5 Ways to Stay Safe Online with Patrick McNamara

Staying safe online requires you to be an active participant. You need to do your own research and not rely entirely on other people's tools, some of which are intended to actually take advantage of you. Today's guest is Patrick McNamara. Patrick holds a bachelor's degree in cybersecurity from University of Maryland Global along with multiple certifications. He operates the cyber awareness site DIYSecurityTips.com and is currently a cybersecurity engineer for a software company.

Show Notes:

• [0:52] - Patrick shares his background and current role in cybersecurity.

• [3:09] - Chris and Patrick discuss the changes in cybersecurity in education in just a few years.

• [7:18] - When it comes to working in the industry, there are a lot of misunderstandings and inflexible definitions of what cybersecurity is.

• [9:35] - Volunteer as much as you can.

• [10:48] - A great place to start for your own online security is with passwords.

• [13:17] - Literally anything can be breached. A password manager can at least mitigate risk.

• [15:40] - Is it safe to connect to public wifi?

• [17:56] - Using your cell phone's hotspot is a lot safer than using public wifi. VPNs are also fantastic to invest in.

• [20:42] - VPNs that are free could be dangerous as well. How are they making money if they are offering the service for free?

• [21:33] - Pay attention to the developer before downloading any app on your phone or mobile device.

• [23:16] - Check the permissions for the apps you download. For example, a calculator app doesn't need access to your contacts and pictures.

• [25:01] - Anything that is new and exciting, malware developers will be on it very quickly.

• [27:40] - Understand how crypto works before investing in it.

• [28:52] - Patrick believes that it is possible to be completely anonymous online but there are a lot of very difficult steps to follow to do so.

• [32:13] - Privacy is easier to maintain than anonymity.

• [34:41] - There's special malware for every type of attack. Patrick shares some scenarios on different types of attacks.

• [35:57] - VPNs cannot protect you from social engineering.

• [37:21] - Some malware is downloaded through files online on a site that was recently breached.

• [39:01] - Chris shares an experience in supply chain crypto mining that happened unintentionally. You never know.

• [40:34] - You should at least know how to back up your data.

• [44:13] - Patrick shares about his website and how to learn more about online safety.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.

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