokers, including marketing, recruitment, risk-mitigation, and people-search data brokers. Many services remove data only from people search sites, leaving users exposed. Incogni covers all four of these data broker types, removing personal information from over 220 brokers in total. It also offers a family plan, so you can keep your and your nephew’s information private. Get Incogni Read...

There are many reasons you might want to “delete yourself” from the internet. From receiving frustrating amounts of spam to protecting yourself from carefully crafted scams fueled by the availability of personal data. But it goes much deeper than that. Having your personal information floating around online leaves you more vulnerable to identity theft, a type of fraud that can lead to criminals opening lines of credit in your name. Stalkers can use location and other data to commit their crimes. Even the seemingly more mundane uses of personal data can be enough to make you want to delete yourself from the internet. You might find loan applications being inexplicably rejected, insurance premiums going up or job searches getting drawn out. Companies checking your credit rating is one thing, but these effects could stem from inaccurate, outdated or irrelevant information being used in decision-making processes that affect you in very real ways. What it means to “delete yourself from the internet” We’re not talking about completely disappearing from the internet. For one, this is very difficult if not impossible to do, even if you were to throw near-unlimited resources at the problem. It’s also probably not something you’d want to do even if you could. There’s a way you can keep making use of all the benefits the internet has to offer—like the unparalleled shopping, communication and information-sharing opportunities—without leaving yourself needlessly vulnerable to all the downsides. The key is getting your personal information under control. You don’t need to delete yourself entirely, it’s often enough to remove your personal information from circulation. “Personal information” includes things like your: Current and past names, and any aliases Current and past addresses Email addresses Phone numbers Educational background Work history Income bracket Licenses Certifications Marital status Sexual orientation Financial information Criminal record Court records And much, much more. Not exactly the kinds of details you’d want shady companies to package and resell behind your back, or put on Google Search so that anyone can buy access to them for as little as a dollar. There are two ways to tackle this problem, and you’ll need to do both to see long-term results: Figure out how you’re putting personal information online and bring it down to a level with which you’re comfortable Put a stop to companies grabbing and publishing or otherwise disseminating what personal data you do end up generating down the line. Just going about your day-to-day business generates personal data that can then be scooped up by companies that know how to monetize it at your expense. Everything from doing some online shopping to selling a house or vehicle leaves traces. Stop any personal information that’s already out there from being spread around We’re starting here because you’ve already got personal information doing the rounds online—pretty much everyone does. So the first thing you’ll need to do is interrupt the flow of what’s already out there. There are a couple of things you can do to make this happen. Stop companies packaging and selling your personal information online and off There are companies—called data brokers—that specialize in collecting, organizing and selling personal information. They get your personal data by scraping the web, purchasing or otherwise acquiring ready-made profiles, or a combination of the two. The most visible data brokers are commonly known as “people finder” or “people search” sites. You can see examples of these sites, and the information they have on you, simply by performing a web search for your full name, address or phone number. These sites will likely show you a free “teaser” of your profile, with the full records being locked behind a paywall. It gets worse: people search sites are just the tip of the data brokerage iceberg. Many data brokers operate in the background, selling personal information to other businesses and organizations rather than putting it on websites aimed at individuals. You won’t find these companies by simply searching for your details, but they’re out there. Hundreds of them. People search sites sell your data to anyone who’s willing to pay for access, including unscrupulous landlords, curious neighbours, nosy coworkers, stalkers, even scammers. Other data brokers will sell your data to: Advertisers Marketers Government agencies Insurance companies Banks Employers And many more. Thanks to state privacy laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you can do something about this. To comply with laws like this, data brokers have to have an opt-out procedure in place to give people caught up in their personal-data dragnets a clear way out. You can track down these companies one by one and submit an opt-out request to each one. Some are just a matter of a couple of clicks and take 5 minutes to complete, others can be a real nightmare and can take 45 minutes or more. Add the time it takes to find them in the first place, and you’re looking at hundreds of hours in total. Or, you can sign up for an automated personal information removal service, like Incogni. These services already know where to find some of the most connected brokers and how to submit opt-out requests in line with their requirements—because virtually every one has a different procedure to follow. Incogni makes it easy for anyone to remove their personal information from being searched online. Subscribers get a 30-day moneyl-back guarantee on automated data removal services, including recurring removal from 220+ data broker sites. With flexible plans for just $7.49/month for one person (billed annualyy) or $16.49/month for the family plan, Incogni offers privacy protections against identity theft, scam robocalls, and exposure after breached data. Get Incogni Remove your personal information from Google Search results You’ve seen how a search engine can reveal your personal information to anyone who knows your name, address, email or phone number. With the latest “face-search” technology, they don’t even have to know that much, a surreptitiously taken photo is all it takes. Google Search, with its monopoly over the search market, is likely the first place most people will look. Google won’t always agree to remove links from its search results and, even if it does, it can only remove links from Google Search: it can’t affect the content itself and it can’t stop that content from showing up on other search engines. To have content taken down at the source, you’ll need to contact the relevant webmaster. Here’s a quick rundown of your options on Google Search: Use this form to remove outdated content Use this form to remove harmful or illegal content (as long as it violates Google’s terms of service) Finally, use this form to remove content that contains “select personally identifiable information (PII) or doxxing content.” Stop new personal information from getting out into the wild Stopping data brokers from buying and selling your data and getting Google Search to remove your personal information from its search results can only do so much if you keep allowing new personal information to appear online. “Allowing” might be a bit harsh, given that you might not be aware of how some of your data is getting out there. We’ll get to that. Stop publishing personal information online Social media platforms are careful to use words like “share” when encouraging users to publish content, including personal information. “Sharing” makes it sound like you have some control over who sees what you post. But “publishing” is more accurate: social media posts are public by default. The best advice is as predictable as it is inconvenient: delete your social media accounts to protect your privacy and delete yourself from the internet. Short of doing that, here’s a list of things you can do to limit the damage: Switch from mainstream social media platforms like Facebook and X (Twitter) to decentralized and open-source platforms like Mastodon. Set any social media profiles you decide to keep to private mode, so that only people you know and trust can see your posts. Check and double-check anything you decide to post publicly for personal information, this will become second nature sooner than you might think. Turn location services off on mobile devices before posting, many social media platforms will grab this information from your device, some will append it to your posts. Check photos for anything that could reveal personal information, look out for reflections, documents, screens (that show private information), and unique identifiers like car registration plates. Strip photos of metadata—metadata is text that’s automatically attached to photos and contains a lot of information about the location at which the photo was taken as well as the device on which it was taken. Apply the same level of caution when uploading video and audio recordings. The same holds true for any blogging or vlogging you do, the comments you leave on various platforms, and anything you post on forums. Stop your devices from leaking personal information The above best practices come into play when you’re actively publishing information online, but a lot of personal data leaves your devices when you’d least suspect it. Here are just some examples: Apps and programs Mobile apps and computer programs that have been granted access to location data, device information, microphone and camera inputs, and files (including documents, photos, videos and audio recordings) can leak personal information while you’re not even using them. Such apps and programs might have been set up to “dial home” periodically and upload your data. This might be necessary to support their features, or it might be to harvest data that’s then sold to advertisers in order to generate revenue—free apps are often monetized in this way. Even apps developed with the most honest of intentions and collecting only the bare minimum of data can be hijacked by malicious actors (think: hackers) and have any data they have access to stolen (“breached”). Delete any apps and programs you haven’t used in a while. For particularly data-hungry apps like Facebook, Amazon, and so on, consider using the respective websites instead. Web browsers Browsers are a special category of app or program, mainly because we do so much through a browser. They have access not only to hardware (like cameras and microphones), but also information (in the form of files) and—perhaps most importantly—to users’ behaviour and movements across the web. And no, “incognito” or “private” mode doesn’t do anything to help you here. Diligently research any browser you decide to use. Options like Google’s Chrome are very secure but not private, whereas something like Mozilla’s Firefox is both secure and private. Stick to well-known and trusted browsers, avoid new browsers that don’t have an established track record, and watch out for browsers that had a good reputation in the past but have since changed hands. Browser-based games Games can take a lot of resources to develop and maintain, so you might wonder how so many impressive-looking browser-based games can be offered for free. Often, it’s by collecting and selling or otherwise monetizing personal information. Avoid free online, especially browser-based, games. Be particularly wary of games with development teams from countries like China and Russia. Again, even games produced by the most trustworthy and well-intentioned developers can be breached by third parties. Any stockpile of personal data is going to be a target for hackers and other bad actors. Operating systems This is one that’s more for the technically minded, but it’s worth keeping in mind for everyone. The operating system on your device (whether Windows, macOS, Android or iOS) has access to everything you do on that device. Both Microsoft and Apple harvest personal data from their users, and both have business interests in protecting that data from competitors and bad actors. There are two problems here: Microsoft and/or Apple having vast stores of your personal data is a bad thing in and of itself, and neither company is able to guarantee the security of that data—both have suffered and continue to suffer data breaches. Alternatives exist, mainly in the form of Linux and the BSDs. These operating systems are open-source, meaning that anyone can review their source code to look for security vulnerabilities and privacy threats. As a result of this transparency, and the general absence of corporate interests, these systems are both more secure and more private. The catch is that these operating systems are unfamiliar to most people, and can take some getting used to. Although the Linux operating system in particular has many extremely user-friendly “versions” (called distributions) available, and almost all of them are readily given away, free of charge. Stop your online accounts from leaking personal information We covered how publishing personal information online can jeopardize your privacy, but you don’t have to actively post things yourself for the information to get out there. If you’re active online, and especially if you do a lot of online shopping, you can easily have hundreds of online accounts out there. Many of which you probably only used once, to grab that Black Friday deal, for example. Apart from the fact that you’re effectively trusting dozens if not hundreds of companies to not misuse your data, you’re also trusting that they won’t leave that data unsecured, that they won’t be bought out by less scrupulous companies, and so on. The solution is simple, but it might require some tedious work: delete any accounts you don’t need anymore. If you’ve been using a password manager (like Bitwarden), this shouldn’t be too difficult. Otherwise, search through your emails for keywords like “welcome” and “verification” to ferret out evidence of old accounts. Protect your data with Incogni Read...

Frustration is mounting among IT leaders as vendors tighten their grip on technology roadmaps, forcing costly upgrades and restrictive contracts. Read...