Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on technology, research and practice.

Technology

Have you ever forgotten the password on your router? Hate when that happens! But don’t fret it, with routerpasswords.com you have no worries. If you forget your router’s password and want to reconfigure it, you must reset it. Doing this will reset all settings to factory defaults, including the administrator password. Next, visit routerpasswords.com and enter your router’s make and model . . . [more]

We’ve touched on the afterlife of digital assets here at Slaw on many occasions. Google has just announced a new service that adds an interesting direction: allowing users to pass along the data behind (rather than the password to) their various Google services.

A new group of settings under Google accounts will allow for these directions, called the Inactive Account Manager. Users will have the choice of destroying their data after a set period of time, or to pass along their data to a trusted contact or contacts. Google will also try notifying you by text or your alternate . . . [more]

“Would you pick up a half bottle of beer left on the pavement and drink it?”

This question was put by Rob Cotton, CEO of NCC Group , to a BBC Radio4 presenter when he was discussing the risks of using free wifi hotspots in cafes, etc. Perhaps the image was a bit extreme, but it caught my attention, as intended. He was drawing a picture of the not so pristine world of unsecured free wifi hotspots, and the lure of joining the Cloud wherever you find yourself. The premise is that you should think about what you search, or . . . [more]

All Evernote users should immediately change their passwords.

The following text appeared in a post on the Evernote blog this morning (March 2, 1013) and is also being sent to all Evernote users as an email communication:

Evernote’s Operations & Security team has discovered and blocked suspicious activity on the Evernote network that appears to have been a coordinated attempt to access secure areas of the Evernote Service.

As a precaution to protect your data, we have decided to implement a password reset. Please read below for details and instructions.

In our security investigation, we have found no evidence that . . . [more]

I maintain several personalities on social media. I am a different person on Facebook than I am on Twitter than I am on Google+ than I am on LinkedIn, and I like to keep it that way. And even within particular media, I maintain multiple personas with different names and different passwords. I do this to keep my work life separate from my personal life, to be more efficient, to freely explore new technologies, and to reflect different interests. I also do this to explore the potential freedom to be anonymous on the Internet – to not be confined by . . . [more]

Deloitte has released its Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions 2013 report, which outlines its top 10 Canadian predictions in these three realms of activity for the upcoming year.

The predictions themselves are interesting and I, for one, learnt about certain technology issues that I was not even aware were going concerns.

An issue that is often discussed and the related prediction that may (or may not) seem surprising is password security: the report predicts that 90% of user-generated passwords will be vulnerable to hacking within seconds. Part of this problem is the way that users themselves structure their passwords . . . [more]

Almost two years ago, I wrote an article on eBooks and their application to a legal library. One trend I have noticed since then is that publishers now appear to be differentiating between “eBooks” and “online books”. “Online books” are those books that are available purely through databases or online platforms, such as Carswell’s eReference platform or CCH Online. By contrast, the term “eBook” is used to refer to books which are available in ePub (or other electronic formats) and which are intended for electronic devices. Licensing varies but generally online books are rented while eBooks are “owned” (subject to . . . [more]

This is the text of an email fraud alert sent by LAWPRO to our insureds on December 21, 2012.

Just this week LAWPRO has dealt with two firms that were the victims of major frauds on their trust accounts. The time just before the holidays should not be a time for bad thoughts and frauds targeting lawyers, but unfortunately the fraudsters aren’t cooperating. We frequently see an increase in fraud attempts around the holidays as the crooks behind these frauds will actually use the distractions of the holidays to help them dupe lawyers and law office staff.

In one case . . . [more]

Most lawyers and law firms know what they should be doing to maintain a secure computing environment in order to comply with ethics rules regarding confidentiality, as well as data breach notification laws. This list includes maintaining firewalls and up-to-date anti-virus and anti-malware, maintaining vigilance when opening attachments and surfing the Internet, using strong and different passwords for each important login, scrutinizing the security protocols of cloud providers, maintaining adequate backup files, and keeping operating systems patched. However, there are still reports almost daily of companies – and even law firms – experience breaches. What else can be done to . . . [more]

The Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner is calling on organizations to make privacy a part of their corporate culture. Dr. Ann Cavoukian, says it is not enough for organizations to have a privacy policy in place - they must take steps on an ongoing basis to make sure it is reflected in every aspect of their operations.

Dropbox has had more than its fair share of security issues over the last year, prompting many lawyers and technologists to advise against using the service, to employ additional layers of security, or to suggest alternative services such as Box. Despite all headwinds, Dropbox continues to be a widely-used service among lawyers, and is one of the fastest-growing cloud-based services anywhere.

To help address its perceived (and real) security issues, Dropbox has introduced two-factor authentication, a security update that it describes as “optional but highly recommended.”

I recently wrote about the benefits of two-factor authentication, and, . . . [more]

Having effective passwords for the myriad of sites that we need them for is getting harder. The best passwords are: long, not words, no pattern, include numbers, symbols and caps. We shouldn’t use the same one, or similar ones, twice, in case 1 gets compromised. And we should change them often.

Password cracking is getting easier all the time. This arstechnica article entitled Why passwords have never been weaker—and crackers have never been stronger goes into great detail, but the essence of it is:

The ancient art of password cracking has advanced further in the past five years than it . . . [more]