Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

Generali

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Guys, do any of you know about computer security and what's possible on fb?

Equally, does anyone know what it's possible to get with an IP address and email? (nothing else)

I've just changed passwords on everything, however I have a feeling that a friends fb account has been hacked and messages sent, with a rather direct threat of 'you're next'. Security-sensitive documents are stored on my email (namely OH's induction documents), and even if printed/deleted (which I'm not in a position to do tonight), a copy of them would probably be somewhere.

Sorry if I seem overly cautious, but I feel the need to be at the moment.....

Google 'ISIS IT security manual' and that's a pretty decent skinny for the layman.

The quick version for the paranoid person who may have plenty to be paranoid about is:

- Don't use same password for everything
- Don't use 'free' wifi and turn off wifi when out and about
- Get a BlackBerry phone
- Use Tor to surf the web
- Use a VPN to surf the web.
- Change your IP address regularly

That's how I understand things anyway.

CKhalvashi

Generali wrote: »

Google 'ISIS IT security manual' and that's a pretty decent skinny for the layman.

The quick version for the paranoid person who may have plenty to be paranoid about is:

- Don't use same password for everything
- Don't use 'free' wifi and turn off wifi when out and about
- Get a BlackBerry phone
- Use Tor to surf the web
- Use a VPN to surf the web.
- Change your IP address regularly

That's how I understand things anyway.

Thanks!

I'm currently in BG, but won't be after tomorrow.

I am using hotel wifi, however it's passworded. I don't believe the hacked account is on the same network, so should be ok there.

Have an iPhone, using Firefox, not using VPN (how do I get one), don't know how to change IP

Generali

Generally you can change the IP address of your router at home using the following steps:

1. Turn it off
2. Turn it on again

It's quite complicated as you can see.

On your iPhone it's slightly more complicated:

1. Go to Settings and select Wi-Fi
2. Enable Wi-Fi and connect it to your router
3. After Wi-Fi has connected select Wi-Fi again and press the blue arrow next to your Wi-Fi network
Under IP Address you will see DHCP. Select this is it isn't already.
4. Select Renew Lease
5. A new sub-screen will pop-up on the bottom and select Renew Lease again

Generali

And here is a brilliant article on VPNs and why you need one in your life:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2030763/how-and-why-to-set-up-a-vpn-today.html

The new BlackBerry is apparently particularly secure but if you want to get serious about this stuff then use one of these babies:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blackphone-4G-PrivateOS-SIM-Free-Smartphone-Black/dp/B00PXU13YY

Tor can be downloaded from here:

https://www.torproject.org/

Now if you do all of this then MI5 might take an interest in you but anyone else is going to find it extremely hard to hack you unless your password is 'password', 'holiday' or '1234565789'.

Of course I don't have to tell you that you need to reset all your passwords once your VPN is set up.

CKhalvashi

Thanks Gen, I'll take a look tomorrow at it, and get it sorted out

Generali

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Thanks Gen, I'll take a look tomorrow at it, and get it sorted out

If you have any doubts at all about your online security those are your first steps AIUI.

I am not expert at all about this but Ol' Pa Generali worked in computing from the early 60s and he always said that security was terrible and we should take it more seriously so I do what I can. Sadly he's no longer here so I can't ask him for help.

Now you've brought it up I am going to download Tor and I think I might get myself a Black Phone as my current phone is all but dead.

michaels

NPs thoughts please - Table Tennis Table

It would be nice to have a table tennis table. The best plan would be to keep and use it in the garage in which case a cheap indoor table costing about £100 would be fine. However to do that we would first need to dejunk, tile and paint the garage which is unlikey to happen before the kids are full grown at the rate we get stuff done.

So option 2 is to get an outdoor table costing about 250-300 quid and playing outside or in the kitchen/family room (with a bit of shifting of furniture) or outside if the weather was ever warm and windless enough but then the question is would we actually use it very often at all if it was that much hassle.

Now I have seen a third option, a table top version like this (http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1336467.htm) which wee could put on top of the dining table in the kitchen/family room and is probably small enough to store against a wall somewhere when not in use. However the down side is it isn't a proper table so is much less flexible in how we could use it.

Which one do NP think Santa should be bringing down the chimney in his sack?

silvercar

To play table tennis indoors, you need to remove anything remotely breakable from the whole room and have lots of room all around the table. It's a hassle.

We had/have a nice outdoor table, but it now has a dip on one side caused by some drunk kid jumping on it! We still use it occasionally.

LydiaJ

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Mrs McT does have her way and the house is kept at Shorts and T-Shirt temperatures year round.

This I can understand.

Generali wrote: »

If Mrs Generali had her way the house would be 25C in the winter and 18C in the summer.

This makes no sense to me. If someone doesn't like having the house at 18C in the winter, why would they want it to be 18C in the summer?

michaels wrote: »

NPs thoughts please - Table Tennis Table

Now I have seen a third option, a table top version like this (http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1336467.htm) which wee could put on top of the dining table in the kitchen/family room and is probably small enough to store against a wall somewhere when not in use. However the down side is it isn't a proper table so is much less flexible in how we could use it.

Which one do NP think Santa should be bringing down the chimney in his sack?

We had a table top version when I was growing up. My brothers got a lot of use out of it and enjoyed it a lot. The one downside was that when balanced on top of the dining table, it was rather higher than a standard table, so as I was the youngest (by 6 years) and obviously shortest, I was at more of a disadvantage than I would have been otherwise. I wasn't really tall enough to use it comfortably until I was 12 or so, by which time my brothers had all gone off to university and there was nobody to play against. So my advice is to think carefully about the height of the table on which you intend to balance it, and the heights of the children you hope will use it. If those calculations work out OK, it could be a great option IMO.

vivatifosi

Do you have enough space in your garage to play properly michaels? You need a lot of space around a table, as well as the table itself. Novelty may wear off if nobody is around to move cars when the kids want to play. Are there any clubs nearby where you can play it?