44CON 2014 Recap

I just returned from a week in London for the 4th annual 44CON.  I had an amazing time hosting a quiz, being on panel and giving a talk. 44CON is one of the best ran conferences that I attend. Adrian and Steve  both really care about the conference and it being entertaining and educational for … Read more

How To Disable Auto-Play In Facebook

If you are on a limited data plan you should turn off Facebook Auto-play to help preserve your data. There have been a few stories this week about it causing huge data bills. Here is how to do so in iOS: Click the Settings Icon. Find the Facebook Settings. Click Settings. Click Auto-Play. Choose Off … Read more

Applying Kindergarten Rules To Security Professionals

My son came home from his  first full week of Kindergarten this week and had a list “learning targets” that lined up amazingly well with what we should be doing as security professionals. I can use pictures to predict story content.Being able to understand what is going on if we only have half the information … Read more

An Honest Message from Your Security Guy.

This morning I read “An Honest Message from Your IT Guy” and was kind of amused and disappointed and thought I should pen “An Honest Message from Your Security Guy” as a rebuttal. I am here to help.Seriously.  I know the average IT guy can come across as a jerk but I work really hard … Read more

Facebook Messenger is not spying on you.

Over the last couple of days I have seen a bunch of people post a link to this blog post about how the new Facebook Messenger “crosses the line” when it comes to the permissions it asks for.   Yes, the Facebook Messenger app requests these permissions:     Change the state of network connectivity     … Read more

Walmart Savings Catcher

If you do your grocery shopping at WalMart like I do you will want to start using the Walmart Savings Catcher program. It is extremely easy to use: On my first time using it I saved $2.35. I am guessing I will save close to about $150 a year using this program that I normally … Read more

Soooo Tired….

For the last year my doctors have been worried about my moderately high blood pressure.  A few weeks ago after a bad migraine attack and a huge spike in my blood pressure my doctor decided to put me on blood pressure medicine to lower it. I have made these handy charts of my average energy … Read more

Please Turn On Two Factor Authentication.

About once a month I will get a call from someone who is upset because their account was hacked and wants to know what they can do to stop it from happening in the future.  The truth is enabling two factor authentication (2FA) is one of the best things you can do to make sure … Read more

Is the data on your phone worth $400?

I have a Samsung S3 that decided it wouldn’t boot on Wednesday.  After talking to the very helpful people at Samsung they decided that they can replace my phone for me but I need to send them my broken phone. Awesome! But… All my data is on my phone. All my email. All my passwords. … Read more

Activate “GodMode” in Windows

GodMode is a control panel In (Windows 7 and Windows 8) that brings together all of the customization settings to one place. To activate “GodMode” do the following: Step 1: Right click on the desktop Step 2: Click create folder. Step 3: Name the new folder: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}  and press enter. Step 4: The folder changes … Read more