Last month the Software Alliance, also known as BSA, increased their incentive for reporters of Australian businesses using unlicensed business software from $5,000 up to $20,000.
A recent informant received the $20,000 reward. The informant reported that a metalwork company, from Western Australia, were using copies of pirated software. In 2015, most piracy offenders were discovered in Western Australia. Majority of whom were part of the manufacturing industry.
Roland Chan, the senior director for compliance programs at the BSA, is urging all business, large or small, to start conducting regular software audits of their licenses.
“While some businesses think they can save money and fly under the radar by using unlicensed software, the reality is they fail to consider the larger financial and reputational risks,”
Is it worth the risk?
Businesses caught out by BSA are required to purchase genuine software licenses for ongoing use. Plus, they will be required to pay copyright infringement damages.
Need a hand with conducting software audits?Contact Us.
Ok, so you have this password that you have spent a bit of time setting up. You’ve picked something that ticks all the boxes.
It’s at least 8 characters long,
It has a few num8er5 in it,
It has a special ch@racter or two,
It may not lead with a Capital but has one or two dotted tHrouGhoUt.
Most of all, it’s memorable to you.
You are all set, right? You can freely use this password everywhere without fear of your Facebook account being hacked or your bank account drained. Not so fast – here are a few pro tips to keep you safer online:
Diversify.
Having one secure, killer password is great. Do you know whats better? That’s right, having two… but why stop there.
You don’t need to go overboard and have a different password for every different service you have online.
When you next enter a password on your computer ask yourself:
If someone knew this username/password combination, what other services of mine could they possibly get access to?
What if they obtain the username/password combination from those services instead, would they be able to then access the systems you are currently logging into?
Set up a few passwords to span across your services.
Start with a 3 tier password system:
Low Level – Forums, random website logons.
Mid Level – websites that hold more personal information, websites that have Credit Card info stored.
High Level – Banks
Later you may find a 5 tier system to be more beneficial.
Prefacing the service the password refers to may not be your best move. It’s noticeable and will allow your root password to be modified and used elsewhere.
Also, make sure your password doesn’t feature on the latest darkc0de or RockYou password lists
Here is the RockYou Top 100 from 2009, I doubt it’s changed too much.
Bigger is better.
A longer password normally takes longer to force. But be reasonable, you don’t want it to be so long that you won’t remember it. Let’s go with a 12 character minimum.
Need help coming up with a memorable 12 character password?
Go to System Preferences, then Users & Groups.
Click on the Change Password button:
Now click on the Key icon to launch Password Assistant.
Set the Type to Memorable and slide the Length to 12.
Click on the Suggestion drop-down to see more password suggestions:
Then tweak these passwords to your liking and requirements.
Rotate your passwords.
Congratulations you’ve built four or five memorable secure passwords: You’re set for life now…surely?
Nope, sorry.
It’s a good idea to cycle passwords out as they age. Quite often a username/password combination will become compromised through no fault of their creator. Services get hacked, sometimes at the administer level. This can cause Userlists or Password lists to fall into the wrong hands.
Therefore a rotation of passwords will shorten the window in which your active passwords will be useful for all the locations where that combination is used. Three to six months is a good rule of thumb.
Storage and management
Now you have a set of passwords that you have to manage. How do you handle them all?
There are plenty of third party password management programs out there,* for example:
If you prefer you can use a suitable book hidden amongst your first editions on the bookshelf, or even setup an encrypted excel document. What ever you choose just remember that the password (or book) you use to lock these other passwords away with becomes the most important of them all, guard it carefully, feed it often. Whatever you do, do not keep them in a file labeled “Passwords.”
Overwhelmed? Is it all too much?
Mac Aid can act as your trusted third party and arrange recording, deployment, rotation and management of your passwords. Whether you are a single user or require a password policy for a whole office, contact us for assistance.
*There are many third party password management programs available, however please be sure to do your research before hand to make sure you are choosing a secure management service.
Last weekend the Mac Aid team and their families took a break from the office and headed to Healesville Sanctuary for the day.
We all met up at Healesville’s ‘Beechworth Bakery’ for lunch (really good cake by the way!) and then headed to the sanctuary itself.
The kids had a ball watching birds fly overhead during the Bird of Prey show (as did some of the adults), and it was a great day out that consisted of nice weather, good company, and a relaxing atmosphere.
The only downside for Lee was that he couldn’t feed the kangaroos.
Apple designed the MagSafe connector to prevent your MacBook from being dragged down with the cable if, for example, someone trips over the charge cable.
It is designed such that the magnetic connection requires little force to disconnect from the Macbook.
Although most of the time this is a life saver for your device, it is not without its disadvantages. You may have found your computer frequently disconnecting during charging – suddenly realising your MacBook is almost dead.
Snuglet is the tiny innovation to improve the charging connection between your cable and your MacBook. Designed to aerospace tolerance levels the Snuglet never interferes with the insertion or removal of the power cable, whilst providing increased magnetic connection to prevent unintentional disconnections.
The Snuglet can be quickly installed on your MacBook, securely residing inside the MagSafe 2 connection port. It can also be easily removed and reused on another MacBook, should you change computers.
The NewerTech Snuglet is available online for $29.99
It is common after a new iOS update for older model iPhones to become a little sluggish. Here are four tips to getting your iPhone running up to speed again.
1. Reboot your iPhone
Sometimes a simple Reboot is the key to improving your iPhone’s performance. You can easily Reboot your iPhone by holding down the Home button and Power/Lock button at the same time. Keep holding these down and your iPhone screen will turn off. Once the device turns back on and you see the Apple Symbol, release the hold.
2. Turn on Reduce Motion
The new iOS update is full of fancy animations that older models can’t handle as well. You might have noticed these animations when opening and closing applications, as well other more subtle animations to describe the apparent movement of your icons and wallpaper. Luckily, Apple has incorporated a Setting to reduce these features, hopefully speeding things up for you.
To turn on Reduce Motion open up Settings and choose General. Go to Accessibility then Reduce Motion and turn this feature ON.
3. Change your background refresh settings
Many apps will ask you to allow them to refresh in the Background. Often when you’re eager to try a new app you might quickly tap OK without much thought but later find your phone running slow and its battery draining quickly. So every now and then, it is a good idea to tweak your settings to make sure you only have this operating for the apps you really want. A common battery-eating application is the Facebook app, which you may find has been refreshing in the background and accessing your location constantly, slowing down your device and draining your battery and data.
You can adjust which apps can refresh in the background by going into Settings and choosing General. Scroll down and select Background App Refresh. In this menu you can opt to turn off Background App Refresh for all applications or individually switch it on for the apps you choose.
4. Change your location settings
To change the location settings of your apps, and choose which apps and when can access your location go to Settings and choose Privacy, then Location Services. From here you again turn off Location services for all Applications, or more likely (especially if you use navigational applications, such as Apple or Google Maps) choose individually which apps can access your location. You can also decide whether you would like the app to access your location While Using the application or Always, in the background.
Snuglet is the tiny innovation to improve the charging connection between your cable and your MacBook. Designed to aerospace tolerance levels the Snuglet never interferes with the insertion or removal of the power cable, whilst providing increased magnetic connection to prevent unintentional disconnections.
Images: Ally Kazmucha/The App Factor
