Archive for December 15, 2015

| December 15, 2015
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Giving Safely

Giving SafelyIt is the holiday season and most people want to try to be a little nicer. During the giving season, you need to stay vigilant and protect those that are not so tech-savvy from fraudsters who want to rip you off during this season of goodwill. Cyber thieves can use social networking sites and mobile devices to solicit fake donations to take advantage of your charity. Experts recommend that no matter how they reach out to you, post-office, Facebook, email, phone, or text, avoid any charity or fundraiser that:

  • ake advantage of your charityRefuses to share detailed information about its identity, mission, costs, and how the donation will be used.
  • Won’t give proof that a contribution is tax-deductible.
  • Uses a name that closely resembles that of a better-known, reputable organization.
  • Thanks you for a pledge you don’t remember making.
  • Uses high-pressure tactics like trying to get you to donate immediately, without giving you time to think about it and do your research.
  • Asks for donations in cash or asks you to wire money.
  • Offers to send a courier or overnight delivery service to collect the donation immediately.
  • Guarantees sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a contribution. (By law, you never have to give a donation to be eligible to win a sweepstakes.)

To slow down the cyber-thieves, take the following precautions to make sure your donation helps the causes you want to help and not the scammers:

  • Ask for detailed information about the charity, including name, address, and telephone number.
  • Get the exact name of the organization and do some research.
  • Call the charity. Find out if the organization is aware of the solicitation and has authorized the use of its name.
  • Check if the charity is trustworthy by contacting the
  • Keep a record of your donations.
  • Make an annual donation plan. That way, you can decide which causes to support and which reputable charities should receive your donations.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Holidays | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| December 7, 2015
Comments Off on Let’s Encrypt Lives

Let’s Encrypt Lives

Let's Encrypt LivesLet’s Encrypt, an initiative to set up a free certificate authority (CA) on the Intertubes has entered its public beta phase. All major browser makers including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer trust Let’s Encrypt certificates. In their announcement Josh Aas, the executive director of California based Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), which runs the Let’s Encrypt service, wrote:

We’re happy to announce that Let’s Encrypt has entered Public Beta. Invitations are no longer needed in order to get free certificates from Let’s Encrypt … We want to see HTTPS become the default. Let’s Encrypt was built to enable that by making it as easy as possible to get and manage certificates.

Encryption to protect communications

Lets Encrypt logoLet’s Encrypt is overseen by folks from Mozilla, Akamai (AKAM), Cisco (CSCO), Stanford Law School, CoreOS, the EFF, and others. Let’s Encrypt was first announced in 2014, (rb- Which I covered here). motivated by a desire to steer organizations towards the use of encryption to protect their communications. A key part of the strategy is offering free digital certificates, which is a radical departure from the very hefty premiums that certificate authorities typically charge.

The Register reports that the free cert is no freebie weakling. Lets Encrypt uses a 2048-bit RSA TLS 1.2 certificate with a SHA-256 signature installed and the server configured to use it. The cert gets an A from Qualys SSL Labs.

Let’s Encrypt to offer free SSL/TLS certs

Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security certificatesLet’s Encrypt plans to distribute free SSL/TLS (Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security) certificates, which encrypt data passed between a website and users. The use of SSL/TLS is signified in most browsers by “HTTPS” and a padlock appearing in the URL bar. Unencrypted web traffic poses a security risk. For example, an attacker could collect the web traffic of someone using a public Wi-Fi hotspot, potentially revealing sensitive data.

Besides securing your information going across the Internet from spies and thieves, FierceSecurityIT says another key aspect of Let’s Encrypt is to make it easy to generate and install new digital certificates. The Let’s Encrypt CA uses an open source “automated issuance and renewal protocol” that allows for certificates to be renewed without manual intervention.

automated issuance and renewalThe automated issuance and renewal protocol prevents oversights resulting in certificates for live websites expiring, a situation that does happen from time to time. FierceSecurityIT says that short-term certificates also offer better security by reducing exposure in the event that the private keys are stolen.

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Major technology companies including Google, Yahoo and Facebook have made a strong push for broader use of encryption in light of government surveillance programs and burgeoning cyber-crime.

The point of Let’s Encrypt is that anyone who owns a domain name can use Let’s Encrypt to get a trusted certificate at no cost. This will help HTTPS become the default. This is a big step forward in terms of security and privacy.

Instructions for getting a certificate with the Let’s Encrypt client can be found here.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| December 2, 2015
Comments Off on Networking Haters Guide to Networking

Networking Haters Guide to Networking

Networking Haters Guide to NetworkingTom Searcy posted some good advice for CBS News to improve your business networking even if you hate networking. The article is a couple of years old, but the suggestions her makes are still valid. He says:

working in the sweet spot of your skillsIt’s not all about you. Mr. Searcy explains that if you spend your time meeting people and trying to see if there is a way you can be of help to them, you put your mind in the right order and it is easier. Why? Because you may not be a great networker, but you are a great problem solver. If you can help someone else with an issue, idea, or contact, you are working in the sweet spot of your skills. Along the way, good things will happen for you, too.

Set your goals. When you attend an event, the author recommends you pick out 1-3 people in advance to specifically meet.  If they are not there, or they are completely swamped, go to your backup goal. Set a number of new people, the article suggests five or 10, to meet, ask two questions, and swap cards with.

Set goalsOnce you have hit your number, you are off the hook. You met your goal and you can go home, see a movie, catch the end of the game at the bar, it doesn’t matter. You set a goal and you hit it. Networking events are not a prison sentence if you don’t make them one.

Ask good questions. “What do you do?” “Tell me about your company” and “How long have you been with your company/this industry/this association?” are all typical openers and they get typical answers. Boring. Try a few other questions instead:

“What business problem does your company solve?”

“What is the best example you have of how you are doing that?”

“What has been the biggest win for you/your company in the last six months?”

Good handshake“What do you think it will be in the next six months?”

“What is the most interesting initiative you have planned at your company this year?”

“How will that change your company the most?”

The point is that you want to have thought provoking questions that start a conversation out of the norm. These questions should give you that. Once they have answered the questions, you have just one more to ask, “That’s great, is there some way I can help you?”

Exit gracefullyExit gracefully. The article says to make the most of networking events take the initiative to introduce yourself, control the conversation with a few questions, and then exit gracefully.

There is a courtesy to be observed at a networking event that involves not monopolizing someone’s time. This rhythm that she set was the right tempo to accomplish what a networking event should do.

You should come away from the event with:

  • Business cards of contacts with any commitments you made written on the back of the card for you to follow up on the next day.
  • A few new prospects or industry contacts.
  • More information about your industry, competitors, and clients than you had on the way in.

And just a few reminders…

  • Take your business cards to the event.
  • Smile.
  • Be the first to put your hand out and introduce yourself, every time.
  • Send a quick email to every person you have a card from the next day.
  • Thank them for their time and the opportunity to meet them. (This has ridiculous ROI.)
  • Don’t bitch. Just because this isn’t your thing, no one wants to hear that you hate it, the food is bad, the place is loud, the people are weird…

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Congrats you’re there: do your job and go home. Have a process and some guidelines it takes some of the stress out of networking and tolerates it better.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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