Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts

HomeTechHacker: 3 Reasons You Should Cut the Cord

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Marlon Buchanan
By Marlon Buchanan

Are you ready to cut the cord? To me, cutting the cord means no longer relying on cable/satellite service for your TV viewing. 

Instead, cord-cutters use some combination of streaming services and an antenna.

I finally got around to cutting the cord in 2019. Here are some of the reasons I did it, and why you should consider it.

You could save money

There is a good chance you’ll save money using streaming replacement services like YouTubeTV and SlingTV instead of cable and satellite. This will in large part depend on how many streaming services you end up subscribing to, and what channels you need. One thing that is great about streaming services is that there are no hidden fees. The price they state is the price you pay.

You can save even more if you can use an antenna to get your local stations. My personal experience is that I saved a significant amount of money by cutting the cord, especially when you consider I was already paying for some streaming services. Speaking of which…

You already have to stream your favorite shows

You’re probably already using services like Disney Plus, HBO Max, and Netflix. Moreover, more and more shows are exclusive to their proprietary streaming service. Some of these shows are not even available on cable or cable replacement services. You are already streaming video, so why not cut the cord completely?

No contracts


In order to get the best rates from satellite and cable TV providers you usually have to commit to a contract. Canceling your service can cost you, and some will charge activation and/or installation fees if you come back.

Some streaming services offer discounts for annual subscriptions but you can always choose a monthly subscription and cancel whenever you want. 

Also, you don’t have to call someone and deal with the “retention” department when canceling. It can all be handled online. And, you can come back whenever you want with no fees involved in canceling or subscribing.

Some streaming services I only use for parts of the year. I cancel or pause them when I’m not using them which helps me to save more money.

Some things to consider before you cut the cord


Cord-cutting isn’t for everybody. Even if you think it is for you, make sure to consider the following:
  • You may not save as much as you think – Streaming services have been raising their prices. But, so have cable and satellite companies. However, you may end up paying more if you have your cable service bundled with your Internet service. If you cancel your cable service, your Internet bill may go up.
  • You’ll have lots of choices to manage – There are so many streaming services. It may take some time to find the right mix of services to meet your needs.
  • You need good Internet service – Streaming services will be frustrating if your Internet service has low bandwidth or is unreliable. Also, many Internet service providers impose data caps and will charge you overage fees. You should improve your Internet service first if you have any of these issues. I ended up switching to a better and faster service with no data caps that actually cost me less than what I was paying.

Cutting the cord may be a great option for you. Just be sure you’ve considered the advantages and potential disadvantages.

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Marlon Buchanan is a best-selling author, IT Director, and founder of HomeTechHacker.com, a website with free resources to help you make the most of your home technology. He lives in Lake Forest Park.



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Learn how to use features on your cell phone in Senior Center classes

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Love your new cell phone but it’s making you crazy?
 
Learn how to maximize the versatility of your cell phone with us at the Senior Center.

Bring your phone, fully charged with a list of the features you want to use and any questions you have about particular phone functions.

Classes in June on Thursdays at Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Senior Activity Center

18560 1st Ave NE, Suite #1, Shoreline, WA 98155
  • iphone time: 11:00am-noon Class begins: June 2
  • Android phone time:12:30pm-1:30pm Class begins: June 2
Cost: 
  • Senior Center Members $10/class 
  • Non-members $15/class
Call 206-365-1536 to register for class



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HomeTechHacker: 7 Wi-Fi Router features to look for

Saturday, May 21, 2022

Marlon Buchanan
HomeTechHacker
By Marlon Buchanan

Your Wi-Fi router is the most important network device in your home. 

It plays a large role in your home network’s security, speed, and stability. 

Here are 7 features to look for if you are in the market for a new Wi-Fi router:

1. Guest network capability
You want to have a separate network for guests for security purposes. It keeps your home network devices safe from potentially compromised devices that you don’t control. It also allows you to keep your primary home network password private.

2. Mesh capability
Strong Wi-Fi throughout your home is sometimes hard to achieve with just one device providing your Wi-Fi access. A mesh Wi-Fi router system provides multiple points of Wi-Fi access all integrated into one system. This is especially useful if you have a larger home, or have trouble spots where Wi-Fi coverage is spotty or slow.

If you aren’t sure if you need a mesh Wi-Fi router system you don’t have to start off buying one. You can buy a router that has the capability to integrate into a mesh system so you can expand in the future.

3. Automatic firmware updates
Keeping your router up to date is one of the most important ways to keep your home network secure. New exploits are found frequently and these updates contain fixes that protect against new security vulnerabilities. Your router should at least be able to notify you of available firmware updates.

4. Management App
Older routers have basic features that you can access and configure by logging into a website and navigating the web pages for the features you want to configure. Many newer routers come with apps that make navigating all of these features easily and conveniently done from the comfort of your mobile device.

5. WPA3
WPA3, or Wi-Fi Protected Access 3, is the latest standard for securing Wi-Fi connections. It uses more powerful encryption than WPA2, better protecting your network from snooping hackers. Most Wi-Fi devices don’t yet support WPA3, but newer devices do and soon it will become ubiquitous.


6. MU-MIMO

MU-MIMO, which stands for Multiple User, Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output, is a Wi-Fi technology that increases the capacity and efficiency of your router’s Wi-Fi connections, allowing it to handle more WiFi-intensive activities such as streaming and gaming. This technology is more important if you have a lot of Wi-Fi devices on your network.

7. Wi-Fi 6
Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax, is the latest Wi-Fi standard. It is faster and more stable than its predecessors. Theoretical speeds for Wi-Fi 6 top out at 250% of the previous standard, Wi-Fi 5. As a bonus, Wi-Fi 6-certified devices come with WPA3 and MU-MIMO.

Look for these seven features when shopping for a Wi-Fi router. If you get one that has Wi-Fi 6, it is likely to have many if not all of the other features as well. Check out my HomeTechHacker Technology Advisor for personalized advice on which Wi-Fi 6 router to buy.

Marlon Buchanan is a best-selling author, IT Director, and founder of HomeTechHacker.com, a website with free resources to help you make the most of your home technology.



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Home Tech Hacker: How to Get Started Creating your Smart Home

Sunday, May 1, 2022

By Marlon Buchanan

Are you interested in giving your home smart home capabilities but aren’t sure where to start? There’s never been a better time to get into smart home technology. Smart homes can enhance and enrich your life by automating mundane tasks and making other activities easier. 

They make your home much safer. They can help you save money. Also, they can be fun to show off!

Here are some good first steps to take on your smart home journey.

Step 1: Make sure your Wi-Fi is solid

Many smart home devices need Wi-Fi to work. Your smart devices will frustrate you if your Wi-Fi network is slow, has a lot of dropouts, or plain just doesn’t reach many areas of your home. 

For help making sure your Wi-Fi is stable, fast, and secure, check out my free Wi-Fi Tuneup ebook. If you are looking for more comprehensive help with making your Wi-Fi and the rest of your home network as good as it can be, check out my book, The Home Network Manual.

Smart bulb
Step 2: Buy a smart bulb

Smart bulbs are a good smart device to start with because they are useful, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive. 

You can program them to turn on and off at certain times of the day. 

You can also create moods and custom atmospheres with lighting and color effects. 

Learning to set up and use a smart bulb will build your smart home device capabilities and confidence.

Smart plug
Step 3: Buy a smart plug


In addition to lighting, being able to automate and remotely turn on and off devices using a smart plug is another key feature of a smart home. 

You can remotely turn on or schedule your coffee maker. 

Also, you can automate holiday lights, lamps, portable heaters, electric blankets, fans, etc.

Echo Dot voice assistant
Step 4: Buy a voice assistant


Buying a voice assistant will truly make your home feel smart. 
Using voice commands to control your smart bulb and smart plug will make you feel more in control. 

Start with a voice assistant that matches your preferred ecosystem, like Google’s Nest Mini, Amazon’s Echo Dot, or Apple’s HomePod Mini.

Step 5: Put it all together

Now that you have a smart bulb, a smart plug, and a voice assistant it is time to put them all together. 

Make sure you link your smart bulb and smart plug with your voice assistant so you can control them by voice. 

Play around with the apps that accompany the smart devices to set up automations like having your coffee maker startup with your morning routine or having a smart bulb turn off with your nighttime routine.

Step 6: Think about what you want out of a smart home

These steps will get you started, but there is so much more a smart home can do. Think about what types of things you want to control and automate in the long term. 

Think about what you want your smart home to be able to do (for inspiration, check out these smart home ideas). This, combined with how much effort and time you want to put into your smart home, determines your next steps.

Marlon Buchanan, Home Tech Hacker
Marlon Buchanan
is a best-selling author, IT Director, and founder of HomeTechHacker.com, a website with free resources to help you make the most of your home technology.



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Register now for Advanced Coding with Java and C# and Game Design Camps for teens

Monday, April 11, 2022

REGISTER NOW! Advanced Coding with Java and C# and Game Design Camps for teens!

Teaching material has been developed or customized to cover specific language syntax and best design and programming techniques.
  • Intro to Programming with C#
    • 6/20 – 6/24 | 9–3 pm | Ages 11–15| 1300 Bldg, SCC
  • Making Video Games with Java Script
    • 8/8 – 8/12 | 9–3 pm | Ages 11–15| 1300 Bldg, SCC |
  • Java for AP CS 1 & Programming Competitions
    • 8/15 – 8/19 | 9–3 pm | Ages 13–17| 1300 Bldg, SCC
  • Java for AP CS 2 & Programming Competitions
    • 8/22 – 8/26 | 9–3 pm | Ages 13–17| 1300 Bldg, SCC



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HomeTechHacker: Why And How to Back Up Your Computer

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

By Marlon Buchanan

Have you recently backed up your important home videos, photos, financial, and other important documents? 

If the answer is no then you are at risk of losing your files to hard drive failures, ransomware, theft or even accidentally deleting a file. The best way to protect yourself from these problems is to implement a proper backup strategy for your important files.

Before we get into the details of a proper backup strategy, let's discuss three different types of backups.

Synology Networked attached storage device
Local backups

Copying your files to a second place somewhere in your home is considered a local backup. This can be as simple as copying your files to a separate directory or hard drive on your computer. 

A better idea would be to buy an external hard drive that you store backups on. 

Even better (and more expensive) would be a networked attached storage (NAS) device like the ones made by Synology and QNAP.

Back up to the cloud

Cloud storage is a very competitive business with a lot of options, both free and paid. OneDrive and iCloud offer 5 GB of free storage. while Dropbox offers 2 GB of free space. Google Drive offers a whopping 15 GB of free storage, but that includes your Google Photos and Gmail storage. 

You can install apps on your computers and mobile devices to automatically backup important files to these cloud accounts. These services can become expensive if you have a lot of data to back up.

Backup to the cloud
Remote backup

The primary goal of cloud backup solutions like OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google drive is to keep your files synced across multiple machines and devices, thereby providing access anywhere. 

Remote backup systems are best if you’re concerned about backing up large amounts of data at a reasonable price. Popular cloud backup services include Backblaze, Spideroak, and IDrive. 

All of these solutions come with software you can install on your PC(s) and schedule automated backups so you don’t even have to think about it. Some of these solutions have apps that will back up your mobile devices too!

3-2-1: A good backup strategy

Good backup strategies involve keeping multiple copies of your data in multiple places. The more copies of your data, the less risk of data loss. A popular backup technique is the 3-2-1 backup strategy which stands for:
  • 3 copies of your data
  • 2 local copies on 2 different devices (original and backup)
  • 1 offsite backup
To accomplish this, you would combine the local backups with cloud and/or remote backups. 

For example, you could have a process that backs your computer up to an external hard drive or NAS frequently and then performs a daily remote backup. 

Some cloud backup services have direct integration (usually browser-based web apps) with popular NAS providers to make this process even easier.

It’s important to automate whatever backup strategy you choose. Reliable backups are critical and having to remember to backup a file is unreliable. 

There are software and apps available for Windows and Macs to automate remote and local backups as well as sync to the cloud.

Don’t wait until you’ve lost data and it's too late. Start backing up your files today.

Marlon Buchanan is an author, IT Director, and founder of HomeTechHacker.com, a website with free resources to help you make the most of your home technology.



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Week-long science camps for elementary to high school students at Shoreline Community College

Monday, March 28, 2022

Lab camps at Shoreline Community College this summer
Summer Camps

Shoreline offers several summer camps for kids and teens! 

Topic areas include computer programming / coding, video game design, forensic science, biotechnology, environmental awareness, art, wellness/athletics and more!

Information on all camps here

Project Biotech summer camp 

Open to high school students and fills up fast! Registration opens Friday April 1st 

Shoreline Community College's Biotechnology Lab opens its doors to high school students for week-long explorations of biotechnology and DNA sequencing!

Black Rocket STEAM Camps

Black Rocket’s distinct programs in Creative Sciences and Digital Arts focus on the intersection of creativity and technology. Each course emphasizes self-empowerment, cognitive reasoning, and divergent thinking through hands-on learning. Whether in the classroom or the cloud, we believe every human being is unique in their ability and talents. Black Rocket's mission is to help ignite, unleash, and enhance these distinct talents.

KIMSeattle Forensic Science Summer Camps

KIMSeattle (Kids in Medicine and Science) is a nonprofit organization that provides K-12 informal science education through authentic laboratory experiences. Camp participants will immerse themselves in a fictitious, yet realistic, simulated crime and spend the week solving the case. Collected evidence from the recreated scene is analyzed using eight different fields of forensic science. More details can be found at kimseattle.org or you can email info@kimseattle.org

Here's an article from 2017 about a 5th grade class at KIMSeattle: Where 5th graders can dissect pig hearts

Advanced Coding with Java and C# and Game Design Camps

Margaret Royzen is a professional software developer with more than 30 years of experience, holds an MS in Computer Science and is certified as a C# Programmer and a C# Web Developer. All of the camp and coding/game design teaching material has been developed or customized to cover specific language syntax and best design and programming techniques.

Information on all the camps:

https://www.shoreline.edu/summer-camps/default.aspx?fbclid=IwAR0Aczna6Hl6lloL3uSuZAsZkbt_xIqP5wjAwEPkucj9hUCk8nrJ_KZR0Xs



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State’s digital navigator network can help low-income households access broadband benefits and digital training

Saturday, March 12, 2022

Comcast trucks installing lines
Photo by Steven H. Robinson
The Federal Communications Commission’s emergency broadband benefit program is now open to help low-income households purchase internet service and devices during the pandemic. 


Households can qualify several ways, including if their income is at or below 200% federal poverty level ($55,500 for a family of four) or if they are already enrolled in a federal benefits program such as Medicaid or Social Security Insurance.

Qualifying households can get a discount up to $30 a month for internet service and a one-time discount of $100 to pay for a laptop, desktop computer or tablet.

Digital navigators can also help people sign up for culturally - and linguistically - appropriate trainings to gain digital skills and literacy or access other broadband services. 

The program is one of many ways the state is promoting equitable access to internet service in underserved rural or low-income communities and in marginalized communities.

Contact a digital navigator program in your area for more information.



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Local author: The Home Network Manual: The Complete Guide to Setting Up, Upgrading, and Securing Your Home Network

Monday, March 7, 2022

The Home Network Manual: The Complete Guide to Setting Up, Upgrading, and Securing Your Home Network by Lake Forest Park resident Marlon Buchanan has just been published!

You don’t have to be a techie to have the home network you want. You just need a little guidance to get you there.
The Home Network Manual is all the help you need. This complete guide to building and improving your home network is an easy-to-understand manual for people of any technical background and level.

After reading The Home Network Manual you’ll know:
  • The right way to set up a home network from scratch
  • How to have reliable Wi-Fi throughout your home
  • How to diagnose and fix common home network problems
  • How to secure your home network from hackers
  • …And so much more!

Just pick up this book and you’ll have the home network you’ve always wanted in no time! Available in Kindle, paperback, and audiobook formats in bookstores everywhere. 

Here’s what others have to say about this book:
"A practical, comprehensive, ground-up guide to help you install and/or maintain your home network with confidence." - Reedsy Discovery

"I recommend this book to all people who have/will soon have a network installed in their homes." - Raju Chacko, Engineer and IT Consultant

“The book flows smoothly and the author really does an amazing job of covering the basics needed to understand how to work a person’s home networking system.” - Anthony Avina, Author and Book Reviewer

Visit TheHomeNetworkManual.com to learn more about the book.

About the author:

Marlon Buchanan’s genuine interest in home networks shines through in his writing. Taking what’s often considered a boring topic and making it palatable and even exciting is no small feat, yet Marlon manages to do this and more. His invaluable experience and expertise can help anyone from beginner to pro tackle and manage their home network concerns. He holds a bachelor’s in computer science and engineering from MIT and master’s degrees in business administration and software engineering from Seattle University. He works as an IT Director, but was previously a software engineer, business analyst, and college instructor.

Marlon currently resides in Lake Forest Park, Washington with his wife and kids and hopes to make home technology topics common knowledge.

You can reach Marlon at:


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HomeTechHacker: 5 Steps to Secure Your Home Network

Sunday, March 6, 2022

By Marlon Buchanan

Sensitive financial information. Private family photos. Important computers, smartphones, and other electronic devices that you and your family count on every day. 

If someone breaches your home network security they can compromise all of these things. You count on your home network now more than ever. Take these steps to protect your home network from hackers and other bad actors.

1. Keep the software on your devices up to date

Hackers come up with new ways to break into home networks every day. Often, they exploit weaknesses in the software on devices. Software updates are intended to quickly address these weaknesses, but if you don’t update the software on your devices you’ll still be vulnerable.

I know everyone hates Windows updates, but they do keep your computer protected. Make sure to keep the software on your computers, mobile devices, and especially your router up-to-date. Your router is your home network’s primary defense and keeping it updated is important.

2. Change your Wi-Fi network name and use a good password

If you’re using the default network name and/or password your router came with you need to change it. Often, the default network name gives away the brand of the router, which can give hackers clues about how to break in.

A strong password for everything is a requirement for security in today's world, and the password to your Wi-Fi network is no exception. 

Wi-Fi networks are susceptible to brute-force password-guessing attacks. Use longer passwords to thwart brute-force attacks. A good Wi-Fi password is a hard-to-guess (but easy for you to remember) phrase or sentence that is at least 15 characters long.

3. Use good Wi-Fi security settings

Wi-Fi security has evolved over time because older standards have been cracked. Make sure you’re not using older standards like WEP security and TKIP encryption. These standards are no longer secure. You should be using WPA3 security and AES encryption. If your router doesn't support WPA3 then WPA2 will suffice.

4. Set up a guest Wi-Fi network

If you don’t have a guest network, you may find yourself in a situation where you have guests over and you have to give them your Wi-Fi password so they can access your network. This gives your guests not only your password, which you may use for different accounts, but also access to all of your networked devices (file shares, PCs, streaming devices, etc.).

Even if you trust the people who have your password, you shouldn't trust that all the software and apps they use are free of malware that can compromise the devices on your network. A proper guest network allows you to set a separate and shareable password for your guests and firewalls off your private computer resources from being compromised by guests.

5. Keep good backups of your important data

Having a backup strategy can save you from a catastrophic loss of data if there's a breach, or even if hard drives or computers fail. There are many backup options including backing up to a separate hard drive and remote backup services like iDrive and SpiderOak One.

If you implement these tips, your home network will be well protected. 

You can find more home security tips and ways to improve your home network in my book The Home Network Manual: The Complete Guide to Setting Up, Upgrading, and Securing Your Home Network, available on Amazon Kindle and in audiobook and paperback formats in stores everywhere.

Marlon Buchanan
has worked in the IT field for over twenty-five years as a software developer, a college instructor, and an IT Director. 

He lives in Lake Forest Park, where he can be found researching new smart home projects, playing sports with his children, and writing articles for his blog, HomeTechHacker.com

He holds a bachelor's degree in computer engineering and master's degrees in software engineering and business administration.



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Ziply goes live in Shoreline with 5gig speeds

Monday, February 7, 2022

Ziply™ Fiber announced that after an initial rollout in Kirkland, Washington in December and outstanding customer feedback, it has begun offering ultra-high-speed 5-gig and 2-gig residential fiber internet service to nearly 170,000 residential customer addresses in 60 cities and towns across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. 

By mid-year, these multi-gig residential services will be available in most of the company’s four-state fiber footprint.

Ziply Fiber is the first company to introduce a 5-gig speed for residential services, making the company the fastest home internet service provider in the Northwest. This launch is also a defining step in the company’s mission to build the region’s fastest, most reliable fiber network. 

“While gig-speed connections work great for the majority of families, today’s announcement is about building for the future and our commitment to build the fastest, most reliable network ever constructed in the Northwest,” said Harold Zeitz, CEO of Ziply Fiber. 
“The cities we are announcing today are no longer just Gig-speed cities, they are now Ziply Fiber Multi-Gig cities, with the fastest home internet we’ve been able to find in any city in the Northwest or elsewhere in the United States.”

Ziply Fiber’s announcement comes at a time when more and more people who depend on fast, reliable, high-capacity internet to support multi-media applications, uploading large files, and working from home,  as well as for people who just want to have the best and fastest connection, with no data caps or annual contracts for residential users.

One of the 60 cities where 5-gig and 2-gig service launched recently is Everett, Washington.

“Technology infrastructure is essential for growth and innovation. Fast internet is critical for our modern lives in Everett, both at home and at work,” said Mayor Cassie Franklin. 
“We are proud to have Ziply Fiber as a civic partner and we can’t wait to see what Everett residents and businesses do with its lightning fast service.”

Some of the other local cities in which Ziply Fiber’s multi-gig fiber service is now available include: Bothell, Brier, Edmonds, Everett, Kenmore, Kirkland, and Lynnwood.

“Just like we manage our network to ensure there’s enough capacity to meet the needs of all of our customers, we’re also always looking to the future when it comes to bandwidth and capacity needs at home,” added Zeitz. 

“We absolutely believe that people’s use of the internet should not be constrained by what is simply the most popular technology or speed today, which is why we’re excited to bring these advancements forward across our entire fiber footprint in the months and years to come.”

Ziply Fiber is local in the Northwest, headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, and has major offices in Everett, Washington; Beaverton, Oregon; and Hayden, Idaho. 

Most of Ziply Fiber’s executive team, which consists of former executives from AT/T, CenturyLink, and Wave Broadband, either grew up in the Northwest or have spent the better part of 30 years living here. That local ownership and market familiarity is an important part of the company mindset and culture.


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Continuing Education in person at SCC: Navigating Windows 11

Monday, January 17, 2022

Do you need help with navigating Windows 11? A two-session class starts Wednesday in person at Shoreline Community College.

Former Shoreline Area News columnist Brian Boston has been a computer professional for over 30 years. 

He will help you discover how Windows 11 can make your home and work life easier, as well as answer any tech questions you might have about hardware and software.

See other business classes and Register here:

https://www.campusce.net/shoreline/course/course.aspx...

(1/19 – 1/26) | 6:00 – 8:00pm | Wednesdays (2) | Fee: $49 | Location: 1500 Building, Shoreline Community College

All safety protocols will be in place. Masks are required for all indoor activities at Shoreline Community College



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AG data breach report: 2021 sets new record for number of data breaches and ransomware attacks

Sunday, November 7, 2021

Attorney General Bob Ferguson released his sixth annual Data Breach Report today. 

In the last year, breached businesses and agencies sent 6.3 million notices to Washingtonians — by far the largest number of notifications sent to Washingtonians since the Attorney General’s Office began tracking this number. 

2018 set the previous record of 3.5 million breach notices sent to Washingtonians.

The report finds that the number of data breaches reported to the Attorney General’s Office also skyrocketed to 280, blowing past the previous record of 78 and last year’s total of 60. In other words, this year’s total represents a 500 percent increase over last year.

Additionally, the report identifies a tremendous spike in cyberattacks and ransomware incidents.

Ransomware — a type of cyberattack in which cybercriminals use malicious code to hold data hostage in hopes of receiving a ransom payment from the data holders — represents a growing and significant threat to consumers and businesses. The Attorney General’s Office recorded 150 ransomware incidents in 2021 — more than the previous five years combined.

The report includes recommendations to policymakers and best practices for the public to protect their data and minimize risks.

The public can access the Attorney General’s database of breaches here.

More information HERE



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City of Shoreline back online after resolving technical issues - fully operational by Monday morning

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Everything is where it should be.
Photo by Victor Barrios on unsplash.com

Shoreline City staff, working diligently with outside consultants, have been able to resolve the network issues and are slowly bringing all our systems back online. We anticipate being fully operational by Monday morning.

The City’s email and phone systems are back up and working.

Most of our other systems that rely on the network are also back online, including our online permitting system. We anticipate all systems being fully operational by Monday morning.

We appreciate the community’s patience as we work to fully resolve this issue.

What happened

On Wednesday, October 27, 2021 IT staff noticed a high level of unusual external traffic to our network that appeared to be an attack of some kind. Out of an abundance of caution we elected to sever our internet connection and bring our systems down in a controlled manner. Our security and network consultants confirmed that this was a prudent step to take to protect the City’s data and network.

We worked with our security consultants to review our logs for any suspicious activity. These logs are extensive and from various sources, so it took time to thoroughly review them all. While reviewing this information, City staff worked to ensure the City could continue to communicate with residents and provide services as much as possible and make plans for continuity and recovery.

The good news is that after extensive review, our IT staff and security consultants feel confident that our network wasn’t breached, we didn’t lose any data, private information was not exposed, and there is no cryptoware on the network. 

We greatly appreciate the hard work of our IT staff and other City staff who quickly responded to ensure our network and data remained secure and that we could continue to address the community’s needs.



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UPDATE: City of Shoreline network outage impacting communication

Friday, October 29, 2021

Shoreline City Hall
The City of Shoreline continues to experience significant technical issues with its internal network. This is impacting their ability to make/send or receive external phone calls and emails at our facilities.

Also impacted by their network outage is the permit center. They are unable to help customers in their permit center at this time.

If you have an urgent concern that needs an immediate response, call the general purpose number at 206-801-2700. The after-hours answering service will provide support while phones are down at City Hall and will notify City staff if an immediate response is needed.

For life and safety emergencies, call 911.

We currently have limited access to email. If you have an urgent issue, please use the appropriate department email below. Our response times will be longer than normal. We appreciate your patience.

City Council: 

Council@shorelinewa.gov 

City Manager’s Office: 

CMO@shorelinewa.gov  

Clerk's Office: 

clk@shorelinewa.gov 

Customer Response and Code Enforcement 

crteam@shorelinewa.gov 

Parks / Recreation 

Shorelineparks@shorelinewa.gov 

Planning and Community Development/Permit Center 

pcd@shorelinewa.gov 

Public Works 

pubwrks@shorelinewa.gov 


IT staff have been working diligently with vendors to restore service as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we work fix this issue.




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Tech difficulties at City of Shoreline - no phone, no email

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

yuko tanaka 49f4hLnWFQs unsplash
From the City of Shoreline

We are currently experiencing significant technical issues with our internal network. 

This is impacting our ability to make/send or receive external phone calls and emails at our facilities. 

Also impacted by our network outage is our permit center. We are unable to help customers in our permit center at this time.

If you have an urgent concern that needs an immediate response, you can call our general purpose number at 206-801-2700. 

Our after-hours answering service CMS will provide support while our phones are down at City Hall and will notify City staff if an immediate response is needed.

For life and safety emergencies, call 911.

Recreation programming at Spartan Recreation Center will continue as scheduled today.

We are currently working with our vendors to restore service as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience as we work fix this issue.



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Help for seniors to avoid scams this holiday season


With the holidays approaching, it is easy to get scammed! Please join the UW Bothell School of Nursing students on Tuesday November 16, 2021 from 1-1:30pm in this 30 minute dialogue over Zoom as they discuss the ways technology scammers target seniors and what we can do to help prevent ourselves from falling prey to their schemes. 

The dialogue will be recorded and shared with those who register to attend. 

Space is limited so register HERE

Need help registering? Contact 253-237-2848 or send an email to info@NorthwestNeighborsNetwork.org or to Elizabeth@NorthwestNeighborsNetwork.org.

Send any questions in advance to Sophia at sophiayouk5@gmail.com.


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Update your Apple products right now to protect from a security vulnerability in older iPhones and iPads

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

By Diane Hettrick

Apple discovered a security vulnerability in its older iPhones and iPads that would allow hackers to install spyware that would give them access to everything on your device.

They didn't announce it until they had the updates in place to block the spyware, but there has been no suggestion that any such breaches have actually occurred.

Regardless, it's a good idea to keep all your devices updated to the most current version.

I updated our laptops as well. 

I discovered that even though I've selected the option to "automatically install updates" only the iPad was up to date. My MacBookPro sent me a message but didn't install until I prompted it. Our iPhones 5 and 6 didn't bother to mention any problems and they were not updated.

I'm sure there must be some settings somewhere that I need to change - but everything is up to date now.

Devices affected include:
• iPhone 5s
• iPhone 6
• iPhone 6 Plus
• iPad Air
• iPad mini 2
• iPad mini 3
• iPod touch
 
If your device is not prompting you to update, you can trigger the update manually by navigating to Settings > General > Software Update on your device.

This vulnerability is a particularly nasty one. I figure it's our comeuppance for being smug about viruses all those years.



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North City Tech Meetup October 4: Two Machine Learning Projects You Can Build at Home

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

North City Tech Meetup October 4th Presentation
Two Machine Learning Projects You Can Build at Home

Monday, October 4, 2021, 7 to 9 PM
Online Zoom Meeting

Free and open to everyone


Machine Learning you can try at home – Two Examples

Presenters:
  • Jen Foxbot
  • Benjamin Cabé

Two Microsoft employees will cover two beginner-friendly technologies for building, training, and deploying custom machine learning models on edge devices like the Raspberry Pi computer or Arduino microcontrollers.

We will start with Jen Foxbot who will give an overview of Lobe, using her recent project of using Lobe and the Raspberry Pi to use machine learning to identify whether your refuse is trash, recyclable or compostable, as she wrote about in her article “Clean Up your Act” in Make Magazine, Volume 11.

Lobe https://www.lobe.ai/ is a free, easy to use system for training machine learning applications.

The Raspberry Pi is a very low cost standalone computer that is, nonetheless, powerful enough for machine learning applications. Jen will show how these can work together for practical and educational AI projects at home.

Next, Benjamin Cabé will join us to discuss his project “Second Sense”, also from Make Magazine, Volume 11, where he uses TinyML to build a machine learning electronic nose that you can train to identify nearly any scent.

TinyML https://www.tinyml.org/ focuses on optimizing machine learning (ML) workloads so that they can be processed on microcontrollers no bigger than a grain of rice and consuming only milliwatts of power.

Presenter Biographies:

Jen Foxbot

Jen Fox has a B.A. in Physics from Occidental College and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA. Fox is an engineer, a maker, and an educator. After dabbling in dark matter, Fox settled into engineering and inventing to solve problems related to climate change and social justice. Combining her varied interests and passion for learning, Fox founded FoxBot Industries in mid-2015 to provide an arts-based approach to STEM education. Fox recently accepted a full-time position at Microsoft to run a team doing maker-related work and manages FoxBot Industries on the side.


Benjamin Cabé

Benjamin is a Program Manager and Technical Evangelist at Microsoft in Toulouse, France, with 15+ years of experience working in Open Source and IoT. Benjamin helped grow a vibrant open source community –Eclipse IoT– of hundreds of developers and dozens of deeply engaged companies from scratch.


No RSVP required, but appreciated, on our Meetup.com page for this event:

https://www.meetup.com/northcitytech/events/

Zoom Meeting Information

Topic: Two Machine Learning Projects
Time: October 4, 2021 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81711021145?pwd=eGZLMEFNdzI1QS85TytmaWFBeUQ4QT09

Meeting ID: 817 1102 1145
Passcode: 721876

The North City Tech Meetup

The North City Tech Meetup is a free meetup, usually the first Monday of each month at one of our local libraries: Lake Forest Park, Shoreline or Kenmore. People of all levels of interest and experience are encouraged to attend. There is always time for introductions and discussions. Skip the traffic and join with your fellow north-enders once a month for interesting presentations and discussions.

Group site: https://www.meetup.com/northcitytech/

For the time being all North City Tech Meetups will be online using Zoom.



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You may qualify for assistance with your internet bill

Monday, September 13, 2021

King County residents may be eligible to receive a monthly benefit to lower the cost of their high-speed internet service.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in May launched the $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit that provides a discount of up to $50 per month toward broadband internet service for eligible households nationwide and up to $75 per month for qualifying households on Tribal lands through 2023, or until funds run out. 

The benefit also provides up to $100 per household toward a one time purchase of a computer, laptop or tablet.

Any King County resident can visit kingcounty.gov/EBB to see if they qualify, or check with their internet provider. The FCC Emergency Broadband Support Center is available at 833-511-0311 from 6am to 6pm daily to answer questions or request a mail-in application.

“We’re trying to get the word out to everyone, in cities and in rural parts of the region,” said Darryl Hunt, principal technology strategist for King County. “High-speed internet is critically important for residents who need access to telehealth, school information, online government services, and job searches. Affordable broadband internet is a vital utility that can provide economic mobility.”

Nearly 19,000 King County households have enrolled in the Emergency Broadband Benefit so far, and more than 4 million households have enrolled nationwide.



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