The War Chest

So, during the pandemic I decided I needed a little project to keep me busy. I’ve recently been promoted into a more Cybersecurity focused role, and had a large collection of Raspberry Pi‘s laying round, so made sense to combine the two… Which is when the ‘war chest’ was born!

I wanted to focus on creating something self-contained, and portable – so as a result, my initial hunt was for a ‘flight case’ to house all of the cool stuff! I searched for quite some time before settling on the Rock Box 2 Utility Case, which is the perfect combination of rigidity and compactness.

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Cyber Safety Starts at Home

Cyber Safety Starts at Home

This weeks focus of the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is the importance of Cyber Safety in your own home. It’s a good idea to instil Cyber Safety in your everyday life. As part of the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month StaySafeOnline have published a handy infographic Cyber Safety Starts at Home

Below are some suggestions around things you can do to ensure you’re Cyber Safe at Home
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Lock down your login

Lock down your login

Two factor all the things

It’s important two protect your online service accounts, perhaps even more so than your own home. Your online accounts can be accessed and potentially ‘attacked’ by millions of people from all around the world, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Unlike your home, they don’t even need to leave the comfort of their ?basement? before ‘having a go’ at breaking into your account.

First things first; you should always use a strong password when setting up accounts online, and never reuse passwords on more than one website. I personally recommend (and use daily) LastPass which can be easily integrated into your daily workflow, using either it’s desktop/mobile app or its web browser plugins. (more…)

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October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

National Cybersecurity Awareness MonthNational Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Each and every one of us needs to do our part to make sure that our online lives are kept safe and secure. That’s what National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) – observed in October – is all about!

As part of NCSAM there’s lots for everyone to get involved with. Keep an eye out for content on Twitter under the hashtag #ChatSTC, and right here on our website around the following subjects.

Week 1: Oct. 1­–5: Make Your Home a Haven for Online Safety

Every day, parents and caregivers teach kids basic safety practices ‒ like looking both ways before crossing the street and holding an adult’s hand in a crowded place. Easy-to-learn life lessons for online safety and privacy begin with parents leading the way. Learning good cybersecurity practices can also help set a strong foundation for a career in the industry. With family members using the internet to engage in social media, adjust the home thermostat or shop for the latest connected toy, it is vital to make certain that the entire household ‒ including children – learn to use the internet safely and responsibly and that networks and mobile devices are secure. Week 1 will underscore basic cybersecurity essentials the entire family can deploy to protect their homes against cyber threats.

Week 2: Oct. 8–12: Millions of Rewarding Jobs: Educating for a Career in Cybersecurity

A key risk to our economy and security continues to be the shortage of cybersecurity professionals to safeguard our ever-expanding cyber ecosystem. Raising the next generation of interested and capable cybersecurity professionals is a starting point to building stronger defenses. There are limitless opportunities to educate students of all ages – from high school into higher education and beyond – on the field of cybersecurity as they consider their options. In addition, veterans and individuals who are looking for a new career or re-entering the workforce, should explore the multitude of well-paying and rewarding jobs available. Week 2 will address ways to motivate parents, teachers and counselors to learn more about the field and how to best inspire students and others to seek highly fulfilling cybersecurity careers. 

Week 3: Oct. 15–19: It’s Everyone’s Job to Ensure Online Safety at Work

When you are on the job – whether it’s at a corporate office, local restaurant, healthcare provider, academic institution or government agency ‒ your organization’s online safety and security are a responsibility we all share. And, as the lines between our work and daily lives become increasingly blurred, it is more important than ever to be certain that smart cybersecurity carries over between the two. Week 3 will focus on cybersecurity workforce education, training and awareness while emphasizing risk management, resistance and resilience. NCSA’s CyberSecure My Business will shed light on how small and medium-sized businesses can protect themselves, their employees and their customers against the most prevalent threats.

Week 4: Oct. 22–26: Safeguarding the Nation’s Critical Infrastructure   

Our day-to-day life depends on the country’s 16 sectors of critical infrastructure, which supply food, water, financial services, public health, communications and power along with other networks and systems. A disruption to this system, which is operated via the internet, can have significant and even catastrophic consequences for our nation. Week 4 will emphasize the importance of securing our critical infrastructure and highlight the roles the public can play in keeping it safe. In addition, it will lead the transition into November’s Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month, which is spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

 

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Hands-On: Ozmo Smart Water Bottle

A water bottle with smarts

As a big fan of the Apple Ecosystem, I am very much used to entering my vitals into the Apple Health App. One area which I am not very good at is maintaining my levels of hydration. I have a busy schedule, a stressful job and a whole host of other excuses I can use…

As an Apple Watch and smart scales owner most of my vitals are already automatically pushed to the health app, and although I’ve tried using many hydration tracking apps I often forget to update them. Which is when I decided a ‘smart bottle’ was the way to go. After a little bit of research, I settled on the Ozmo Smart Water Bottle.

Hands-On: Ozmo Smart Water Bottle

I’ve owned the water bottle since July 2018, so I think it’s fair that I make note of my thoughts on the bottle. Overall I am impressed with it, there are some pitfalls and some annoyances, but they don’t bother me enough to dump it and find a replacement.

Design

The overall design of the bottle I think is good, it’s ergonomic and fits well in your hand, it also has a handy carry handle on the top, which unlike some others is fixed in place. I actually like this. The lid on the top of the bottle does a good job of filling the spout to prevent any leakage once full. Which I’ve proved to work perfectly, as I’ve hopped around the house on crutches whilst holding the bottle.

Smarts

The Ozmo iPhone app looks like it was designed for the iPhone 5, and doesn’t scale well at all on newer iPhone models. Definitely not well on my iPhone X. However, I am happy to dismiss this, as that’s not so important to me. What does get tricky sometimes is the keyboard often lays over and doesn’t collapse correctly on some of the screens, which renders the application next to useless at times. It does also seem to have a tendency to crash frequently. Although the Ozmo brand and company look well established with a range of smart hydration tracking products for sale, the iOS app is definitely an afterthought.

Although the Ozmo app leaves a lot to be desired, the measuring of the fluids, your intake and the reminders given by the bottle work well. Inside the bottle is a channel which contains sensors to measure how much fluid you’ve consumed. This is transferred via Bluetooth to the Ozmo app and then from there is synced to the Apple Health app without issue. The bottle is also smart enough to know if you’re drinking a cold or hot drink!

Function

As I am trying to improve my levels of hydration, I generally (more often than not) use the bottle for cold drinks (mainly water), for which the bottle functions perfectly fine delivering everything you’d expect (no leaks). I have on occasion used the bottle to carry hot coffee, and each time I have I’ve been impressed with the length of time the bottle keeps the drink piping hot. So much so that almost the first thing I do when I sit down without is remove the lid to allow it to cool a bit quicker. All in all, I can’t argue with the function at all – it really does what it says on the tin… (or website at least)

Price

When I purchased the Ozmo bottle it was much cheaper then it is now (by at least £10) so I think I’d be reluctant to pay the £45.65 price quoted on amazon currently. Perhaps if/when the bottle is on offer again, I’d be tempted.

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