IT Insights Blog — security

I recently received one of those emails no one wants to find in their inbox. It was from Yahoo!, recommending that I change my password. Apparently, back in 2014, the info for 500 million users was hacked (Nice of them to tell me now! Who knows how many exiled Nigerian princes and Russian mobsters have already used my information to subscribe to Netflix.

The truthfulness of the age-old expression “Two heads are better than one” is borne out by a myriad of examples. There’s everything from the fictional partnerships of Han Solo and Chewbacca, or Batman and Robin, to the real-world success of Jordan and Pippen, or Lennon and McCartney. Successful duos even include the likes of the delicious cookies and milk, or the ever-palatable peanut butter and chocolate. (Mmmm, cookies and milk.)

It wouldn’t take long for a newcomer to the internet (someone who’d been living in a cave since, oh, 2008 or so) to recognize that web users have a serious obsession with lists. What are the “17 Food Questions You Didn’t Know You Needed an Answer To,” for example, or the “Top 10 Most Venomous Snakes”? Don’t you sort of with that you knew “14 Things Every Book Nerd Can Relate to on Valentine’s Day,” or that you could brag to your buddies about your “inside” knowledge of the “10 Tales from the Production of the Original Star Wars”? The list of lists goes on and on, and increases on an hourly basis. Most of these lists will provide a reader with a nice, “Huh, that’s interesting” moment of truth and trivia, but the information is far from life changing. There is one list however that could change the course of your career: The Certification Magazine Salary Survey 75.

One of the greatest minds the world has ever seen once made this observation: “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.” If Leonardo da Vinci himself could espouse such a mantra and still bestow on the world a dazzling legacy of artworks, inventions and scientific discovery, then it seems safe to say that we ourselves could benefit from spending some time covering the basics.

Last week everyone was riveted to the news coming out of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2016, wanting to see the latest and greatest in tech. Much was expected out of this year’s event, and it didn’t disappoint. CES 2016 gave us revelations like the Faraday Future, Samsung’s dancing modular TV, HTC's Vive VR Headset, midair iPhone charging technology, and a single-rider drone taxi. The overriding theme of the show however, was the Internet of Things. And as exciting as the Internet of Things can be, it also brings up consumer concerns about cybersecurity. When everything you own is connected to the internet — which could happen sooner than you think — then suddenly the array of personal electronic devices that need to be protected from hackers is a whole lot bigger than when it was just your in-home wireless router and a few computers.