Tool Approval: You could include a note about a procedure to approve AI tools before they’re used, especially for work that involves private or company-sensitive information, such as “Before using a new AI tool, check with the security or IT team… Make sure it’s on the approved list.”

Human Accountability: Consider stating that they, the person, not AI, are ultimately responsible for decisions and documents they send out. AI suggestions should be reviewed by someone who understands the context, especially since AI is prone to hallucinations, trying to please the user, and being out of alignment with your culture. For example, “If an AI tool writes an email or gives advice… read it before sending it out or acting on it.”

Confidentiality Protection: Remind employees not to share confidential company or customer information with AI platforms unless approved. Such as “Don’t copy and paste customer names, contracts, or financial reports into any AI tools unless explicitly approved in writing.”

Incident Reporting: To help drive home the seriousness of privacy, tell them to notify you with wording such as “If an AI tool shares the wrong info or leaks something by accident… report it like you would a security breach.”

Usage Boundaries: You could state what activities are acceptable to use AI (e.g., summaries, brainstorming) and where AI is not allowed (e.g., signing contracts, making hiring decisions) such as “AI can help draft ideas or summarize documents and produce narratives… but don’t use it to make final calls on people or legal stuff.”

Work Documentation: Consider telling people to save a copy (or cc someone) of all AI-generated work outputs, especially if they’ll be used in decisions or presented to clients. For example, you could say, “If an AI tool creates something you plan to use or send… save a copy of the input and output so we can check it later if needed.”

Ethical Guidelines: Include something about the ethical use of AI tools, such as: “Only use AI tools in ways that are ethical, fair, and respectful of others. Just because a tool can do something doesn’t mean it should.”

Risk Assessment: You could also get them to think a little more by saying, “Before using AI for something any task… ask yourself: could this create bias, mislead someone, or share something private? Ask us if you have any doubt.” (you might want to replace “us” with a specific person).

Harassment Prevention: Address using AI for harassment or anything that violates someone’s rights. For example: “Never use AI tools to create or spread harmful, threatening, or harassing content. Report it right away if you see it.”

Societal Impact: You could also include text to get your team thinking about AI’s effects on people and society. For example, “When using AI, ask whether it could hurt someone’s rights or reputation or lead to larger problems in society… If in doubt, stop and ask.”

Mandatory Training: Providing training is essential for AI use. Include a clause that employees must participate in training about responsible AI use. You could phrase it: “We’ll offer training to help you understand how to use AI safely and fairly… and you must participate.”

Approved Tools: Mention the AI tools you have approved. You might say, “The only allowed AI tool(s) at (your organization’s name) is/are the (tool or tools) using the identity and credentials you’ve been provided by (your organization’s name). No other versions, nor any other AI tools, are allowed and are expressly prohibited unless explicitly approved ahead of time by (person’s or department’s name). Don’t sign up for AI tools using your work email or passwords unless approved.”

Usage Monitoring: Some tools help your IT team track and block access to AI tools. You might consider adding some accountability, such as: “AI usage can be so dangerous that we are keeping records of which tools you use so we can refer to that information later if there are any problems.” (This is an example of when it is essential to ask your organization’s legal counsel whether monitoring what sites they go to is okay.)

Data Ingestion: Caution them about the ingestion of data. An example would be, “Be aware that AI tools with document or email access permissions may ingest, index, and learn from content you create, even if you delete it later, from documents you save, including spreadsheets and letters, and unsent emails. Even if you delete content later, the information may remain accessible through AI systems that have previously processed it. Never enter sensitive, confidential, or potentially problematic content into any document or email draft, even temporarily. If you use the previously common practice of typing emotion-filled documents while “venting,” even if you never intend to share the information, use handwritten methods rather than documents or email messages.”

Meeting Privacy: Be sure to address that online meetings are no longer completely private due to AI. Something like, “Know that meetings are no longer private spaces to have conversations. Content discussed in meetings may be captured in AI-generated transcripts, summaries, or recordings, making even previously casual conversations potentially discoverable in legal proceedings. Avoid discussing sensitive personnel matters, confidential information, or ‘off-the-record’ topics in meetings where AI transcription or summarization tools are active. With some commonly used operating systems and tools, this recording is always enabled and difficult to block.”

Summary Review: Give guidance on meeting summaries, such as “Disable automatically sending AI-generated meeting summaries to attendees. As the meeting organizer, you must review summaries to ensure accuracy before sending them. AI technology can be prone to hallucinations and errors in transcription, especially if the audio quality is less than optimal. People may use the summaries to make decisions, so the summaries must be accurate.”

Policy Updates: Document that you’ll be updating your policy regularly. You could include “Check this policy at least once a month or when we ask you to. We will update it as new tools, laws, risks, or AI-related situations arise.”

I’m not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice; check with your legal counsel. These are essential aspects that some organizations later wish they’d included after they experience a bad outcome. As you review this list, you may think of other aspects specific to your organization or industry that you want to include.

A solid AI policy is essential. Please forward this to your friends so they can help ensure they’ve included often overlooked parts, too.

The post The Executive’s AI Policy Checklist: Is Yours Missing These Essential Clauses? appeared first on Foster Institute.

AI models are trained to align with human values and never tell people how to cause harm. This is called “AI Alignment” training. New research reveals advanced AI models can give answers that demonstrate harmlessness during training and testing, only to drop the “harmless” act while operating in the real world. This doesn’t mean AI will hurt us all soon, but it raises serious concerns about whether the models are actually aligned with human interests.

To score well on your exams, did you ever choose answers you knew the professor wanted, even if you disagreed? Surprisingly, advanced AI systems seem to have developed a similar capability, giving fake answers to match what trainers want during AI alignment training. Scientists at Anthropic, an AI company valued at $18 billion and backed by Amazon and Google, explored this phenomenon in their paper “Alignment Faking in Large Language Models” in December 2024.

But hold on; those two paragraphs are written from the perspective that AI is like a human. It is essential to remember that AI models don’t have intentions or motivations like humans do. The observed behavior is not a conscious decision to deceive humans but results from the training process. Rest assured that scores of people are working on solving this problem and keeping AI results “safe” for humanity. When alarmist people predict AI will get out of control, it is more that our programming is flawed; most of us do not believe AI is making conscious decisions.

For businesses using AI tools, this means, from now on, to use AI responsibly, you must evaluate AI answers in two ways:

1. As always, check if the AI is hallucinating and giving wrong information accidentally
2. And now, pay attention to whether the AI’s responses align with your values and safety guidelines

The research published in the aforementioned article suggests that in regular conversations when AI doesn’t “think” it is being trained or tested, it’s more likely to give straightforward responses based on its core training.

Unfortunately, the discovery that advanced AI has evolved to give fake answers gives skeptics another reason not to trust AI.

As AI becomes more powerful, business leaders must be cautious and aware of risks as well as benefits.

My speeches about AI have focused primarily on its benefits. I’m creating new presentations about managing the emerging AI security risks that responsible business leaders must consider.

As AI becomes more powerful, business leaders must be cautious and aware of risks and benefits. At least I know my dog isn’t lying to me… I hope.

The post Your Advanced AI Models Are Now Learning to Give Fake Answers appeared first on Foster Institute.

What the Smartphone-Based Telescope Pointing Technology Does to Make Astronomy Easier:

The big deal is that smartphone technology makes finding elusive planets, nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies relatively easy, even for beginners. Even advanced telescope users will be amazed at how quickly they can locate objects in the sky.

The smartphone system leverages the technology in your smartphone to create an advanced guidance system without you needing to pay for the electronics your phone already has. The question is, “Why didn’t anyone think of this before?”

How it works: The telescope has a cradle for your smartphone that allows you to use your smartphone to find objects in the sky quickly and easily. You choose an object, asking the app for suggestions if you wish. Then, the app on your phone tells you which direction to push the telescope.

One appeal is that astronomy is now somewhat gamified. Family members, even the youngest ones, can experience the excitement of moving around the telescope until the circle on the screen shows that the user has successfully completed the process. Looking into the eyepiece is the reward for the fun game.

There is no need to hunt for galaxies and nebulas from a star chart. The telescope app takes you on a tour by showing you which way to point the telescope.

This is stargazing made easy. If you like new technologies, enjoy gadgets, or want to create more family experiences combined with education, investing in a telescope with this smartphone-based technology for you or someone in your family, especially a young person, is worth considering. Not everyone’s interested in investing in a telescope. At the bottom of this article are ideas for no charge resources to enjoy astronomy.

Choosing Your Family Telescope with the SmartPhone Tech:

After learning about this game-changing technology, you might decide to invest in a new family telescope as an experiment. The following sample thought process might benefit you as you choose a telescope.

For this to make sense, know that traditional guided telescopes tended to be large and heavy. Cats loved running out the open door while their people took large telescopes outside. After adjusting the tripod’s legs to ensure the telescope was level, owners would need a compass, bubble level, two bright stars, and a cumbersome controller that asked for the date, time, and the nearest city. Then, they would need to align the mirrors. The entire process took around 30 minutes if everything went well.

Hence, one of your goals for the new telescope might be a “quick and easy” setup, so you might choose a refractor with no mirrors. In their defense, mirrored telescopes are much more economical if you opt for larger openings that gather more light. However, they require the extra step of aligning the mirrors to make celestial objects look sharp and crisp each night. And a diagonal mirror in the tube blocks some of the light from the heavens.

Another goal is to have a very portable telescope. Many people find that a refracting telescope with a 4-inch opening is a good balance to gather a reasonable amount of light while still being easy to carry in and out of the house and fit into a vehicle. Plenty of brighter objects are visible in a 4-inch telescope, but I caution you against going smaller. A 4” scope gathers almost twice as much light as a 3” scope since Pi r squared. If you go larger, consider the possibility that the larger the scope you choose, the less often it will be carried outside and set up.

Of course, you don’t want to invest too much money in case your family isn’t captivated by the new experience. Perhaps compare the amount to what a large amusement park would charge your family for a one-day pass. Hopefully, the telescope will provide years of enjoyment compared to one day. Saving up first in a dedicated telescope fund can help build excitement in family members.

Here’s the setup process for the telescope described above:

1. Carry the lightweight telescope to your yard.
2. Center your smartphone’s camera over a mirror on the phone cradle on the telescope.
3. Open the guidance app on your phone and follow the quick alignment process.

The process is so quick and easy that if a tree or streetlight is in the way of what you want to see, you can pick up the telescope and move it to have an unobstructed view. Re-aligning the telescope and the app takes only a few minutes after you’ve practiced.

Unlike the simple telescope guidance system described here, which amounts to you pushing the telescope, the primary advantage of more expensive motorized guidance systems is that most will track and stay on a star as the earth turns. That’s essential if you’re performing serious astrophotography, but that’s an entirely different sport. Tracking is helpful, too, even for families, since objects stay centered in the eyepiece. But this message is for families who want to invest less money and enjoy great benefits. The smartphone guidance technology is a massive boost in less expensive models that allow for the easy location of so many celestial objects.

Benefits to Your Family:

You might be amazed how many beneficial outcomes for you and your family can result from investing in a telescope with smartphone guidance technology.

Enjoyment: The gamified process of finding celestial objects is fun, and the reward is the view of the object in the eyepiece

Reduced screen time: If your family is interested in astronomy enough to postpone other screen time, it will be a welcome surprise. One smartphone will be tied up using the telescope, and another might sometimes be attached to the eyepiece to take pictures.

Family quality time: Astronomy provides another avenue to enjoy quality family time. Combine observing sessions with cookouts, visits from relatives, and other occasions. It’s another way to bust out of an evening humdrum.

More short trips: If you live in an area with lots of light pollution, know that the moon, some planets, and bright stars are still beautiful to look at from home. You’ll likely be able to see many satellites as bright points of light moving quickly across the sky, especially soon after nightfall. After your family enjoys those, you’ll have a great reason to drive to darker skies to see distant nebulas and galaxies. A small-sized telescope is relatively easy to transport.

Increased interest in science: With so many events related to space, rockets, satellites, the moon, and Mars, this is a natural time to interest your family in astronomy. Most launches are streamed live online. Maybe you have a dreamer interested in going to Mars. Some planetarium shows are spectacular if you’re fortunate to be within driving distance. Telescopes outside the Earth’s atmosphere get extremely clear views, like the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope, and many of the pictures they’ve taken are available on the web to help fascinate family members.

Help develop math and science skills: Astronomy is also an opportunity to include math education. Magnification is determined by taking the telescope’s focal length and dividing that by the eyepiece’s focal length. A favorite is a 12 mm eyepiece in a telescope with a 660mm focal length. 660 divided by 12 yields 55 magnification. You could have a family activity in which you imagine the sun is the size of a basketball and then calculate the diameter and distance of the planets, nearby stars, etc. There are many homeschool guides that you can use even if you don’t homeschool.

Achieving goals: You and your family can set goals and challenges to find objects. For example, some people set a goal of finding a specific number of Messier objects. The Astronomical League offers an award for people who view 70 and another for people who find all Messier objects. The smartphone-based telescope-aiming technology makes the process exponentially easier than before. In the 1700s, astronomer Charles Messier was looking for comets and cataloged 110 objects that weren’t comets. The objects are labeled M1 through M110. Viewing M42, the Orion Nebula, should be on your winter nighttime list (or early on summer mornings).

An even higher appreciation for nature’s beauty: Many people feel awe when looking into space. As family members become engrossed in astronomy, they might consider investing in additional equipment to enhance the experience. One new accessory would be a low-power eyepiece with a wider field of view, dramatically increasing the experience of feeling more immersed in the stars.

Conveying the vastness of the universe: When your family members notice that objects eventually drift out of view and they need to adjust it slightly, they understand that our planet turns on its axis every 24 hours. Some of the light they see from distant objects has traveled millions of years to reach their eyes. Those are some old photons; the only purpose was to land in their eyes! The vastness of space is humbling, to say the least.

Building patience: Patience can reach new levels as family members learn that sometimes, careful small adjustments in aiming or focus produce fabulous results.

Increased willpower: Your family might get up before sunrise to see Jupiter, Mars, and other objects their phone will help them find. When they get up at 4am on their own, it is a testament to how enthralled they are in outer space.

Looking forward to celestial events: The earth is constantly spinning and orbiting, so the sky changes from season to season. Planets go through phases like our moon does. Imagine seeing a “quarter Venus.”  Jupiter’s moons appear as tiny stars in a line near Jupiter, and they’re moving night to night. Sometimes celestial objects appear to be very close together, in conjunction, from the earth’s perspective on different days and years.  Meteor showers happen, and comets come by periodically. Future events provide experiences to look forward to.

Smartphone photography: Adapters connect smartphones to an eyepiece to facilitate picture-taking. Astronomy smartphone camera apps are designed to take pictures through a telescope. You might find that a Bluetooth shutter release would be good, too, to avoid shaking the telescope to take the picture.

Increased interest in astronomy: A light, less expensive scope can launch your family’s enthusiasm for astronomy. Family members might develop more interest in discovering more.  Perhaps your family lives within traveling distance of an observatory that offers public viewing, museums with collections related to space, and other community resources such as astronomy clubs.

Design and building: You or your family might someday hone their drafting and woodworking skills by designing and making a telescope. There are plans and kits for telescopes.

Next Saturday:

If you’re not ready to buy a telescope or dust off your existing one, September 14, Saturday night, is “International Observe the Moon” night. You’ll likely easily find events in your area where astronomers set up telescopes for public viewing.

Conclusion:

While outside viewing with the telescope, your youngsters might ask, “Do you suppose one of those stars we can see in our telescope has a planet where a family is looking at us at the same time we’re looking at them?”

Perhaps you’ll feel inspired to explore the night sky more than ever before with your loved ones. Happy stargazing!

If you’re inspired to start or resume your stargazing journey, here are some resources that could be helpful to you and your family’s astronomical adventures:

Resources for Budding Astronomers

Note: I’m sharing the following specific details and recommendations in case they will help you. I have no affiliation with nor receive any compensation for any of the mentioned products or companies. The only incentive is to help you during your and your family’s stargazing journey. I encourage you to explore other options that suit your and your family’s needs.

Educational Materials

• Websites: astroleague dot org is a great example calendar of events and a quarterly magazine
• YouTube Channel: John A. Read’s astronomy videos
• Book Recommendation: “50 Things to See with a Small Telescope” by John A. Read. The book includes helpful diagrams of what to expect through your telescope.
• Others: As you look up that video and book, you’ll see myriads of other videos and books to explore. Your public library likely has many resources for the asking.

Telescope

• Model: Celestron Star Sense Explorer DX 102AZ
  • 4-inch (102mm) refractor
  • Includes smartphone mount for the Star Sense app (iPhone/Android compatible)
• Tip: Be cautious of discounted models without anti-reflection coatings
• Soon: Other companies will likely offer the same aiming technology
• Pre-owned: Keep your eyes on eBay, Craig’s List, and similar online marketplaces for lightly used telescopes and accessories. Celestron Star Sense has been around long enough that there are likely pre-owned options. Check the seller’s reviews or inspect the telescope before paying for it.

No Charge

• Free: There are many ways to enjoy astronomy, some of which don’t require purchasing anything, such as attending local stargazing events or using smartphone apps to identify constellations.
• NASA dot gov lists events, including local events
• Online: There are many online resources that are full of information on astronomy and telescopes.

Accessories

• Eyepiece Upgrade Option: A low-power eyepiece with a wide lens at the opening provides a superior field of view compared to the standard ones with the telescope. A wide field of view means you feel like your “window” is much larger. Some eyepieces have longer eye relief, making them better for people with glasses. You can try the stock eyepieces with the telescope to get an idea of what magnifications you prefer before investing in more expensive eyepieces. For example, with the stock eyepieces that come with the telescope above as examples, you might enjoy 66x magnification with the 10mm eyepiece most of the time and use the 5mm eyepiece for 130x magnification to zoom in on planets and the moon. Calculate magnification = the telescope’s Focal length divided by the eyepiece’s focal length. For example, a 12mm eyepiece with a wide field of view used in the above telescope, which has a 660 mm focal length, could provide an impressive and more immersive experience. If you decide to go for high magnification, know that, typically, 60 power per inch aperture is the maximum usefulness, up to 300 maximum. With high magnifications, objects only get blurrier and more challenging to locate. Astronomy stores often allow you to call or email and ask for advice about which eyepieces to choose. Tell them what kind of telescope you have, if people in your family wear glasses and any other information you have.
• Barlow Lenses: Extension tubes with lenses that affect the magnification of your existing eyepieces, such as doubling the power. This can reduce the need for many eyepieces since each eyepiece can effectively work as two magnifications, one magnification with and one without the Barlow inserted.
• Parfocal Eyepieces: Some brands of eyepieces advertise that they maintain focus when switching between different magnifications. This concept is appealing since it reduces the need to refocus when changing eyepieces.
• Smartphone Mounts: Be sure not to get too heavy a smartphone adapter that attaches to the eyepiece to take pictures. You might find that you need to move the telescope tube forward on the mounting rail to compensate for the smartphone’s weight.

Guidance

• Online Forums: There are many special interest groups.
• Clubs: You can also visit your local astronomy club.
• Free Help: I read good things about free advice and recommendations from specialists at, in alphabetical order, Agena Astro, B&H Photo, Highpoint Scientific, and others. Explore options to find a source of great advice.

The post Captivate Your Family with the Night Sky: Smartphone-Based Telescope Pointing Opens Up the Cosmos appeared first on Foster Institute.

1. Assemble Your AI Implementation Team

• Choose a person or team to lead AI implementation
• Include representatives from leadership, legal, and IT

2. Educate Your Team on AI Applications

• Watch the 7-minute educational video showcasing 23 Business Uses for Chatbots in 7 minutes
• Alternatively, schedule a “lunch and learn” webinar or workshop to explore practical AI uses

3. Collaborate and Brainstorm

• Discuss insights from the video/workshop
• Identify potential AI applications relevant to your business

4. Explore Multiple AI Tools

• Test various chatbots (e.g., Perplexity, Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini)
• Consider paid plans, privacy of sensitive information, and the ability to create custom chatbots
• The setting to make the model better for everyone means your data will be less private

5. Review Industry-Specific AI Tools

• Investigate AI solutions tailored to your industry
• Consult a curated list of AI tools for practical options

6. Consult with Your IT Team

• Discuss potential added support requirements
• Address concerns about job complexity
• Develop strategies to integrate AI without overburdening your IT team

7. Engage Your Legal Counsel

• Address privacy concerns
• Review automatic ingestion vs. uploading of data for different AI tools
• Analyze privacy and security policies of prospective AI solutions
• Consider internal data access and permissions per user or department
• Evaluate potential implications for mergers and acquisitions
• Consider that data from recordings of meetings will be discoverable during the due diligence phase

8. Assess User Access Control

• Discuss with IT about controlling access to AI tools
• Implement measures to manage access to AI on company networks and devices

9. Establish an AI Ethics Framework

• Develop guidelines for ethical AI use within your organization
• Address issues like bias, fairness, and transparency

10. Create a Data Governance Strategy

• Establish protocols for data handling, storage, and access in AI systems
• Ensure compliance with relevant data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA)

11. Implement Security Measures

• Work with IT to set up necessary security protocols for AI systems
• Consider encryption, access controls, and monitoring systems
• Utilize sensitivity labels and permissions to limit employee access by role, etc.
• Establish data retention time policies

12. Plan for Ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation

• Establish KPIs to measure the effectiveness and impact of AI implementation
• Set up regular review processes to assess and adjust AI usage

13. Develop a Crisis Management Plan

• Prepare for potential AI-related incidents or breaches
• Outline response procedures and communication strategies

14. Draft an AI Policy

• Based on input from IT and legal, create a comprehensive AI usage policy
• Define the scope and purpose of the AI policy
• List approved AI tools and outline acceptable use cases
• Establish guidelines for data handling and privacy compliance
• Specify required security measures for AI use
• Address ethical considerations like bias and fairness
• Clarify ownership of AI-generated content and intellectual property
• Outline required AI literacy training for employees
• Define monitoring procedures and consequences for policy violations
• Set criteria for selecting and evaluating AI vendors
• Provide a framework for responding to AI-related incidents
• Establish a schedule for reviewing and updating the policy

15. Conduct User Training

• Train employees on approved AI resources
• Educate staff about the new AI policy, including ethics and protecting sensitive information
• Encourage users to look at their daily tasks and see which tasks AI might streamline or improve in other ways

By following all these steps, you’ll be more prepared to deploy AI in your organization while addressing some essential security, legal, and operational concerns. Successful AI implementation is an ongoing process requiring continuous attention and adaptation. AI is here to stay; you want to be thoughtful sooner to avoid costly problems later.

The post AI Implementation Roadmap: The Executive’s Guide to Avoiding Million-Dollar Mistakes appeared first on Foster Institute.

If you have cybersecurity insurance or feel this incident could cause significant damage, consider having a forensic analysis to track down what happened.

Contact your email provider, explain what happened, and ask for help. Continue down this list while you wait for their response.

Reset your email account password immediately. If you can’t log in because someone unauthorized reset your password, try resetting it yourself. If that doesn’t work, contact your email company’s tech support.

Check if your username and old passwords have appeared on the dark web. Visit https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and similar sites to find out. Never enter your password.

Change passwords for all your accounts including social media, banking, and other sensitive accounts, especially if you’ve used the same password for multiple accounts. Someone may have access to more than just your email.

Consider using a password manager like 1Password, Dashlane, LastPass, NordPass or another to help ease the pain of having different passwords on every website from now on.

When setting up security questions, avoid real answers that are easy for a bad actor to research. When asked, “Where were you born,” you could answer something like, “The fourth crater on the moon.” Save your secret answers in a file in a random place with a random name like “socks.docx” for when you need the answers. You can encrypt the file for added safety.

Enable two-step verification for your email account. While you are at it, set up two-step verification everywhere you can, primarily on sensitive websites and services. Here is how to add MFA to your LinkedIn account for added security https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/544/turning-two-step-verification-on-and-off?lang=en

If you set up two step authentication so that the site or service sends you an email message for the second part of logging in, and the hacker has access your email, it defeats the purpose of MFA. Therefore, if you set up the two-step login with email as the second step, use a different secure email address.

Review your email’s “sent” folder to spot any unrecognized messages.

Look at all your email accounts in your organization to ensure there are no email forwarding or filtering rules you did not configure.

Check your websites, especially LinkedIn, for any unauthorized changes.

Set up SPF and DKIM. More information here: https://fosterinstitute.com/block-inbound-and-outbound-fraudulent-email-messages/

Watch out for remote control applications that might allow a bad actor to compromise your computer and send email messages as you.

Be aware that your computer or another computer in your organization might be hacked, enabling attackers to send messages on your behalf. Stay vigilant and take measures to protect against such incidents.

Regularly apply critical security patches to your computer. You can check for updates manually, even if automatic updates are enabled.

Ensure your anti-virus program is current and run a manual scan regularly. Using EDR or XDR services add more security.

If you use a browser to send and receive email, this is a drastic step, but consider uninstalling the browser. When you reinstall the browser, add only the plugins you need.

If you use your phone or tablet for email, they could be hacked. Apply security patches, keep them in your possession, examine the privacy settings, and lock devices when not in use.

Watch out for apps on your computer, tablet, or phone that may be harvesting your address book without your knowledge. A drastic move would be to factory reset and erase them, but be sure your important data is stored in the cloud or backed up.

Notify financial institutions that if they receive messages from you, the messages could be fraudulent.

You might want to set up a new email address to use until you feel confident your old address is safe.

If you haven’t already, freeze your credit.

Monitor your financial accounts.

Before you send out notifications, you will want to talk to an advisor who can help you know what to say.

Please forward this to your friends so that, if someone appears to hack their email account, they will know what to do to.

Subscribe to maximize your executive potential with Foster Institute’s E-Savvy Newsletter, packed with practical IT security solutions and actionable strategies for success: https://fosterinstitute.com/e-savvy-newsletter/

The post What to Do if Someone Hacks Your Email Account appeared first on Foster Institute.

If you have malware on your phone, tablet, or computer, it could be recording images of your screen as you type. If the malware can only see dots, your password is safe from “shoulder surfers” looking at your screen from thousands of miles away.

Additionally, if you use language translation or other browser plug-ins that read your screen, your browsers could be “reading” the text on your screen. If web applications or websites display your actual password, it might get transmitted to strangers without you realizing it.

It can be frustrating not to see your password as you type, but there is a good reason beyond knowing the person next to you isn’t watching your screen.

For information about preventing malware on your systems, please visit the Foster Institute Blog at fosterinstitute.com/blog

The post Know Why Web Application Providers Show Dots when You Type Your Passwords appeared first on Foster Institute.

That way, you can log in without passwords to Microsoft Office, Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, Windows, and other Microsoft products.

You still must prove it is you logging in, and you could use a text message code as you might already, but you could skip the password part. Other authentication options include receiving phone calls, plugging in a USB hardware key, facial recognition, or use the Microsoft Authenticator app on your smartphone or tablet.

Microsoft tells you how:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/strengthen-security-for-your-account-and-sign-in-faster-by-removing-your-password-4d4b4267-7d04-4402-9aac-4436a063d004

The Microsoft Authenticator App on your phone is more secure than a text message. Attackers can capture or redirect text messages to themselves and log in to your account. If you use the Microsoft Authenticator App, then, when everything is working as planned, an attacker would need access to your phone before they could impersonate you.

And you might choose to use a two-step login to access your most sensitive websites and applications.

Passwords are so inconvenient, and many people use poor passwords anyway. Now Microsoft provides a way that they won’t need to bother with the passwords at all. Tell your friends.

The post Microsoft Lets You Stop Using Passwords appeared first on Foster Institute.

If any users connect via VPN to your office, be sure your IT team isolates or filters the data that travels from the VPN connections to your primary network. Filter the data going back too. If the VPN data comes directly, or unfiltered, into your network, that facilitates an attacker gaining access to your primary network if they compromise a remote worker’s computer.

(The rest of this message is a bit technical. You can forward this to your IT team if you wish. Please forward this message to fellow executives so they can consider this strong security protection.)

Their router or firewall might already provide an option to filter the traffic. Default settings are usually weak, so ask your IT team to enable the feature. The filtering must happen, not in a computer, but in an infrastructure device such as a firewall, router, or switch.

You can share this example with your IT team: If the IP address for the primary network is 10.10.10.0, then it is dangerous for the VPN connections to connect to the same subnet. It is helpful, for cybersecurity, to use separate filtered subnets. Here is an example of segmenting the VPN connections away from the primary network:

10.1.1.0 – Primary Network
10.1.2.0 – VPN Connections

The addresses might start with 172 or 192.168, and that isn’t important. Your IT team knows the significance of using different classes of numbers.

Your IT team must establish robust filtering rules in the firewall, router, or switch to limit the VPN connections and the internal network traffic. Rules are sometimes called ACLs (Access Control Lists).

When creating the rules, your IT team must only allow traffic essential for remote users. They can filter using parameters including source IP, destination IP, protocol, and ports. Sometimes, the only protocol remote users need is RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol).

If the rules permit, ask your IT team to block connections from countries other than where your remote users will connect.

The post Protect Against Work From Home Computer Attacks Compromising your Primary Network appeared first on Foster Institute.

If you already use Eero or some other family safety service, it probably already filters out bad sites for you, and you needn’t use these services. But if you have no protection, any of these three popular services can help a lot. They are constantly on the watch for bad sites, and protect you from them:

https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-1-1-1-1-for-families/

https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/

https://www.quad9.net/

There is nothing to install, and there are no charges for the services.

Please forward this to everyone you know who would like added protection at home when they click on a link or even type in an address while surfing the web.

The post A Simple Way to Protect Work From Home Users and Families appeared first on Foster Institute.

He explained that his 2021 IT budget is for new servers, software licensing, network upgrades, etc.

He said the risk management component of his 2021 budget includes the investment in Foster Institute’s preventative cybersecurity reviews.

He says that an added benefit is that his Profit and Loss Statement clearly distinguishes actual IT expenses from cyber risk management.

Please forward this to your friends and encourage them to budget their organization’s risk management investments separately from their IT budget. Maybe they already do.

The post Your 2021 Budget Should Accurately Differentiate IT Expenses from Cyber Risk Management. appeared first on Foster Institute.