Smart-homes, ambient surveillance, and love/hate with VPNs.
October Letter
Hi there,
Apple users endured the Catalina and iOS 13 upgrades this month. For most, the upgrades were uneventful. For others, not so much. Including me. More on that later.
Family Office Magazine
The publisher of Family Office Magazine invites our readers to a complimentary 1-year subscription:
https://www.familyofficemag.com/comp-subscriber
The Magazine's Fall 2019 issues includes my article:
"Cybersecurity for Private Clients, Families,& VIPs"
Smart Homes and the IoT
IoT - the Internet of Things.
Increasingly, the 'things' that surround us are connected to the internet. Aware, "smart", and connected, they act as life-monitors observing activities and collecting personal information.
Fifty to a hundred billion things will be connected and monitoring by 2021. Many of them embedded in our personal lives and private environments.
Personal Devices & Private Environments
The result of the Internet of Things can be described as a state of ambient surveillance. Sadly, but not surprisingly, unfettered access to surveillance-level streams of private activities and personal information can quickly and easily turn very bad.
Each internet-connected device, or 'thing', is attached by cable or Wi-Fi to a router. This "local network" makes up your private environment. The router connects the local network to a modem, which connects to the internet. If a hacker can get on an IoT device it can access the local network and "own" its activities.
The information streaming from your personal network is sought after by many. Cybercriminals, state-sponsored hackers, Big Tech, Big Government, the creep down the street, and bad guys from around the world; they all want the information they can get from watching your network.
Increasingly, they're using IoT things to get in.
Protecting Home Networks and Devices
The best way to protect a local network and all connected 'things' is by putting a "gate" between the modem and the router. A 'smart' gate that inspects everything inbound from the internet and blocks the bad from getting in - like a dome of security over all of your internet activities. Click the image below to learn more.
Ideally, the smart-gate also anonymizes everything going out; for privacy, security, and personal safety. Including cameras, TVs, doorbells, thermostats, and everything else streaming from the Internet of Things.
This is what our Managed Network Security service does, and if you'd like to learn more about how we use advanced science and intelligence to protect home and home office networks, contact us here:
About Your VPN - a User's Guide
So, anyone feeling a love/hate thing with their VPN? Me too.
Like I said in the introduction, the past 30-days of updates and upgrades from Apple and Microsoft have taken their toll. It seems VPNs were especially affected by the changes.
The iOS 13 upgrade put my iPhone 11 out of commission for a good half day. And I had to reinstall my Freedome VPN to get it to behave. Why? Why does this happen, and why do we put up with it?
Here are some tips and insights to the crankiness inherent to VPNs, and why we advocate and endure their use in every day life:
The Total Wealth Symposium
Finally, a big "thank you!" to all our friends from the Total Wealth Symposium, this year at the Amelia Island Resort.
If you attended or viewed the simulcast, and haven't connected to me or Diane yet, please do so by replying to this email soon, or reaching out to diane@totaldigitalsecurity.com.
Thanks for reading,
Brad Deflin
Click to view online
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott