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Welcome
It’s Showtime
Sit back and enjoy the show…
SECURITY
Dennis DiGiacomo, Apple Professional / Apple Field Tech MDP Studios
Outline…
• Privacy… Digital Footprint
• Facebook Offline Data Tracking Warning
• VPN… to use or not to use
• 5G & even 6G…
• Buying Tips for Accessories & Peripherals
• Questions
• Privacy
• As technology evolves so does the intrusion of privacy… More and more tech giants intrude into our personal lives in many unforeseen ways… aka… National Security, Global Health, Social Media, IoT, Home Automation, etc…
• Examples; Video Surveillance, Alexa, Violation(s) of HIPPA Rules, Facial Recognition & Mining Questionnaires.
• Lack of Standards
• Human Factor…
• What about eMails, Text, Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, Documents, Pictures, Videos… All in the Cloud these days and everything is Syncing… Your Digital Footprint
Privacy
• New “Off-Facebook Activity” portal lets you know where you’re being followed…
• In the promise of more transparency, Facebook is admitting and showing you how it picks up and mashes together data about you from other companies. Facebook's new tool is indeed illuminating when it comes to getting a glimpse at who tracks you (spoiler: everyone). Its promises to give you a measure of control over the process, however, falls short.
• On Feb 1st 2020 Facebook’s Off-Facebook Activity portal went into effect to give users a different and more detailed perspective on the data it hoovers up from other firms. Off-Facebook Activity is exactly what it sounds like: interactions you have with other entities, such as an app on your phone or a retailer you shop at, that Facebook receives data about. Facebook attaches that data to the rest of the information it has about you and uses it for marketing purposes.
• Here's how Facebook itself describes the process:
• Jerry King buys an Apple Watch from the online Apple Store.
• The store shares Jerry's activity with us using our business tools.
• We receive Jerry's Off-Facebook Activity and we save it with his Facebook account. The activity is saved as "visited the Apple Store website" and "made a purchase."
• Jerry sees an ad on Facebook for a 10% off coupon on his next Apple Store purchase from the online store.
• Variations on this process have been happening for years. Facebook explicitly acquired the Atlas advertising platform in 2013, then relaunched it in 2014, to better tie together all of your browsing, purchase, and other online and offline histories into a single unified profile. A massive number of businesses, devices, and data services send data through Facebook, which aggregates them into something of a digital you.
• What you can do
• You can access your Off-Facebook Activity, along with other information, several ways. Facebook has a guide you can customize for desktop, mobile browser, or mobile app instructions. If you're logged in, you can click this link to go straight to the relevant setting. On desktop, you have two paths. Both are found under the Facebook settings menu:
• Recently, I have found 93 apps and websites passing and receiving information in my Off-Facebook Activity. Though I have never deliberately tied them to any social media account(s) and have never deliberately let them connect to my profile. Scary!…..
• To clear past activity, you need to choose "Clear History" at the top of the list. Doing so does not disconnect your future activity, as Facebook warns you. Disabling those future connections is a little more complicated.
• You can go through the list and toggle off the connections one by one if you'd prefer to leave some active:
• "It may be used for measurement purposes and to make improvements to our ads systems, but it will be disconnected from your account," the warning dialog says. You will also still see advertisements. They may just be less tailored to you personally.
• If you're interested in finding out all the data Facebook's getting, it's worth picking "Access Your Information" and then scrolling all the way down until you see the settings for "Ads and Businesses," which lets you manage Off-Facebook Activity as well as several other settings.
• That, however, is about the full extent of the control you have. You can't stop Facebook from gathering information about any entity you encounter in the world, full stop. Even if you don't have a Facebook account, the company still builds shadow profiles.
• You can go through the list and toggle off the connections one by one if you'd prefer to leave some active:
• Doing so warns you that disconnecting a service from your Facebook account will log you out of that service if you used Facebook to log in, which makes sense. It also warns you that your activity from that service will still be sent to Facebook—it just won't be associated with your account in the same way.
• After you agree and disconnect, you receive a notice confirming the lack of disconnection: "We've hidden this from your list, but your past activity has not been disconnected. You can always view and manage activity you've turned off."
• The toggle to turn off all future connections is hanging out over on the side.
• To disable all future connections, you have to pick "Manage future connections" in the sidebar. Facebook warns you, when you finally hit the toggle to turn off all future Off-Facebook Activity, that you will be unable to log in to apps or websites using Facebook, even though Facebook will still receive that activity.
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VPN…Virtual Private Network
VPN… the good• VPN:
• VPN has been known as the solution to various privacy problems on the internet today. While the government and your ISP might be monitoring all your online activity every single day, and they might restrict the websites that you can visit online, the virtual private network can provide the security solution that brings back your online privacy and freedom. With the virtual private network, you can easily browse the internet without having to worry about any types of monitoring, tracking, and restrictions that are done by the government, your ISP, or other third parties.
• 1. Log on to Public Wifi with Confidence.
• If you’re like me, you’re constantly logging onto the web from coffee shops, airports, and other places that offer public wifi. The problem with public wifi is that it isn’t secure. It’s far too easy for a hacker or network administrator to gain access to your sensitive information while you use public wifi. With a VPN, this is not possible. VPNs encrypt your browsing data so you can safely login to your net banking account or even go online shopping without worrying about someone looking at your activity.
• 2. Access Blocked Content While Traveling.
• If you’re a frequent traveler and find yourself in remote locations a few times a year, you’ll want to use a VPN to access content that is blocked outside of the US. For example, popular on-demand entertainment services like Pandora, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others are blocked to users who try to access these services with foreign IP address. By using a VPN, not only can you change your foreign IP address to a US IP address, you can also start using these services as if you never left the US in the first place.
VPN… the good• 3. Bypass a restrictive Network.
• If you’re frequently logging onto the web in the workplace or at school, you may experience restrictive network controls. Perhaps you can’t log onto Facebook, or a certain site is blocked due to keywords found on the site. To bypass this type of restrictive network, you can use a VPN. It will get you past the restrictions, and also encrypt and keep your browsing data private.
• 4. Share Files Privately.
• In recent years, there have been massive crackdowns on file sharing around the world. Now let me be clear here: I am in no way advocating for you to share or download material that is copyrighted. That’s your own prerogative and you do so at your own risk. I’m simply saying that using a VPN is one way to share legal files, and even illegal files, in privacy.
• 5. Because You Have a Right to Privacy.
• Perhaps the best reason to use a VPN is because you have a right to privacy, and by using a VPN you’re claiming this right. Some look at VPN users as people who have something to hide. This is flawed thinking. VPN users are normal citizens, just like you and me, who believe in their right to privacy.
• There are so many other great reasons to start using a VPN, but the bottom line is it’s more important today than ever to start taking your internet security seriously. I’ve heard far too many horror stories of people having their credit card info or even their entire identities stolen as a result of poor internet safeguards on their part. Using a VPN is the first and best step you can take towards protecting yourself on the world wide web.
VPN… the bad• 9 Disadvantages of a VPN That You Should Know Before Using It…
• VPN: The Bad
• However, among the many benefits that VPN can provide for your online privacy, there are various disadvantages that you have to be aware of before using any VPN service. This is especially true if you are the first time VPN user. Here are the 9 disadvantages of VPN that you should know before using it:
• 1. Using VPN Might Actually Be Illegal In Your Country
• There are some countries that don’t allow their citizens to use any type of VPN service. In fact, most VPN services will be blocked in the countries that consider private networks to be illegal. This is the first disadvantage that you need to deal with. If you think that your country is in the list of countries that consider the private connection to be illegal, then you shouldn’t use the VPN service in the first place. This is because you might end up paying a huge fine or going to jail when you do that.
• 2. You Might Have Performance Issues While Using The Private Network
• Since the private network connection works by connecting your network to a private server before you can actually access the website that you want to visit, it might create a performance problem in the process. Some virtual private networks might take a longer time to contact the private servers, which might result in a longer time for you to load the website that you access. exchange documents, files, and folders by saving an encrypted disk image to removable media, sending it as a mail message attachment, or storing it on a remote server.
• This is in fact a common disadvantage that you will see when you use a free VPN service. Also, you might notice that the connection speed when using private connection might be slower than when you use the regular connection.
Over 200 VPN’s to choose from
VPN… the bad• 3. The VPN Service Might Monitor Your Activity And Use Your Data
• Some private network services will allow you to use their private servers in exchange for your data. Of course, they might not state their intention in the first place. However, there have been cases where VPN companies are monitoring the data from their users for their own benefits. Yes, they might help bypass your internet restrictions and hide your IP address, but the private network companies might actually do the tracking instead.
• You should be aware of the VPN services that offer their private connection for free or for a very low price because they might log your activity.
• 4. It Might Be Difficult To Set Up For Business Users
• For individual users, VPN might be easy to set up since you just need to download your VPN apps or software and install it on your device. However, for business users, the case might not be like that. For business users, VPN is much more complicated to set up, especially if you need to set up the private network on your business premise.
• It will add more complexity to your overall network connection, and it will affect each device that you use on your business. While many VPN companies can simplify that for you, you might still need a dedicated network management team to oversee the private connection network on your business.
• 5. It Might Add More Cost To Your Network Connection
• By default, the virtual private network is a premium private connection service that you need to pay separately from your regular network connection or ISP. Also, if you want to use a VPN router, you have to purchase an additional router hardware to be able to be used alongside your VPN connection. Thus, it might not come to you free of charge. Sure, there are many free private connections that you can use, but they are generally not reliable and they have lots of limitations. So, another disadvantage of private connection is that it can be very costly for you in the long term.
VPN… the bad• 6. It Can Slow Down Your Internet Speed
• When you add a VPN connection, you’re adding a layer of privacy through VPN server. Instead of directly accessing a website, you’re accessing it via your VPN provider. Although this allows you to hide your IP address and encrypt your data, this also means, data has to travel more and with added complexity.
• If VPN providers you’re using are not powerful enough, your internet can get very slow. This affects primarily when you need a high-speed internet for streaming or downloading etc. But this is not always the case. We have reviewed many VPN providers for their speed and often speed reduction is minimal in some instances. NordVPN, for instance, gave us speed with minimum reduction. We were able to get nearly 95% of the original speed. Not just them, many other providers are optimized not to slow down your internet. But there are other factors (ISP, Speeds, Network, Access, Data)
• 7. Using It Can Not Guarantee 100% Anonymity
• There are various ways you can still reveal your identity even though you are using a VPN. What if you were browsing a website using a VPN connection and you suddenly realized that your VPN client is suddenly disconnected? Or your DNS is leaking? On even worst, the provider you’re using agrees to provide your government with some critical information about yourself?
• Although the service providers nowadays offers many features such as Double VPN or Kill Switch to make your connection as much private and secure as possible. There are still many ways data can be leaked through hardware, software, or any other means. Double VPN technology allows you to browse anonymously and securely by connecting to a chain of VPN servers.
• 8. Not Possible to Bypass All the Restrictions
• One primary reason people use VPN is to unblock specific websites or content (in other words, bypass restrictions.) Although it is relatively easy to unblock most websites or content, some content may still be difficult to access. Netflix, for example, is accessible from anywhere but the company allows access to some movies or TV shows to specific countries only.
• Since they have various agreements with content producers, they’re not legally allowed to show specific content in a particular region. And mostly they’re good at enforcing this. Many VPN providers can NOT bypass this restriction. Same is the case with many other sites or content.
VPN… the bad• 9. Platform Compatibility Issues If
You’re Using a Less Popular Platform
• If you’re using an operating system that is used by millions of users worldwide, you’re fine. However, If you’re using a less popular OS, outdated OS, or incompatible hardware, there may not be many ways to use or configure VPN on your device. Most VPNs are available for four most popular operating systems, likewise Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Several VPN providers offer ways to configure your router to protect your entire internet network as well, which could work as a solution to this issue.
• Those are the disadvantages of a VPN that you should know before using it. If you plan on using any VPN service, you need to ensure that you are using reputable ones.
• Many do not give full disclosure of their affiliates, and honestly I wouldn’t really use them for just that reason.
• The reputable service providers won’t give you these disadvantages, or at least, they can minimize such disadvantages for you. Moreover, if you really care about your online privacy and security, VPN is the best tool that you can use to protect your online privacy and security.
• Reputable VPN Providers:
• 1. NordVPN: The Most Responsive Customer Support
• 2. PureVPN: Highly Specified Server Sorting
• 3. ExpressVPN: The Efficient One
• 4. CyberGhost: Exceptional User Interface
• 5. Surfshark: Truly Unlimited!
• 6. Perfect Privacy: Extraordinary Privacy
• 7. ProtonVPN: High-Security Implementations
• 8. WindScribe: Full Disclosure
• 9. Astrill VPN: Maximum Features
• 10. Buffered VPN: Immense Speed
• 11. Mullvad: Extreme Anonymity
• 12. TunnelBear: Full Disclosure
• 13. BolehVPN: Full Disclosure
• 14. SaferVPN: Full Disclosure
• 15. ZoogVPN: Full Disclosure
• 5G Networks & Technology
• The electromagnetic spectrum is the highway over which wireless operates, with multiple lanes capable of carrying traffic at different speeds. Higher frequencies – and thus shorter wavelengths – are able to move more information per unit of time.
• Network security concerns remain an issue with the upcoming 5G and 6G wireless network standards.
• That's because security measures aren't being adopted in new 5G standards, and there's a newly discovered potential for Man-in-the-Middle attacks in terahertz-based 6G networks, multiple research studies have discovered.
• Health Concerns from Microwave Frequencies
• Faster Speeds and Data Packet Transmission
• Intricate Network Deployment, more towers adding to an already overcrowded spectrum
• Costs will increase… Cell Tower lease’s are expensive
5G
• Be ready to say goodbye to legacy ports.
• USB-A, VGA, HDMI, and in some cases even SD Card slots are being removed from professional-grade laptops and replaced by USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports.
• Besides sleek looks of new thinner equipment, one of the reasons why these ports are being removed is because they don’t handle data transfer as efficiently as new ports, and they’re limited when it comes to multiple connections and charging.
• So, if you are someone who owns any of the latest Macbooks or Windows-based Ultrabooks that is equipped with the Thunderbolt 3 port, a Thunderbolt dock can help you connect several peripherals from dual 4K Display monitors to NAS Storage to printers and audio interface all from a single cable. These useful connectors also provide the necessary bandwidth and speed for all connected devices.
• There are a LOT of Cheap knock-offs that underperform or even harmful
• Research reputable brands and look closely at the Spec’s…
Thunderbolt & USB Hubs & Port Adapters
• USB-C versus Thunderbolt 3
• Both USB-C and TB3-based docks feature a USB-C connector, although they differ in other important areas.
• The main difference being that Thunderbolt 3 can supports higher data-transfer speeds (up to 40GBps) in comparison to USB-C (Up to 10GBps), facilitating it in both directions simultaneously through a single cable.
• Such docks also enable simultaneous transfer of data, output video, charging, and daisy-chaining of other TB gadgets, all via only one cable. Having one cable has its advantages, such as removing the clutter associated with several different cables taking up space on your desk.
• However, this also means that one connector does several different things, so it’s best to consult the device’s manual before connecting anything to avoid poor performance because you plugged the wrong connector into the wrong port.
• There’s also the device limitation part. In other words, only more recent devices, like newer Macs or higher-end Windows computers, have included the support for Thunderbolt 3. Therefore, if your host device doesn’t have Thunderbolt 3, you might want to skip this guide and look for a Powered USB-C Dock only.
Thunderbolt & USB Hubs & Port Adapters
• Things to consider
• There are a few characteristics you should pay attention to when choosing your ideal Thunderbolt 3 docking station.
• First of all, there need to be at least two Thunderbolt 3 ports to support relevant devices.
• Second, it has to provide a lot of power. Most of our recommendations house 85W to 110W or more of charging power, while those weaker have other advantages to make up for it. Power Delivery (PD), Meaning that the USB-C connector with PD is even strong enough to charge a laptop or any other digital device such as monitors, up to 100W.
• Third, it should have a lot of ports, at least if you’re not looking for a solution to take with you on vacation or a business trip, as more ports equal larger size.
• Finally, it’s important to have high transmission speeds to facilitate easy operations.
• There are other features that might factor in your decision, such as pricing, size, material, types of additional ports, supported devices, cable length, if the host cable can be removed, and so on…. That said, all these points are mere suggestions. In the end, it all comes down to your own requirements and preferences, so picking out the right docking station will depend exclusively on that.
Thunderbolt Docks
• This Unit looks Great… Pictures are helpful and pretty, but…
• Off-Brand, and lacks a AC power supply… will NOT perform as advertised…
• Recommended purchase…
• Name brand, reputable… Has a power supply to support attached devices and charging of computer as well.
• OWC, Belkin, WAVLink, CalDigit, Kensington, Elgato, Monoprice
• USB Hubs and Adapters
• Powered Hubs are the best, but not great for on the go travel
• Most Powered hubs today include dedicated charging Ports for charging, Phones, Portable Batteries, Headphones, Tablets, VR Headsets, etc.
• Make sure in picking a hub for your needs that you choose one with a higher device charging ability…Apple’s 12.9” iPad needs more power to charge vs a Mini-iPad.
• Just like the Thunderbolt 3 Powered Multimedia Hubs, there are many junk knock-offs on the market.
• Buying from eBay and Amazon can reveal hundreds of similar options with many looking exactly alike in unit and description with only the Brand name changing. Most lie about their actual abilities…
• Purchasing from more reputable sources like Apple, MonoPrice.com, B&H Photo, NewEgg, CDW will help narrow the fields and provide pre-buying support.
• USB Hubs and Adapters
• Recommended Brands: Anker, Sabrent, Aukey, Monoprice, Apple Store
Dennis P. DiGiacomo, JrMDP Studios
Apple Professional239•404•1089
Questions
