Cloud storage is tremendously useful and can play a valuable role in recovering from disasters, but it is not a backup. Understanding the difference could save you from a devastating data loss.

What Makes a Backup a Backup?

A true backup creates a separate copy of your files through a process that’s distinct from your normal saving. With cloud storage, saving is syncing—the moment you save a file (or it auto-saves), that exact version propagates everywhere. There’s no separate copy, just one file that exists in multiple places simultaneously.

With a real backup system like Time Machine, backing up is an independent operation. You work on your file, saving changes as you go, and separately, on its own schedule, Time Machine backs up that file. If something happens to that file at 2 PM, you can still recover it from the 1 PM backup.

Risks Not Mitigated by Cloud Storage

Why might you need a real backup? Computers and apps are significantly more reliable than they used to be, but they’re not perfect. Plus, human error is always a risk, and you can never discount the possibility of unexpected events.

Cloud storage won’t fully protect you from these scenarios:

• Inadvertent deletion: It’s all too easy to delete important files or folders. With cloud storage, those deletions are synced across all your devices and the cloud. (Though hopefully you can pull them out of the trash—never empty it immediately after deleting files.)
• Accidental changes: A misbehaving app could corrupt data in an important file, or, more likely, you could change or delete data within the file that you later decide was a mistake. With cloud storage, those changes sync instantly, making it difficult or impossible to revert.
• Account compromise: Cloud storage is protected only by your password. If you don’t use a strong, unique password, an online thief could use it to access your account and delete or encrypt your files.
• Account problems: Even if an attacker doesn’t compromise your account, if you lose the password, have billing issues, or do something that the provider considers a terms-of-service violation, you could be locked out of your account and all your files.
• Ransomware: If malware encrypts all your files, those encrypted files will be synced to the cloud and become unrecoverable everywhere. Ransomware isn’t a significant problem on the Mac today, but that could change at any time.

How to Back Up Cloud Storage Files

The solution to these problems is not to stop using cloud storage, but to back up your cloud storage files just like you back up everything else. However, there are two things to keep in mind when backing up cloud storage.

First, verify that the local copies of your cloud storage files are being backed up. By default, the local versions of cloud-based files are stored in ~/Library/CloudStorage/ for everything but iCloud Drive, which puts files in the hidden folder ~/Library/Mobile Documents/. Time Machine automatically backs up your entire user folder, including cloud storage folders, but other backup apps may exclude them.

Second, cloud storage services can optionally store data only in the cloud to save local disk space, showing just placeholder icons on your Mac. These cloud-only files won’t be backed up by Time Machine or most other backup apps, though Carbon Copy Cloner can download them, back them up, and then evict the local data to save space.

How do you ensure cloud storage files are also kept locally? All cloud services offer an option to Control-click a folder or file and choose a command like Keep Downloaded, Make Available Offline, or Always Keep on This Device. That works, but requires manual intervention.

For all the major cloud storage services other than Box, you can also set a preference to keep files locally at all times:

• iCloud Drive: Turn off System Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Optimize Mac Storage.
  
• Dropbox: Click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar and then, in Dropbox > Account > Preferences > Sync, choose Available Offline for the Default Sync Preference. Note that this applies only to new files!
  
• Google Drive: Click the Google Drive icon in the menu bar, click the gear menu, choose Preferences, click Google Drive, and select Mirror Files for the My Drive syncing options.
  
• OneDrive: Click the OneDrive icon in the menu bar, click More, click Preferences, and in the Preferences screen, make sure Files On-Demand is turned off.
  

What About Version History?

Most cloud storage services other than iCloud Drive offer version history, allowing you to restore previous versions of changed or deleted files. Version history provides a safety net against inadvertent deletions or modifications, but it’s not a substitute for comprehensive backups. It has two notable limitations:

• Time: Version history is typically limited to 30–180 days, depending on your plan. You might not realize you need a deleted file or that your database has become corrupted until after that window closes.
• Trouble: Restoring many files from version history can be tedious compared to restoring from a proper backup. It might be fine for a file or two, but recovering from a more significant disaster might be difficult.

The Real Value of Cloud Storage

None of this means cloud storage is useless for disaster recovery. If your Mac fails, is stolen, or is destroyed in a fire, you can access all your cloud storage files as soon as you sign in to your account from a new or repaired Mac. You can even get to them from an iPhone or iPad. That also applies to Web apps like Google Docs, where data is never stored locally.

But cloud storage won’t protect against accidental deletion, file corruption, ransomware, or account issues. For that, you need separate, independent backups of all your files—including those stored in the cloud.

(Featured image by iStock.com/ismagilov)

Social Media: Do you think using Dropbox or iCloud Drive means your files are backed up? Wrong. Delete or corrupt a file, and that change syncs everywhere instantly. Here’s why cloud storage isn’t a backup—and what to do about it.

If you read through this list and think, “I’m already doing all that,” then you’re done. Keep up the good work!

Back Up All Your Devices Regularly

The most important thing you can do to avoid digital disasters is to back up your data regularly. Bad things happen to good devices, like a Mac’s SSD failing, an iPhone falling into a pool, or data being lost due to theft, fire, or flood. With a solid backup plan, you can recover from nearly any problem.

For the Mac, the easiest way to back up is to use an external drive with Time Machine, but an off-site or Internet backup is also essential. Backblaze is a good choice, but there are numerous online backup services. For iPhones and iPads, it’s simplest to back up to iCloud, which automatically happens every night if you turn it on in Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Backup. You can also back up iPhones and iPads to your Mac if you do not have enough iCloud storage space. Apple Watches automatically back up to their paired iPhones, and that Watch data is included in iPhone backups, making restores straightforward. Whatever your setup, restore a few files periodically as a test to make sure your backups are working.

Always Install Security Updates

An important step to enhance your security is to install new operating system updates and security updates promptly after Apple releases them. While the specifics rarely make headlines because they are highly technical and detailed, you can gauge the significance of security updates by noting that a typical update fixes 10–30 vulnerabilities identified by Apple or external researchers. Other security updates include only one or two fixes, as they’re aimed at addressing zero-day vulnerabilities currently being exploited in the wild.

It’s usually wise to wait a few days after an update appears before installing it, in case it causes any undesirable side effects. Although such problems are rare, when they do happen, Apple quickly pulls the update, resolves the issue, and releases a new version, typically within a few days.

Use a Password Manager

We’ll keep emphasizing the importance of a password manager until passkeys—the replacement for passwords—become widespread, which will take years. Until then, if you’re still typing passwords manually or copying and pasting from a list stored in a file, please start using a password manager like 1Password or Apple’s Passwords, which is now pretty good. A password manager provides six significant benefits:

• It generates strong passwords for you. Password1234 can be hacked in seconds.
• It stores your passwords securely. Anyone walking by your unlocked Mac can read an Excel file on your desktop.
• It enters passwords for you. Wouldn’t that be easier than typing them in?
• It audits existing accounts. How many of your accounts use the same weak password, which has likely been stolen in multiple breaches?
• It lets you access passwords on all your devices. Logging in to websites is just as easy on the iPhone and iPad!
• It can store and enter two-factor authentication codes. Whenever possible, protect important accounts with two-factor authentication so even a stolen password won’t provide access.

A bonus benefit for families is password sharing. It allows couples to share essential passwords or parents and teens to share specific passwords.

Using a password manager is quicker, simpler, and more secure. If you need assistance getting started, reach out.

Beware of Phishing Email

Individuals and businesses often experience security breaches due to phishing, which involves fake emails that trick someone into revealing login details, credit card numbers, or other sensitive data. While spam filters catch many of these attacks, you must stay alert. Here’s what to watch out for:

• Any email that tries to get you to reveal information, follow a link, or sign a document
• Messages from unfamiliar people, asking you to take an unusual action
• Direct email from a large company for whom you’re an anonymous customer
• Forged email from a trusted source requesting sensitive information
• Urgent threats like “account locked,” “unauthorized charge,” or “action required”
• All messages that contain numerous spelling and grammatical mistakes

When unsure, avoid clicking the link or replying to the email. Instead, reach out to the sender via another method to verify the message’s authenticity. Legitimate companies—especially Apple, financial institutions, and cellular carriers—will never ask for your password or two‑factor codes by email, text, or voice.

Never Respond to Unsolicited Calls or Texts

Phishing attacks increasingly take place via texts and phone calls—and even some via deepfake audio and video. Because of weaknesses in the telephone system, these messages and calls can appear to come from trusted companies like Apple and Amazon. Other common scams warn about unauthorized logins or payments to trick recipients into calling scammers, advertise fake deliveries with malicious tracking links, or send fake two-factor authentication messages that prompt recipients to click a link to “secure” their account.

Avoid clicking links in texts unless you recognize the sender and it makes sense for you to receive that link. (For example, Apple might send text messages with delivery details for a recently placed order.) Never enter login information on a website you reach through a link because you can’t be sure it’s legitimate. Instead, if you’re interested in more details, go directly to the company’s official website by typing its URL into your browser, then log in from there.

For calls from companies, unless you’re expecting a callback regarding a support ticket you opened, don’t answer—caller ID can be spoofed. Let the call go to voicemail, and if you believe it’s important to respond, look up the company’s phone number from a reliable source and contact someone at that number instead of using the one provided by voicemail.

Avoid Anything Associated with Sketchy Websites

We won’t dwell on this last point, but it’s worth noting that you’re much more likely to encounter malware on fringe websites or those that cater to societal vices. The more you can steer clear of sites that deal with pirated software, cryptocurrency, adult content, gambling, or the sale of illicit substances, the safer you’ll be. That’s not to say reputable sites haven’t been hacked and used to spread malware, but such cases are far less frequent.

Don’t call numbers from pop‑ups or ads, don’t grant remote access, and don’t pay for any service you didn’t seek out unprompted. Instead, go directly to the company’s official site (type the URL) or contact us for help. And never paste commands into Terminal from websites or “verification” pages—you could install malware without realizing it. If you are worried after spending time in the darker corners of the Web, download a free copy of Malwarebytes and manually scan for malware.

Let’s raise a glass to staying safe online in 2026!

(Featured image by iStock.com/Marut Khobtakhob)

Social Media: Kick off 2026 with smart security habits: back up every device, stay current on software updates, outsmart phishing attempts, avoid sketchy sites, and streamline your logins with a password manager.

What about a safe? Would storing one or more backup drives in a safe provide adequate protection? Possibly, but the details are critical. Some safes are designed solely to guard against theft, focusing on preventing thieves from opening the door. However, paper ignites at 451ºF (it chars around 387ºF), and most house fires reach temperatures between 800ºF and 1200ºF, so you may think that all you need to do is look for a “fireproof” safe. That’s a good start, but paper is actually much more resilient than magnetic and optical media.

Fireproof safes come with ratings that indicate the internal temperature they can maintain, with the most common being:

• Class 350: Safes maintain an internal temperature of 350ºF, suitable only for paper.
• Class 150: Safes keep the interior below 150ºF, which should protect magnetic media.
• Class 125: Safes maintain temperatures under 125ºF, appropriate for optical media.

It is also important to determine how long the safe can maintain that temperature. Generally speaking, a fireproof safe is rated for 1 or 2 hours, indicating it can maintain the specified internal temperature for at least that duration. Time ratings represent minimums, not maximums, so the actual protection time may be longer.

In most cases, the protection time is likely to be longer. That’s because safes are tested in furnaces at temperatures that can be two to three times hotter than the average house fire. For example, Underwriters Laboratory (one of several independent testing labs) conducts tests at 1700ºF or 1850ºF. Additionally, while a house fire may burn for several hours, the average fire will consume everything near the safe within 20 minutes and then move on.

Wildfires are a different story. In extreme conditions, wildfire temperatures can range from 1500ºF to 2200ºF, approaching or exceeding the testing conditions. Wildfires also last longer, so a safe in a destroyed building may remain in embers for hours or even days before it can be recovered.

While temperature over time is the main factor to consider when researching a fireproof safe, also look for two other variables being mentioned as well:

• Water resistance: Where there’s fire, there’s usually water. Thousands of gallons of water, some of which will undoubtedly affect the safe. Not all fireproof safes are waterproof, so verify whether a specific safe can withstand being doused by firefighters.
• Impact protection: If the floor collapses, a safe on an upper story could fall a considerable distance. If you are considering such a location, ensure the safe can withstand the impact. To simulate realistic fire conditions, the test may involve withstanding a 30-foot drop onto a concrete floor, followed by reheating.

Finally, remember that if your safe is in a fire, the heat will cause its insulation to swell up, rendering the lock useless, regardless of its type. Typically, you will need to hire a locksmith to access the safe using instructions from the manufacturer.

If you’re going to trust your data to a fireproof safe, do your research to ensure that whatever you buy will meet your needs for fire, water, and impact protection. It won’t be cheap—depending on the size and other factors, a good fireproof safe can cost many hundreds or even thousands of dollars. However, this is one area where you definitely shouldn’t cut corners.

(Featured image based on originals by iStock.com/phive2015 and Hanna Plonsak)

While email service providers excel at their primary functions of sending, receiving, and storing emails, they prioritize availability and uptime over backup and recovery. Depending solely on their built-in protection systems can leave organizations vulnerable to data loss. Although it’s exceedingly rare for email service providers to lose data due to system failures—all modern email systems are distributed and replicated in virtualized storage—they cannot safeguard against every risk. Here are some scenarios we’ve encountered where a separate email backup solution was useful:

• Recover from human error: This is the big one. People often accidentally delete important messages or clean out old messages too aggressively, inadvertently including critical conversations in a mass deletion. Backups ensure that these messages can be retrieved.
• Ease employee turnover: When employees leave, it’s essential to deactivate their email accounts for security reasons. However, information in their accounts may be vital for ongoing projects or legal purposes. Backups preserve this data for future access.
• Mitigate cyber threats: Phishing attacks are commonplace today. If an employee falls victim to one, their email account could be compromised and data lost. Worse still, the attacker could install malware—even ransomware, though that’s not a significant real-world concern for Apple-only installations—that could result in email data loss. While training employees to recognize and avoid phishing attacks is crucial, backups provide an essential safety net for anyone who makes a mistake.
• Facilitate data migration and archiving: Organizations often need to migrate email data from one system or user to another. While it’s rarely necessary or desirable to migrate everything—all the mail from the past year may be sufficient—it can be helpful to maintain archival access to historical communications.

In fact, both Google and Microsoft explicitly state that they store data for only a limited time and recommend employing a backup service. (The specifics may differ, but generally, you can retrieve a deleted email within 30 days, after which it may be recoverable for an additional 14 or 30 days.) Numerous companies provide email backup services, many of which are quite similar. The list below highlights some of the most common services, but we encourage you to reach out for recommendations based on your email service provider and organization size.

• CloudAlly offers unlimited data retention and extends its backup capabilities beyond email to encompass platforms such as Box, Dropbox, and Salesforce.
• CubeBackup focuses exclusively on Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. It provides a cost-effective solution by allowing users to utilize their own local or remote storage.
• Backupify and Datto SaaS Protection are from the same company and offer the same backup capabilities, but they serve different market segments. Datto further enhances its branded services with a range of business continuity and data protection tools.
• Dropsuite provides unlimited storage and also supports QuickBooks Online backup. It features a flexible backup cadence, with email backups up to 12 times per day.
• MSP360 Managed Backup is a feature-rich solution that, while more complex and potentially more expensive than those from competitors, offers extensive customization and supports a wide range of storage providers.
• Spanning goes beyond Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 with Salesforce backups. It offers highly granular restores, enabling the recovery of individual emails. Its FLEXspend feature simplifies backup expenditures when transitioning between platforms.
• SpinBackup offers disaster recovery services at an affordable price point, and its developer, Spin.ai, provides a wide range of security solutions beyond backup, including data leak and ransomware protection.
• Synology Active Backup includes free add-ons for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 that back up cloud data to a Synology NAS. It’s an excellent solution for avoiding ongoing expenses.

As important as an email backup solution is for protecting against data loss, we urge you to proceed carefully when selecting one. If you end up with data that exists solely in a particular solution, legal retention requirements or the inability to export data in a non-proprietary format may lock you into paying for it indefinitely. Ideally, keep all data live so you can transition to a different solution to meet changing needs. Again, please contact us for help picking the most appropriate solution for your needs.

Protect Your Email — and Meet Compliance Requirements

Whether you’re managing a business, a professional office, or your personal communications, dedicated email backup and archiving are critical for protecting important information — and in some cases, meeting legal or regulatory compliance.

At MacTech Solutions, we can help you choose the right backup solution, set up compliant email archiving, or both — depending on your needs.

Stop by our store in Finishing Touch Plaza here in Wichita Falls, give us a call, or visit our website to schedule an appointment — although appointments are never required.

We’re your trusted local experts — ready to help you safeguard your email and your peace of mind.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Rasi Bhadramani)

App Failures

The most common problems occur in apps, where you have to worry about crashes and file corruption. (Cosmetic bugs and broken features are annoying, but apart from reporting them, there’s nothing you can do about them and they shouldn’t cause you to lose work.) To protect yourself from crashes and corruption, we recommend the following:

• Save new files immediately: Although many apps auto-save, not all do. Whenever you start a new file, save it immediately and frequently as you work. That way, a crash can’t cause you to lose everything you’ve done.
  
• Use always-on backup software: Backup software like Time Machine and Backblaze run throughout the day, making versioned backups that let you restore earlier versions of a file. Those backups can be a lifesaver if your document becomes corrupted.
• Make manual versions of critical files: For documents where losing work would threaten your continued employment, we recommend making manual versions at least daily, preferably on a cloud storage service. Append a version number to each file, and keep all the versions until you complete the project.

Connectivity Failures

As more of our work has moved online or requires access to online resources, always-available connectivity has become necessary. Many people feel incapable of getting things done without Internet access. Here are some workarounds:

• Be able to switch between Wi-Fi and Ethernet: If one method of connecting to your local network fails, switching to the other can let you get on with your work with minimal interruption. A wireless access point failure could send you to wired Ethernet, or Ethernet cable damage could make Wi-Fi the only option. One shortcut for this is to keep both network adapters active in System Settings > Network, so the Mac can use either.
  
• Turn on a personal hotspot: If your Internet connection goes down, the fastest way to get your Mac back online may be to connect to your iPhone’s personal hotspot. Set it up in Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot and choose it from your Mac’s Wi-Fi menu.
  
• Identify a public hotspot: Assuming you have a Mac laptop, the better part of valor may be to go somewhere with Internet access, whether a coffee shop, the public library, or the house of a friend or family member. If your problem falls outside business hours, you might even be able to access a public network from a nearby parked car.
• Purchase backup networking hardware: Organizations should maintain backups of their networking gear. In the event of hardware failure, being able to swap a backup router, access point, switch, or cable into place will minimize downtime. Make sure to record your networking configurations so you can configure the new devices quickly.

Storage Failures

Historically, the most failure-prone aspect of a Mac was its hard drive because of its moving parts and insanely tight tolerances. Flash storage used by solid-state drives is far more reliable and resilient to physical bumps and drops. However, it’s still in constant flux as macOS and apps constantly read and write data, so software bugs can result in directory errors and other forms of corruption. We recommend a three-part backup strategy to protect against storage failures—make sure to dedicate drives for backups rather than using them for general storage.

• Back up with Time Machine: Time Machine works well and is tightly integrated into macOS. Use it to create versioned backups of your data so you can restore either individual files or your entire drive.
  
• Make nightly duplicates: Bootable duplicates that could take over for a dysfunctional boot drive used to be an essential part of a Mac backup strategy, but the difficulty of making them and booting a Mac from an external drive has reduced their utility. Nevertheless, the fastest and easiest way to restore data is often by copying it from a duplicate. Duplicates also provide secondary backups if something were to go wrong with your Time Machine drive. Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper are the most popular backup apps for duplicates.
  
• Maintain Internet or offsite backups: In the event of fire, flood, or theft causing the loss of both your Mac and your backup, an offsite backup is a must. The easiest and most reliable method of making a backup somewhere else is an online backup service like Backblaze or Crashplan.
  

Overall Mac Failures

Macs may be reliable, but they’re still vulnerable to physical damage, particularly laptops you carry with you all the time. Bumps and drops can damage a screen or internal connectors that connect the keyboard and trackpad. You can do a few things to minimize the impact of a broken Mac.

• Use the desktop/laptop approach: Although Mac laptops are powerful and expandable enough for all but the most intensive tasks, supplementing a powerful desktop Mac with a less expensive laptop gives you more flexibility and provides a backup if your primary Mac fails.
• Maintain an extra keyboard, trackpad, and display: Getting your work done requires a functional keyboard, trackpad or mouse, and monitor. If any of those accessories were to fail, having an extra one around would let you get back to work with minimal fuss.
• Keep an old or extra Mac as a backup: Those relying on a single Mac should consider keeping an older Mac around as a backup if you have to send your current Mac to Apple for repair. This approach works only if your old Mac can run your current apps. An organization might maintain a backup Mac that could be temporarily swapped in for any employee’s broken Mac.
• Borrow a Mac from a colleague, friend, or family member: If you don’t have an extra Mac that’s sufficiently capable for your work needs, perhaps someone you know does. It’s easy to create a new user account that will keep your data and theirs separate and private. Start in System Settings > Users & Groups.
• Remember Apple’s 14-day return policy: If all else fails, remember that you can buy a Mac from Apple (in person or online) and return it with its included accessories and packaging within 14 days for a full refund. It’s a generous policy that shouldn’t be abused, but it could be a lifesaver if you’re under deadline when your Mac dies.

Of course, you’re welcome to call us for advice about working around any of these tech failures, but these suggestions should get you back in the saddle quickly and with minimal loss of work.

For more information on all the great Apple products, features, and services, give us a call!  940-767-MACS (6227).  Or stop by MacTech Solutions, 4020 Rhea Rd, Suite 3B, Wichita Falls.  We’re open Monday thru Friday, 10am to 6pm

(Featured image by iStock.com/fizkes)

Social Media: Macs may be more reliable than ever, but they still suffer from hardware and software failures. Follow our advice to minimize the impact of inevitable failures.

1. Update your old iPhone to the latest version of iOS. If you have an Apple Watch, update it to the latest version of watchOS. This process can take some time, so it may be best done overnight before you move data to your new iPhone.
2. Make sure you know your Apple ID and password, and if you have an Apple Watch, its passcode. You will likely have to enter them at least once during this process.
3. Back up your old iPhone to iCloud or your Mac. (If you back up to a Mac, be sure to encrypt the backup, or else it won’t include saved passwords, Wi-Fi settings, browsing history, Health data, and call history.) Or back up to both, for safety’s sake. We prefer iCloud backups because they’re easier and don’t introduce additional variables, like flaky USB cables. If you don’t usually back up to iCloud, Apple will give you temporary iCloud storage to make a backup when moving to a new iPhone. To initiate an iCloud backup, go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Backup and tap Back Up Now.
   
4. If you have an Apple Watch, you don’t need to unpair it from your old iPhone at this point in the process. (Later, if the automatic transfer has not worked, you can unpair it manually and pair it again later. If you end up taking the manual route and have a cellular Apple Watch, you’ll be asked if you want to keep or remove your plan. If you’re keeping your Apple Watch to re-pair with your new iPhone, keep the plan.)
5. You shouldn’t need to worry about transferring a SIM card. If you ordered your new iPhone through Apple and connected to your cellular carrier account during purchase, activating the new iPhone should cause it to take over your phone number. The same should be true if you’ve purchased directly through your carrier. Besides, it’s likely that iPhone 16 models sold in the US will rely on eSIM and lack SIM trays like the iPhone 15, so only non-US users might need to transfer the SIM card from the old iPhone to the new one. Even then, it’s better to contact your carrier and get them to activate the new SIM in the new iPhone because old SIMs don’t always support all current cellular features, such as full 5G support.
6. Transfer your data, settings, apps, and purchased content in one of these three ways. None of them will be quick, despite the first one’s name, so initiate the transfer only when you have plenty of time:
   • Quick Start: With the Quick Start feature, content from your old iPhone copies directly from your old iPhone to your new one. We recommend this technique because it’s more likely to preserve app logins, something that’s less true when restoring from an iCloud backup. Put your iPhones next to each other (plugged into power), use the old iPhone to scan the animation on the new one, and then follow the rest of the steps.
     
   • iCloud: With this technique, the new iPhone will download your content from your old iPhone’s iCloud backup. Once you’ve joined a Wi-Fi network on the new iPhone and tapped the Restore from iCloud Backup button, you’ll have to select the correct backup—likely the most recent one you just made. Keep your new iPhone plugged into power the entire time to ensure that all your content syncs during this step.
   • Finder or iTunes: With this approach, you’ll restore your old iPhone’s content from a backup made to your Mac. Connect your new iPhone to your Mac using an appropriate cable, open a Finder window (or iTunes on an old Mac), select your device in the left-hand sidebar, click Restore Backup, and choose the appropriate backup—likely the most recent one.
7. Perform post-transfer tasks. Ensure that you can make and receive a phone call. If necessary, pair your Apple Watch with the new iPhone. You’ll also need to pair your Bluetooth accessories—including AirPods—with your new iPhone. Plus, some app data needs to sync to your new iPhone, so open the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps and check if they have your data. It could take a few minutes for them to fill up. Apps may request notification permissions again, and you may need to download content and in-app purchases.
8. If you use two-factor authentication with an app like 1Password, Authy, or Google Authenticator, ensure you can get your 2FA codes using your new iPhone. 1Password and Authy are good about providing access to 2FA codes from multiple devices—just log in to your account from each device—but Google Authenticator may require some additional setup since it didn’t initially offer any way to transfer codes to a new phone.
9. Finally, if necessary, set up single sign-on for work or school. If your workplace or school uses a security system like Duo, you’ll likely want to activate your new iPhone and deactivate the old one. Using any device, navigate to a standard single sign-in login screen from your organization, look for a link for managing your logins, click that link, and follow the prompts.

Although Apple works hard to make the process of transferring from an old iPhone to a new one as painless as possible, some things may fail to transfer seamlessly. For that reason, we strongly recommend holding onto your old iPhone for a week or so to ensure the new one can do everything the old one could. During that time, put the new iPhone through its paces with an eye toward checking every app you need.

For more information on all the great Apple products, features, and services, give us a call!  940-767-MACS (6227).  Or stop by MacTech Solutions, 4020 Rhea Rd, Suite 3B, Wichita Falls.  We’re open Monday thru Friday, 10am to 6pm

(Featured image by iStock.com/valiantsin suprunovich)

Identify Devices, Chargers, and Cables to Bring

Resist the temptation to bring every piece of tech you have. Do you really need your iPad and MacBook Air if you’re not planning to work on vacation? Is a point-and-shoot camera worthwhile if you take most of your photos with your iPhone?

Once you’ve selected your preferred devices, think about charging. At a minimum, you’ll need chargers for all your devices every night. You may not find many power outlets or be able to access them easily, so a compact power strip is often helpful, especially if it comes with USB Type-A and USB-C ports. Multi-device wireless chargers can also reduce the number of wall chargers and cables. If you’re traveling abroad, a power adapter is essential—you can find units that support multiple devices.

Make sure to pack the right charging cables for your devices. Increasingly, that means USB-C cables, but remember that most public charging ports in airplanes and hotels will still be USB Type A, so bring an appropriate cable or adapter for such situations.

Portable battery packs can be a lifesaver, such as for late-night transit navigation after you’ve run down your iPhone’s battery taking photos and videos during the day. Unless the battery pack has integrated cables, ensure that you carry the right cables with you every day.

Prep Updates, Backups, Apps, and Entertainment

We always encourage staying up to date on operating system updates for security reasons. It’s especially important to update before leaving on a trip where you may be in less secure situations. Don’t leave those updates for the night before you leave! The device you’re updating won’t be usable while the update installs, which may be stressful, and in the rare case where something goes wrong, you’ll need extra time to recover. Always update your devices and apps at least a few days before leaving.

It’s also important to make backups before you leave. It’s easy for a device to be damaged, lost, or stolen while you’re traveling, and a backup is essential for recovery. For Macs, make sure your Time Machine and other local backups are current. For iPhones and iPads, iCloud backups are best while traveling because you can continue to back up while away, and if you have to replace a lost iPhone on the road, you can restore from your iCloud backup wherever you are.

You may find a new set of apps helpful on your trip, and some may be essential for checking in for flights, going through customs, and more. If you’re flying, configure your airline’s app to know about your flight and add your boarding passes to Apple’s Wallet app. Paper copies of travel documents are worthwhile in the event of your iPhone being damaged, lost, or stolen. Travel guides for specific locations and itinerary planners like TripIt may also be helpful, though you can also track your travel and itinerary in Notes, which you can share with fellow travelers. An app like Flighty can help you track your flights and better react to delays.

Even if you prefer Apple Maps or Google Maps, having the other available when you travel is worth it. One or the other may work better in certain places or with certain types of navigation, like city transit. Connectivity isn’t always guaranteed while traveling, so download maps ahead of time in both Apple Maps and Google Maps.

If you’re heading to a country where you don’t speak the language, make sure you can quickly access Apple’s Translate app. Also get Google Translate so you can find out which you prefer. Both translate text you enter, text you focus on with the camera, and the contents of conversations.

It’s always best to load enough ebooks, podcasts, and videos on your iPhone or iPad so you don’t run out of something to do during downtime when there’s no connectivity. With ebooks, if you’re not already using Libby to access your public library, give it a try. It’s easy to download episodes in most podcast apps. And nearly all streaming apps like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix allow downloading. That said, leave plenty of free space for taking photos and videos on your travels.

Investigate Cellular Connectivity Options

Cellular Internet access isn’t usually an issue when you travel within your home country as long as you don’t have a data cap. But when traveling internationally, you need to plan for how you’ll get cell service. Your carrier may have an international roaming plan, but those are often massively overpriced. Instead, look to an international roaming provider such as Airalo, Airhub, and Nomad.

Factors to consider when choosing an international roaming provider include the provider’s network coverage at your destination, how much data you’ll need, whether you’ll also need voice and SMS support, the duration of your trip, and whether your iPhone supports eSIM technology.

Protect Tech You Leave Home

Don’t forget the tech you’re leaving behind. Shut down your Macs and unplug anything not protected by an uninterruptible power supply. That way, a power surge or lightning strike won’t hurt anything.

Unplug your Time Machine and other local backup drives and hide them in a secure location—you don’t want to lose both your Mac and your backups in the event of a burglary.

If you use HomeKit, set up automations to turn lights on and off to make it seem like you’re home. Make sure you can remotely access home monitoring systems like security cameras. Consider a motion sensor like the Kini to report on doors or items that shouldn’t move (unauthorized access) or should move regularly (a scheduled pet sitter).

We know that can sound like a lot, but you want to avoid the aggravation of arriving at your destination only to discover that you forgot a necessary cable or can’t get Internet access. An excellent way to remember everything is to use an app like Packing Pro, which lets you develop (and reuse) lists of items and tasks.

Have a great trip!

For more information on all the great Apple products and features, give us a call today!  940-767-MACS (6227) MacTech Solutions, 4020 Rhea Rd, Suite 3B, Wichita Falls.  We’re open Monday thru Friday, 10am to 6pm

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Back Up All Your Devices

The most important thing you can do to stave off the slings and arrows of digital doom is to make regular backups. Bad things happen to good people, such as a Mac’s SSD failing, an iPhone accidentally falling off a boat, an Apple Watch breaking in a fall, or loss due to theft, fire, or flood. With a good backup strategy, you can recover from nearly any problem.

For the Mac, it’s easiest to back up with Time Machine to an external drive, but remember that an offsite or Internet backup is also essential. With iPhones and iPads, it’s easiest to back up to iCloud, which happens every night automatically if you turn it on in Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Backup, but you can also back up to your Mac if you don’t have sufficient iCloud storage space. Apple Watches automatically back up to their paired iPhones, so if you protect your iPhone, you can always restore your Apple Watch.

Keep Your Devices Updated

Another key thing you can do to protect your security is to install new operating system updates and security updates soon after Apple releases them. Although the details seldom make the news because they’re both highly specific and highly technical, you can get a sense of how important security updates are by the fact that a typical update addresses 10–30 vulnerabilities that Apple or outside researchers have identified. Some are even zero-day vulnerabilities that are already being exploited in the wild.

It’s usually a good idea to wait a week or so after an update appears before installing, on the off-chance that it has undesirable side effects. Although such problems are uncommon, when they do happen, Apple pulls the update quickly, fixes it, and releases it again, usually within a few days.

Use a Password Manager

We’ll keep banging the password manager drum until passkeys, the replacement for passwords, have become ubiquitous, which will take years. Until then, if you’re still typing passwords in by hand or copying and pasting from a list you keep in a file, please start using a password manager like 1Password or BitWarden. Even Apple’s built-in password manager and iCloud Keychain are fine, if not as fully featured as the others. A password manager offers five huge benefits:

• It generates strong passwords for you. Mypassword1 can be hacked in seconds.
• It stores your passwords securely. An Excel file on your desktop is a recipe for disaster.
• It enters passwords for you. Wouldn’t that be easier than typing them in manually?
• It audits existing accounts. How many of your accounts use the same weak password?
• It lets you access passwords on all your devices. Finally, easy logins on your iPhone!

A bonus benefit for families is password sharing. It allows couples to share essential passwords or parents and teens to share specific passwords.

Using a password manager is faster, easier, more secure, and better. If you need help getting started, get in touch.

Beware of Phishing Email

Individuals and businesses frequently suffer from security lapses caused by phishing, forged emails that fool someone into revealing login credentials, credit card numbers, or other sensitive information. Although spam filters catch many phishing attempts, you must always be on guard. Here’s what to watch for:

• Any email that tries to get you to reveal information, follow a link, or sign a document
• Messages from people you don’t know, asking you to take an unusual action
• Direct email from a large company for whom you’re an anonymous customer
• Forged email from a trusted source asking for sensitive information
• All messages that contain numerous spelling and grammar mistakes

When in doubt, don’t follow the link or reply to the email. Instead, contact the sender another way to see if the message is legit.

Never Respond to Unsolicited Calls or Texts

Although phishing happens mostly via email, scammers also use texts and phone calls. Thanks to weaknesses in the telephone system, such texts and calls can appear to come from well-known companies, including Apple and Amazon. Even worse, with so much online ordering, fake text messages pretending to help you track packages are becoming more common.

For texts, avoid following links unless you recognize the sender and it makes sense that you’d be receiving such a link. (For instance, Apple can text delivery details related to your orders.) Regardless, never enter login information at a site you’ve reached by following a link because there’s no way to know if it’s real. Instead, if you want to learn more, manually navigate to the company’s site by entering its URL, then log in.

For phone calls from companies, unless you’re expecting a call back from a support ticket you opened, don’t answer. Let the call go to voicemail, and if you feel it’s important to respond, look up the company’s phone number elsewhere and talk with someone at that number rather than the one provided by the voicemail.

Avoid Sketchy Websites

We won’t belabor this last one, but suffice it to say that you’re much more likely to pick up malware from sites on the fringes of the Web or that cater to the vices of society. The more you can avoid sites that revolve around pirated software, cryptocurrency, “adult” content, gambling, or sales of illicit substances, the safer you’ll be. That’s not to say that reputable sites haven’t been hacked and used to distribute malware, but it’s far less common.

If you are concerned after spending time in the darker corners of the Web, download a free copy of Malwarebytes or VirusBarrier Scanner and scan for malware manually.

Let’s raise a glass to staying safe online in 2024!

(Featured image by iStock.com/Bet_Noire)

1. Update your old iPhone to the latest version of iOS. If you have an Apple Watch, update it to the latest version of watchOS. This process can take some time, so it may be best done overnight before you move data to your new iPhone.
2. Make sure you know your Apple ID and password, and if you have an Apple Watch, its passcode. You will likely have to enter them at least once during this process.
3. Make a backup of your old iPhone to iCloud or your Mac. (If you back up to a Mac, be sure to encrypt the backup, or else it won’t include saved passwords, Wi-Fi settings, browsing history, Health data, and call history.) Or back up to both, for safety’s sake. We prefer iCloud backups because they’re easier and don’t introduce additional variables, like flaky USB cables. Apple will even give you temporary iCloud storage to make a backup when moving to a new iPhone. To initiate an iCloud backup, go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Backup and tap Back Up Now.
   
4. If you have an Apple Watch, you shouldn’t have to unpair it from your old iPhone to transfer it to the new one, but if the automatic transfer doesn’t work, you can unpair it manually and pair it again later. (If you take the manual route and have a cellular Apple Watch, you’ll be asked if you want to keep or remove your plan. Assuming that you’re keeping your Apple Watch to re-pair with your new iPhone, keep the plan.)
5. You shouldn’t need to worry about transferring a SIM card. If you order through Apple and connect to your cellular carrier account during purchase, activating the new iPhone should cause it to take over your phone number. The same should be true if you purchase directly through your carrier. Besides, it’s likely that iPhone 15 models sold in the US will rely on eSIM and lack SIM trays like the iPhone 14, so only non-US users might need to transfer the SIM card from the old iPhone to the new one. Even then, it’s better to contact your carrier and get them to activate the new SIM in the new iPhone because old SIMs don’t always support all current cellular features, such as full 5G support.
6. Transfer your data, settings, apps, and purchased content in one of these three ways. None of them will be quick, despite the first one’s name, so do the transfer when you have time:
   • Quick Start: With the Quick Start feature, content from your old iPhone copies directly from your old iPhone to your new one. We recommend this technique because it’s more likely to preserve app logins, something that’s less true when restoring from an iCloud backup. Put your iPhones next to each other (plugged into power), use the old iPhone to scan the animation on the new one, and then follow the rest of the steps.
     
   • iCloud: With this technique, the new iPhone will download your content from your old iPhone’s iCloud backup. Once you’ve joined a Wi-Fi network on the new iPhone and tapped the Restore from iCloud Backup button, you’ll have to select the correct backup—likely the most recent one you just made. Keep your new iPhone plugged into power the entire time to ensure that all your content syncs during this step.
   • Finder or iTunes: With this approach, you’ll restore your old iPhone’s content from a backup made to your Mac. Connect your new iPhone to your Mac using an appropriate cable, open a Finder window (or iTunes on an old Mac), select your device, click Restore Backup, and choose the appropriate backup—likely the most recent one.
7. Perform post-transfer tasks. Ensure that you can make and receive a phone call. If necessary, pair your Apple Watch with the new iPhone. You’ll also need to pair your Bluetooth accessories—including AirPods—with your new iPhone. Plus, some app data needs to sync to your new iPhone, so open the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps and check if they have your data. It could take a few minutes for them to fill up. Apps may request notification permissions again, and you may need to download content and in-app purchases.
8. Finally, and this post-transfer task is becoming increasingly important, if you use two-factor authentication with an app like 1Password, Authy, or Google Authenticator, ensure you can get your 2FA codes using your new iPhone. 1Password and Authy are good about providing access to your 2FA codes from multiple devices—just log in to your account from each device—but Google Authenticator may require some additional setup since it didn’t originally offer any way to transfer codes to a new phone.

Although Apple works hard to make the process of transferring from an old iPhone to a new one as painless as possible, some things may fail to transfer seamlessly. For that reason, we strongly recommend holding onto your old iPhone for a week or so to ensure the new one can do everything the old one could. During that time, put the new iPhone through its paces with an eye toward checking every app you need.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Jozsef Zoltan Varga)

If your iPhone were to be stolen or suffer an unfortunate accident, would you lose all your precious photos? Those using iCloud Photos are probably shaking their heads smugly, thinking that all those baby and vacation photos are backed up securely in iCloud. iCloud Photos does indeed store a copy of all your photos, but you shouldn’t assume that everything in it is completely protected. Although it’s extremely unlikely that Apple’s systems would fail so that you’d lose anything, the contents of your iCloud account aren’t as safe as would be ideal.

An Aside to Explain Why iCloud Isn’t Perfectly Secure

Recently, Wall Street Journal reporters Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen covered a troubling form of crime aimed at iPhone users in an article (paywalled) and accompanying video. Thieves hang out in bars, looking for users who tap in their passcodes instead of using Face ID or Touch ID. Once they’ve learned someone’s passcode with surreptitious shoulder surfing, they grab the iPhone and run. As soon as they’re clear, they use the passcode to change the user’s Apple ID password and enable or reset a recovery key, which prevents the user from employing Find My to locate and lock the iPhone. Worse, with the passcode, they can make purchases with Apple Pay, access all passwords in iCloud Keychain, and use other information on the iPhone to facilitate identity theft. It’s a disaster.

But it gets worse, as the reporters detail in a new Wall Street Journal article (paywalled) and video. By enabling a recovery key, the thief disables Apple’s normal account recovery process for resetting the Apple ID password. In other words, if this were to happen to you, along with all the financial losses and headaches, you would lose access to your iCloud account, possibly forever, and with it, all your photos in iCloud. With luck, Apple will block this attack soon.

For now, follow this commonsense advice to reduce the chances of being victimized:

• Pay attention to your iPhone’s physical security in public.
• Always use Face ID or Touch ID in public.
• If you must enter your passcode in public, conceal it from anyone nearby.
• Never share your passcode beyond highly trusted family members.

Backing Up Your iPhone Photos

As with so many other modern ills, good backups go a long way toward minimizing the pain of problems. They won’t prevent someone from stealing your iPhone or locking you out of your account, but if that were to happen, at least you won’t lose all your photos!

There are two possible backup scenarios. Using iCloud Photos and downloading originals to your Mac is easiest but requires that you pay Apple for more storage if you have more than a handful of photos. If you don’t use iCloud Photos, you can just back up your iPhone to your Mac or, better yet, import images into Photos on the Mac and then sync them back. It’s more work and fussier, but doesn’t cost anything.

• iCloud Photos: When using iCloud Photos, the trick to protecting your pictures is to sync the originals with your Mac. In Photos > Settings/Preferences > iCloud, select Download Originals to this Mac. The only downside of this approach is that you need enough disk space on your Mac to hold them all; if that’s not the case, you may need to move your system Photos Library to an external hard drive.
  
• iPhone-only photos: If you aren’t using iCloud Photos, the best approach is to connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB-to-Lightning cable or Wi-Fi and then import new snapshots into Photos on your Mac manually (select the iPhone in the Photos sidebar). It’s helpful to remove the original photos from the iPhone with the Delete Items checkbox after importing so you can manage them solely on the Mac.
  
  Then you can sync all the photos (or just desired ones, if your iPhone is low on space) back to your iPhone using the Finder. First, select the iPhone in a Finder window’s sidebar. Then click Photos in the button bar at the top, and select “Sync photos to your device from Photos” along with “All photos and albums” and “Include videos” in the options below. Finally, click Apply or Sync.
  
  Technically speaking, backing up your iPhone to your Mac without syncing to Photos also backs up your photos, but the only way to get them back is to restore a backup onto an iPhone. It’s much better to have all the photos accessible in Photos too.

Either way, once the photos are on your Mac, you should back up all your data using Time Machine, an Internet service like Backblaze, or a third-party app like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. If you’re concerned about the quality of your backups for preserving photos, contact us for advice.

(Featured image by iStock.com/metamorworks)

Do you enroll all organizational devices in a device management solution?

With device management, an IT department or managed services provider (MSP) maintains oversight and control over all organizational devices. That’s helpful for automating configuration and deployment, providing secure access to organizational resources, ensuring consistent security policies, managing app and operating system updates, tracking device inventory and status, and much more.

Do you have an organization-wide backup strategy with offsite backups?

Regular backups—some stored offsite—are essential if you need to recover from lost or stolen hardware, a natural disaster, or a ransomware attack. Even though ransomware isn’t currently a major problem in the Mac world, it wouldn’t hurt to start creating immutable backups using “write once, read many” tape or something like Retrospect’s Cloud Object Lock, a technology that ensures that cloud-based backups can’t be corrupted. Finally, have you tested restoration and recovery of key systems from your backup data? Backup is important, but only if you can restore.

Do you have a policy for updates?

It’s essential to install security-related updates to operating systems and major apps, but how quickly that happens has to be weighed against problems that version changes can cause for important workflows. There’s no right answer here, but you want to make sure that you aren’t leaving your organization’s apps and devices vulnerable to known security exploits for longer than necessary.

Do you have a strong password management policy?

Short, easily guessed, or cracked passwords are one of the primary ways attackers breach corporate networks and systems. At minimum, your password management policy should require that all passwords be stored in a password manager, new passwords be generated by the password manager and meet minimum requirements for strength, and two-factor authentication be used when available.

Do you use an endpoint protection platform?

Endpoint protection is essentially software aimed at preventing and detecting malware on employee workstations, often with an organizational dashboard and management capabilities. Although the Mac doesn’t have nearly the exposure to malware that Windows does, it’s still important to keep computers free of malware that could hurt performance, exfiltrate data, or provide an entry point for future attacks. Endpoint protection is usually part of a larger managed systems approach that can also ensure that devices adhere to security policies like full disk encryption, run only approved software, stay up to date with security updates, and more.

Do you have a list of sensitive data on your network?

Exactly what counts as sensitive data will vary by organization, but anything related to network and corporate security qualifies, as does any personally identifiable information you may hold about or for clients. It’s not uncommon to store information about people that includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, and postal addresses, but you should be even more careful if you store Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, driver’s licenses, passports, financial records, or medical records. Knowing what you have is the first step; after that, consider what additional precautions you should take to protect such information.

Do you provide periodic anti-fraud and security training to employees?

Social engineering is another common way attackers gain access to corporate networks and systems. Does your organization require that all employees take regular training to learn how to identify phishing attacks, require appropriate approvals for unusual transactions or access requests, and report suspected incidents to the necessary people? If an administrative aide in the accounting department gets an email request from the CEO to pay an urgent invoice to a new vendor, will that person know how to respond?

Do you allow access to organizational email and systems from personal devices?

It’s tempting to allow users to access their email from personal devices or to have contractors use their personal email addresses for work communications. We recommend keeping as clear a line as possible between work and personal devices and accounts to reduce the security implications of such mixing. Particularly when there’s sensitive information in play, personal email addresses should never be used for work communications, and if personal devices are being used, they should be set up with two-factor authentication for organizational logins.

Do you have incident and disaster response plans?

Bad things happen, and it’s important to consider how you would respond to different types of security incidents and natural disasters. How will your organization maintain crucial business operations, communicate with employees, coordinate with partners (insurance, legal, PR, and clients), and more? Is your plan written down and updated regularly? Have you tested key aspects of your plan?

We know there’s a lot to think about regarding security in today’s world, and we’re always available to help if you’d like assistance answering any of the above questions.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Bulat Silvia)

It’s tempting to think that your business is too small or unimportant to be targeted in a Russian cyberattack. While that may be true of direct infiltration by individual Russian hackers, many cyberattacks are carried out indiscriminately by bots—the ultimate is the DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack that uses compromised computers and Internet-of-things devices to flood a targeted server or company with an unmanageable amount of random Internet traffic. Plus, a common hacking approach is to compromise an account on one seemingly unrelated system as a stepping stone to another, more secure system.

There’s nothing new here—we’ve been encouraging everyone to take cybersecurity seriously for years now. But the threat is now more serious than ever before. So, here’s what we suggest—if you need help with any of this, don’t hesitate to contact us.

• Be vigilant: The most common way that hackers gain entry into computer systems is through an employee opening a malicious attachment or being fooled into entering credentials into a fake website. Implement or refresh security awareness training that teaches employees how to recognize suspicious email, identify phishing attempts, and report appropriately.
• Use good password practices: Make sure that everyone uses strong, unique passwords that are created, stored, and entered using a password manager. Password managers also identify weak passwords and those that have been compromised in security breaches—ask everyone to audit their passwords and update any that aren’t secure. (But there’s no reason to change good passwords willy-nilly.)
• Implement 2FA: Whenever possible, require two-factor authentication, which provides extremely strong protection against remote intrusion given that a compromised password is no longer sufficient.
• Keep software up to date: Install all software and operating system updates on all platforms. In its security update notes, Apple often says that particular vulnerabilities are actively being exploited—it’s crucial to install such updates immediately. If you use anti-malware software (essential for Windows; less so for macOS), keep its signatures current.
• Backup regularly: Ensure that all systems are backed up regularly, and for your most important data, make sure backups are protected from ransomware encryption by storing them offline or using object locking on a cloud storage service. Be sure to test your backups regularly as well—backing up is the first step, but being able to restore is what’s necessary.
• Increase monitoring: Keep a centralized record of all employee reports of suspicious behavior to better identify attack patterns and targeted systems. Whenever possible, make sure server and network device logging is enabled so any incidents can be investigated more fully. Turn on any anomaly reporting capabilities in backup and other security-related apps.
• Plan for the worst: Develop or revisit business continuity and crisis response plans. For instance, discuss how you’d deal with losing Internet connectivity, being locked out of key online accounts, or having all your data rendered inaccessible by ransomware.

There’s no reason to panic, but the increased threat from Russian cyberattacks is a good excuse to focus more attention on digital security. The Internet makes astonishing things possible, but it also opens us up to attacks that would previously have been inconceivable. Stay safe out there.

(Featured image by iStock.com/BeeBright)

(Featured image by Western Digital)

(Featured image based on originals by Denny Müller on Unsplash and Mahir Uysal on Unsplash)