Silicon Prairie Cyber Services' Blog

January 28 is Data Privacy Day. On this day advocates spread awareness about privacy and work to educate others about securing their personal information to protect their privacy. At the same time, we encourage businesses to increase transparency about how they store and use data they collect from customers. Start OWNING your PRIVACY by: Keep tabs on your apps.  Apps ask for access to a lot of your personal info like your location, contacts, and photos.  Before you grant access, decide if the app really needs that info. Manage your privacy settings.  Check the privacy and security settings for the online accounts and apps you use.   Learn how to manage your privacy settings for most online accounts at staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/managing-your-privacy/manage-privacy-settings/ Businesses can protect their customer's privacy by: Be transparent about how you collect, use, and share your customers' personal information. If you collect it, protect it. Imp...

Prescriptions and cybersecurity are more alike than you might realize. Let me explain. I hate to admit it, but I’m getting old. The one thing giving it away is my eyes. I had to get a prescription for progressive lenses to see both near and far now. When I first got the glasses I couldn’t figure out how to see ANYTHING clearly – nearly everything was blurry no matter where I looked. I got a 5 second run down when I picked up my glasses, but alas no luck. This is similar to the experience many have with new cybersecurity tools or training. You received a 5 second rundown with the purchase but then you were left to your devices to figure it out. So what did I do with my glasses? I went back to the doctor's office and asked for help. I explained my situation and they checked the prescription in the lenses, adjusted the fit of my glasses, explained in detail the different ways to use my glasses, and finally they had me look at different things in the store to ensure I could read ...

If you caught my   Facebook  or   Instagram   Stories on Tuesday you saw a story about Temperature Tuesday Runzas.  What I didn't tell you was… it got me thinking about New Year's Resolutions.   If you're not from Nebraska you're probably asking yourself two questions right now. 1 - What is a Runza? 2 - What is Temperature Tuesday?   These two things go hand in hand around here in January and February.    Runzas are little, handheld, meat sandwiches with a mixture of ground beef, cabbage, onions, and spices.  I like to get mine with cheese.  In January and February, they run a special.  The temperature at 6 AM is the price of your Runza.    Tuesday it was 15 cents!   Now while I was looking at my Runza I thought, “Man this Runza looks skinny.”  This got me thinking… Many make a new year’s resolution to lose weight.  After a rough year in 2020 with COVID-19 and the quarantine 15 pounds who can blame us? ...