It was an awkward moment in 2006 when one of the most useful and popular networking features ever invented was discovered to also be very useful to hackers. Some vendors got busy on the problem, improving their product and making it more difficult for bad guys to exploit it. But hundreds more deliberately ignored the threat. Read on find out if you are exposed to the UPnP (Universal Plug-N-Play) vulnerability...

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” they say. Yet most of us do exactly that with all of our expensive “smart” home electronics, and the consequences can be as calamitous as the old proverb implies. The latest cyber attacks are targeting home internet routers. Here's the first article in a series detailing what you need to know to defend yourself against router attacks...

Now that humans have given up their privacy, is the animal kingdom taking up the fight? What problems could you solve with a computer capable of 20 quadrillion calculations per second? And do we really need artificial intelligence in our cat litter boxes? This issue is guaranteed to make you 146% smarter -- you'll see why. Read, think, and, comment!

The security suites that I have examined over the past few days all operate on the same basic principle: the blacklist. Malware is identified as such and gets put on a list of things to quarantine. The vast majority of antivirus and other types of security programs employ blacklisting. But this paradigm has some serious limitations. Here's what you need to know about the whitelisting approach…

We may forgive the Internet for being insecure; after all, it wasn’t designed to be secure. But locks certainly are, by definition. When you make something smarter it gets better, right? No, not always. Here's what you need to know about smart locks...

Oh, MalwareBytes, how I hope you make it! I admit up front that I admire this security suite purely for its aesthetics and attitude towards customers. But the question remains: Can the Premium "always-on" version stop malware effectively? Let's take a look at the free and paid versions of the MalwareBytes internet security product...

What's the worst mistake you can make when choosing a new password? Did your new smartphone come with malware pre-installed? Is your friendly voice-enabled assistant recording your private conversations? And what three words has Google removed from one of its governing documents? Get answers in today's Geekly Update -- it's jam-packed with the latest tech news. This issue is guaranteed to make you 146% smarter -- you'll see why. Read, think, and, comment!

A deadly serious threat is on the loose: a virus called VPNFilter that infects business and consumer-grade routers to steal passwords and other sensitive data from any device on a network served by an infected router. Here's what you need to know now...

“There’s a monster on the loose! It’s got our heads into a noose! And it just sits there, watching…" (Steppenwolf, “Monster/Suicide/America,” 1969) The U. S. Department of Homeland Security is pursuing a monstrous vision: a unified data warehouse of everything known, suspected, or merely speculated about every person in the “land of the free,” citizen or non-citizen. They call it HART, but you're not going to love it…

Home security cameras were once next to useless, except as deterrents. Their tiny, grainy images couldn’t differentiate a Chihuahua from a chupacabra. Video tape (remember tape?) ran out, broke, or jammed exactly when it was needed. But those days are long gone. Read on and learn about the newest wifi-enabled home security cameras...

Unlike most internet security products, Norton does not have a free watered-down version of its security suite. But you do get 60 days to try Norton products before your credit/debit card is charged for the first time. So continuing my exploration of free versus paid anti-malware tools, I took the Deluxe version of Norton Internet Security for a test drive. Read on for my verdict...

Will you have to pay the new Social Media Usage Tax? How easy is it to fool the facial recognition technology that can be used to unlock your smartphone? And what's the absolute dumbest tech product of the year? Get answers in today's Geekly Update -- it's jam-packed with the latest tech news. This issue is guaranteed to make you 146% smarter -- you'll see why. Read, think, and, comment!

Since the days of the Egyptian pharaohs, libraries have offered access to the printed wisdom and folly of humanity, but only to “authorized personnel” in the beginning. Most people had to travel and pay for books, and that was hard on budgets. But now the Internet makes available more good books, old and new, than one person can read in a lifetime. Here are a few examples of where you can find quality reads free of charge...

Like most security software developers, Avira has evolved to include far more than detection and eradication of viruses (self-replicating destructive malware). That’s why I now prefer the term “security suite” over “antivirus” when discussing such products. In this article, I'll give you my advice on the wisdom of upgrading from a free to paid version of the Avira security software...

I recently made an appointment with a new doctor. At the end of our conversation, the appointment-setter suggested that I download the “new patient forms” from the office website and fill them out before I arrived. I’m sure you've had similar conversations. Here's an easy (and free) way to fill out those forms, without using a pen or paper...