The Problem with Passwords Love 'em or hate 'em, our digital world is full of passwords. While this feels like a plague unique to the modern digital era, if you think back you'll realize that they've always been there. We used to have ATM PINs, locker combinations, and even secret whisperings to get our hooch in the local speakeasy. And in that time, they haven't changed that much! They're still strings of characters, words, numbers, and hieroglyphs that get you past a security checkpoint of some kind. The major difference is that now, with brute force password guessing programs and…
Read More
Over the last couple of weeks, in the wake of the most recent abhorrent events bringing systemic racism back to the forefront of our minds, we at Alpine have taken a moment to look inward. Yes, we absolutely vow to take every step possible to eliminate unconscious prejudice from our hiring and compensation processes. Yes, we each individually vow to put ourselves into the shoes of every person of color with whom we interact, and treat them with the respect we expect from others. Yes, we will ensure that our culture is anti-racist, rather than just not racist. And we…
Read More
We covered a range of topics over the past several weeks. If you missed some (or all) of them see the summaries below, and click to learn more. Passwords: How to Make the Best of a Bad Situation Love 'em or hate 'em, passwords are a part of digital life. Learn how these 5 simple rules can reduce your chance of compromise. How to Avoid the Ransomware Terror The Dastardly evil-doer has taken your system hostage. Do you pay the ransom, or lose your files forever? Learn about a third option in our ransomware article. How to Protect Against Phishing…
Read More
This is the seventh article in our 10-part series for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Look for new cybersecurity topics explained by Alpine Cyber experts every Tuesday and Thursday in October. Revisiting the Topic Nearly 4 years ago I wrote a primer and deeper dive into the Internet of Things (IoT) explaining what it was and the security aspects you should consider when leveraging this class of technology. So how have things evolved in that time? What is still relevant and have things gotten better or worse? Well here's an update... Consumer Exposure For one, you don't really hear the term…
Read More
This is the fifth article in our 10-part series for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Look for new cybersecurity topics explained by Alpine Cyber experts every Tuesday and Thursday in October. The Big Breach The flood of data breaches in recent years makes poor data security seem like the norm. We seem a little desensitized whenever XYZ social media service falls victim to a data breach. But there was one breach that caught the public's attention in a major way. We're talking the big one...the Equifax breach. Would you believe it's been over 2 years since they announced that publicly? People…
Read More