Podcast 1: Good Cyber Security Starts at Home

06/01/2020

Welcome to our new podcast 'NCI Techcast' where we discuss the latest IT news and views that all small to medium businesses need to know!

Hosted by NCI Technologies' marketing and tech gurus, Joanna Williams and James Scott. Tune in for a discussion on all things business and tech with a side order of humour and informality. We're trying our best to make IT exciting and a bit less blah!

Our first podcast focuses on good cyber security practises at home, after all good cyber habits start there! Click below to tune in to hear more and if you really love us give us a follow on Spotify!

In this episode your will find

0.01 - Welcome to NCI Techcast

0.34 - Why are we discussing cyber security at home? This is a business IT podcast!

2.15 - Using trusted websites

3.26 - Should we only trust the big named websites?

4.23 - How else can we stay cyber safe?

5.30 - Safe online ordering

6.35 - Using PayPal or Google Pay

7.40 - Using secure passwords

9.07 - Storing passwords safely

12.00 - Final cyber security top tips - 2FA

13.55 - Final cyber security top tips - think before you click

14.30 - Final cyber security top tips - don't overshare information

15.30 - Thanks for joining the NCI Techcast

A short transcript of the show is just a brief scroll down the page.

 

We would love your feedback and suggestions!

We're open to the good, the bad and the constructive (please don't send us ugly feedback as we might cry). Leave your thoughts on this page or send us your feedback here.

Meet our Hosts

Fancy putting a face to a voice? Find our hosts on Linkedin. Follow Joanna Williams here or James Scott here.

 

Podcast Transcript

Joanna: Welcome to the NCI Techcast. The business IT podcast from NCI Technologies. Our debut podcast will be focusing on Cyber Security at home and NCI Technologies’ resident IT Executive and tech guru will be offering his views and advice on today’s topic.

Joanna: Hi James and welcome to the NCI Techcast, thanks for joining me today.

James: Thanks Joanna, I'm glad to be here today.

Joanna: The first question is why are we talking about cyber security at home and not in the office? This is a business IT podcast.

James: Firstly, because if we start with good practice at home and look after ourselves then this comes with us to work and makes our workplaces a safer.

Joanna: So how should we be keeping cyber safe at home?

James: I’m going to give five things that you can do to keep safe, but before I do I would just like to say that things go wrong for all of us from time to time. This is not something to be embarrassed about. In fact you should do just the opposite to your gut reaction of covering things up so you don’t look stupid. Please talk to someone, it may be a friend, someone at work or the police but the criminals that do this type of crime must be stopped.

Joanna: So what is the first thing we should do?

James: The first thing you should do when using the internet is to make sure that you trust the website that you are using. There are lots of technical things you can look for, but what you must ask yourself is do you trust this source? When you are looking for news on the internet do you place higher trust in a news service like the BBC or CNN or little Jimmy's news site that he has made in his bedroom? The same applies when you are shopping online. Do you trust a major retailer like Amazon or a name that you know from the high street or do you trust a company that you have never heard of before?

Joanna: So are you saying that we should only trust big names?

James: No, all I am saying is that if we don’t know who is behind a website that we should look a little bit closer and research the company, read reviews and such like before we give them our information and credit card.

Joanna: You also mentioned that there are other things that we can do to stay safe. Can you highlight these for us?

James: Yes, so the first thing that you should always do is make sure that you have a little padlock in the address bar of your browser.  Then when you are on a web page check for things like a real address not just a PO box and a phone number as well.

Joanna: So once I have found a site I trust am I safe to place an order?

James: Yes, but there are things that you can do to protect yourself when ordering on line. This leads on to my number one tip for online shopping, use a credit card not a bank or debit card.

Joanna: Why do you recommend this?

James: This is because your credit card has in built protection. If anything goes wrong with your shopping experience or your card details become compromised then you are protected. This is not true if you use a debit card. I even go so far as to have a special card that I use for online shopping with a very low limit.

Joanna: Some websites I shop on have a pay by PayPal or google pay, am better to use these?

James: Using these services give you a quicker recourse should you have a problem but still use a credit card.

Joanna: So what is next on your security list of recommendations?

James: This is always a hard one for me because I am never sure what order to put the next two in. I think I am going to go for passwords next as this is a two for one. So a question for everyone who is listening to this podcast, how many of you use the same password for everything? Come on be honest with yourself, you know that you keep using the same password over and over again. This is really bad practice. This means that if you use a website that gets hacked through no fault of your own and the criminals steal a list of passwords they have your keys to all the other services that use that specific password.

Joanna: But James, it can be really difficult to remember lots of passwords. Is there anything that can help me do this?

James: This is where the magic of a password manager comes in. It will create a complex password for each service that you use and then it will remember them for you.

Joanna: Is this a safe way to store your passwords?

James: Again this comes down to trust. I use a service that I have to pay for because I trust it. You have to ask yourself if you use one of the free services how are they funding their business.

Joanna: Who do you recommend people use?

James: RememBEAR, I trust the service and I like the bear.

James: So as a recap use strong passwords and have different passwords on each site you use.

Joanna: And what would your final Cyber Security top tips be?

James: They would be to always use 2FA (two factor authentication), don’t click unsolicited links or files (you are liable to be infected with malware and other nasties) and don’t give away too much information online.

Joanna: Thanks for your input and views today James and a big thanks to our listeners for joining us for our very first podcast. If you have any feedback or any topic suggestions email us at info@ncitech.co.uk. Don’t forget to tune in to our next edition of the NCI Techcast where we will be discussing all things business IT. Until then Techcast fans!

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