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It’s Wi-Fi – Keep It Clean

By Andrea Cannavina

Do you prefer to use a public toilet or a home-based one? When you have to, you can use the public one—but really, you try to touch as little of it as possible, right? Well, that’s exactly how you should feel about your equipment when out and about “in public.” You should want it to touch as little “public” anything as possible—including limiting the number of web pages you visit.

Every time you visit a website, almost invariably bits of code, cookies and digital flotsam and jetsam are exchanged and sometimes left behind. Use public Wi-Fi to connect? Imagine the build up. Over time, this electronic crap can bog down your equipment—slowing it down significantly. It can even contain malicious code that does everything from hogging resources, to logging all keystrokes, to whatever a coder can conceive and get code to do. And all you did was visit one website or, sadly, incorrectly type the URL of a site you visit frequently. You never know.

Yes, web surfing is that scary.

Now That I Have Your Attention: Quick Top 10 Digital Security Do’s

There is simply no way I can cover all you need to know about being secure when mobile—from using trusted sites to keeping your equipment clean—in this short space. But I can share my quick top 10 digital security do’s list, and give you a list of great articles that dig into the details of digital security.

  1. Always choose to connect through your own ISP, Wi-Fi, aircard or mobile hotspot if you can get a signal.
  2. Make sure connected equipment is protected—if your device has a firewall, turn it on.
  3. Disable file and folder sharing in Windows devices.
  4. Use a secure connection (https).
  5. Use care when downloading and installing software and apps.
  6. Keep your software up-to-date.
  7. Don’t leave your equipment unattended, even for a second.
  8. Use a passphrase on all mobile equipment and set the device to lock and require the passphrase just to fire it up.
  9. Don’t store anything on a mobile device that isn’t absolutely necessary.
  10. Pay attention. Pay attention. PAY ATTENTION!

Here is additional reading to help get you up to speed on digital security issues.

Andrea Cannavina is a Master Virtual Assistant who helps attorneys, legal administrators and companies which service the legal industry better understand the role of technology and use of the web in the daily practice of law. Spending 15 years as CEO of LegalTypist, Andrea has actively helped 100’s of law firms run more organized and efficient practices. When not focused on trying to stop attorneys from spending far too much on a website or, worse, a “guru”, Andrea enjoys cooking and hanging with friends and family in the great outdoors (aka glamping).

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 Illustration © iStock.

Categories: Cloud Computing, Daily Dispatch, Legal Technology, Mobility
Originally published May 23, 2012
Last updated October 16, 2018
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Andrea Cannavina Andrea Cannavina

Andrea Cannavina has been a mobile professional since the launch of LegalTypist in 2001. A successful entrepreneur, author and speaker, Andrea loves working with lawyers who know they need to get their law office organized, but don’t know where to start or who to trust. If your office is a mess, find out how Andrea can help at www.andreacannavina.com If your firm needs more people to process the work, check out LegalTypist’s scalable virtual word processing and data entry services at www.legaltypist.com.

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