Since this bug came to light, there has been a lot written about it in both the popular and technical press (& blogs, websites etc).  A simple search (for example on https://startpage.com/) will bring up pages of technical details.

From a practical point of view,  the most important advice is change your passwords.  However, before doing this make sure that the site have verified that they have addressed the bug. There’s no point in going through the exercise of changing a password on vulnerable site as the protections are not in place so a bit of forward planning is crucial.

 Take a systematic approach to changing passwords

If you’ve been using the internet for any length of time (over a week), you will have probably registered on at least one  site.  If you’ve been using it any longer, you’ll have registered on multiple sites.

Continue reading HeartBleed Bug: Password Change →

 Secure your home broadband wireless router

Wireless is everywhere now.  Virtually all home broadband routers come with WiFi built-in and 90% are enabled by default with standard passwords.

Here are my 5 tips for securing your home broadband wireless router. Continue reading 5 tips to secure your broadband wireless router →

Anonymous Searching

Every time you use a search engine like Google or Bing, a record of your IP address is kept. Every computer connected to the internet requires an address to connect, and tools exist which expose your geographic location from your IP address. Sometimes this could be detailed enough to individually identify you, other times it may be enough to just locate your approximate area. The linking of search terms to your IP address also provides a link between your interests or thoughts. Again to use the library analogy, this is akin to someone reading over your shoulder all the time.

There are several solutions to address this, addressing different parts of the activity. Continue reading Adding anonymous searching to your browser →