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Off Topic / Re: Security Recommendations
« on: May 25, 2025, 08:51:54 am »
Hey Jeyk, sorry you're having to deal with that whole fraudulent transaction mess. I've had it happen once or twice and it's always a pain in the ass.
I recognize that your post is over a month old, so if you've already taken care of your security concerns than the following advise is for anyone else who may one day ask.
So here goes...
Advice No. 1: Eliminating (or greatly reducing the headache of ever having to deal with fraudulent transactions ever again). Now you said "bank card" which I take to mean "debit" card, if this is not the case then obviously this advise has a little less value, but regardless...Stop using a debit card to pay for things, and instead use a "credit" card for ALL of your purchases. I could go into all the details why, but honestly this video does a way better job of explaining it. https://youtu.be/3Ga-M2CpRgY?si=NjbXlIqAcERpdWAh. The important thing to remember is that you MUST pay off your card every time you get paid, so that no interest charges are ever incurred, in so doing, you spend no more money than you would have if using your normal debit card. I get paid twice a month, and so I make sure my card is paid off twice a month.
Advice No. 2: Get yourself a firewall, one that isn't provided by your Internet Provider. I recommend a company called Firewalla, https://firewalla.com, lets you easily manage Internet traffic for every device on your network individually or as a whole. It also alerts you any time a new device connects or when there is an unusual spike in network traffic to any specific device. They are not enterprise-level devices by any means but by and large a great product for the home, especially for those of us who have too many tech devices.
Advice No. 3: Get rid of, or disable, any and all tech that listens for verbal commands; none of them (and I really mean none of them) are secure. For mobile devices, change any voice assistant settings (this includes Ai chat bots now) that are constantly in listening mode, instead change them to be button-activated only.
Hope this helps or at least gives you some ideas.
I recognize that your post is over a month old, so if you've already taken care of your security concerns than the following advise is for anyone else who may one day ask.
So here goes...
Advice No. 1: Eliminating (or greatly reducing the headache of ever having to deal with fraudulent transactions ever again). Now you said "bank card" which I take to mean "debit" card, if this is not the case then obviously this advise has a little less value, but regardless...Stop using a debit card to pay for things, and instead use a "credit" card for ALL of your purchases. I could go into all the details why, but honestly this video does a way better job of explaining it. https://youtu.be/3Ga-M2CpRgY?si=NjbXlIqAcERpdWAh. The important thing to remember is that you MUST pay off your card every time you get paid, so that no interest charges are ever incurred, in so doing, you spend no more money than you would have if using your normal debit card. I get paid twice a month, and so I make sure my card is paid off twice a month.
Advice No. 2: Get yourself a firewall, one that isn't provided by your Internet Provider. I recommend a company called Firewalla, https://firewalla.com, lets you easily manage Internet traffic for every device on your network individually or as a whole. It also alerts you any time a new device connects or when there is an unusual spike in network traffic to any specific device. They are not enterprise-level devices by any means but by and large a great product for the home, especially for those of us who have too many tech devices.
Advice No. 3: Get rid of, or disable, any and all tech that listens for verbal commands; none of them (and I really mean none of them) are secure. For mobile devices, change any voice assistant settings (this includes Ai chat bots now) that are constantly in listening mode, instead change them to be button-activated only.
Hope this helps or at least gives you some ideas.