Ciphers and Codes, Oh My!

In previous posts we’ve looked at encryption and decryption, and talked about how messages are obscured, but at a very basic level, have you heard of ciphers and codes? Have you ever wondered about the difference between the two? On a recent visit to Bletchley Park I came across a notice with the image shown … Continue reading Ciphers and Codes, Oh My!

E is for…

Encryption The process of scrambling a message or data as part of cryptography is called encryption. This is what makes the message impossible to read unless you know how to unscramble it using decryption. As the years have gone by this process has become more and more complicated, and there is heavy reliance on computing … Continue reading E is for…

C is for…

CAT5 We don’t really hear this term very often any more, but it refers to probably the most common form of network cabling in offices and homes over the last 15-20 years. It’s the cable you may connect from your home router to your laptop if you don’t use Wi-Fi – it’s almost certainly been … Continue reading C is for…

How does your security measure up?

I published this article on LinkedIn on Monday 3rd July 2017, and I’ve copied it here for you. If you don’t know what you have, how can you measure it? We read a lot these days about equipment and training to help combat cyber attacks and reduce risks, but I don’t see much about today’s … Continue reading How does your security measure up?

Encryption

A while back I mentioned in my post on Backups that we needed to talk about Encryption, so here we are. First of all, I need to explain what encryption is. At its simplest, its a way of making a message unreadable by anyone other than the intended recipient.   I should also point out … Continue reading Encryption

What’s the deal with passwords?

In an earlier post I talked about password hygiene, and about the challenges we have in keeping passwords secret.  I realised that I’d missed the opportunity to talk about why we need passwords – so I thought I’d cover it now. Computers will – if set up “normally” – ask for a username and password … Continue reading What’s the deal with passwords?

Password hygiene

By now, we probably all know that we should have different passwords for every account we have, and use different ones for each website.  You probably also know that they should be a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special symbols. They should be more than 8 characters – and no that doesn’t … Continue reading Password hygiene

What are backups, and when / why are they needed?

As I’m keeping this simple, I guess I should start by explaining what a backup is, and why it’s necessary. (Apologies to those who know, but if my blog item on Patching was Security 101, then this is surely part of IT 101!) A backup is simply a copy of one or more files kept … Continue reading What are backups, and when / why are they needed?