Building Utopia | Weekly Newsletter | 11 Nov 2022
Craig Hume - MD @ Utopia
Published -
Hello friends,
I remember being at a friend's New Year party, a drink was split, and the router was turned off. Within seconds kids from all over the house came running into the room, "the internet is down!" they all cried. Thankfully for them, it was back up and running in no time. But reflecting on this memory made me consider how much we all rely on our home internet, perhaps more than ever, as many of us now work from home at least some of the time.
So what can we do to ensure our home network is secure and functional? A typical home now has around 10.37 devices connected to the internet. PCs and mobile devices make up a little over half of those; the rest are IoT devices. I mention this as IoT devices (smart speakers, thermostats and the like) are often the least secure part of your network.
During the first six months of 2021, the number of IoT cyberattacks was reportedly up by 135%. Malicious actors use these IoT devices to gain access to computers & smartphones. You can reduce your risk of a work computer being breached by putting IoT devices on a different Wi-Fi.
Doing this is often relatively straightforward.
1. Set up a “guest” Wi-Fi on your home router.
2. Put all IoT devices on that guest network
3. Ensure all computers and smartphones are on the existing secured Wi-Fi network.
Need Help Upgrading Your Home Cybersecurity or have questions? Give us a call :)
Cheers,
Craig - MD @ Utopia
🤖 Tech Highlight of the Week
Twitter Blue Tick - We've been watching Twitter since Elon took over with some interest. It's such an iconic communication channel, used by many people for many positive things (and for some, sadly less favourable). I've always thought the Blue Tick always carried a sense of gravitas and security. This week, we can all have a Blue Tick for $8 per month. Will Utopia be getting one? Not at this point. we think it seems like a strange thing to pay for. We will, however, be watching this story unfold.
🎮 We're Playing this week
Noita - Campbell - B2B Engineer at Utopia - "I've got 320 hours in a game called Noita I've been being absolutely pummeled by for the past year.
I've just suffered my 931st death (compared to my 4 total wins) and I can say with confidence that I hate it 👍"
📖 From My Bookshelf This Week
Factfulness - Hans Rosling - If you think the world sometimes seems a little crazy and perhaps, dare I say, a little doomed. This book is for you. Every group of people that the author, Hans Rosling, ask thinks that the world is more frightening, more violent, and more hopeless than it is.
“Step-by-step, year-by-year, the world is improving,” writes Rosling. “Not on every single measure every single year, but as a rule. Though the world faces huge challenges, we have made tremendous progress. This is the fact-based worldview.” Rosling lays out 10 areas that we can learn from and change our world view. This is an incredible book and in my all time top must-reads.
💬 Quote of the week
Arthur C. Clarke - “Any sufficently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
With Christmas around the corner we thought it would be an idea to build some perfect Gaming PCs to take the guess work out of buying your loved one the perfect PC for Christmas! You can check them out in the link below. Want something custom but don't know where to start? Give us a call :)
I remember being at a friend's New Year party, a drink was split, and the router was turned off. Within seconds kids from all over the house came running into the room, "the internet is down!" they all cried. Thankfully for them, it was back up and running in no time. But reflecting on this memory made me consider how much we all rely on our home internet, perhaps more than ever, as many of us now work from home at least some of the time.
So what can we do to ensure our home network is secure and functional? A typical home now has around 10.37 devices connected to the internet. PCs and mobile devices make up a little over half of those; the rest are IoT devices. I mention this as IoT devices (smart speakers, thermostats and the like) are often the least secure part of your network.
During the first six months of 2021, the number of IoT cyberattacks was reportedly up by 135%. Malicious actors use these IoT devices to gain access to computers & smartphones. You can reduce your risk of a work computer being breached by putting IoT devices on a different Wi-Fi.
Doing this is often relatively straightforward.
1. Set up a “guest” Wi-Fi on your home router.
2. Put all IoT devices on that guest network
3. Ensure all computers and smartphones are on the existing secured Wi-Fi network.
Need Help Upgrading Your Home Cybersecurity or have questions? Give us a call :)
Cheers,
Craig - MD @ Utopia
🤖 Tech Highlight of the Week
Twitter Blue Tick - We've been watching Twitter since Elon took over with some interest. It's such an iconic communication channel, used by many people for many positive things (and for some, sadly less favourable). I've always thought the Blue Tick always carried a sense of gravitas and security. This week, we can all have a Blue Tick for $8 per month. Will Utopia be getting one? Not at this point. we think it seems like a strange thing to pay for. We will, however, be watching this story unfold.
🎮 We're Playing this week
Noita - Campbell - B2B Engineer at Utopia - "I've got 320 hours in a game called Noita I've been being absolutely pummeled by for the past year.
I've just suffered my 931st death (compared to my 4 total wins) and I can say with confidence that I hate it 👍"
📖 From My Bookshelf This Week
Factfulness - Hans Rosling - If you think the world sometimes seems a little crazy and perhaps, dare I say, a little doomed. This book is for you. Every group of people that the author, Hans Rosling, ask thinks that the world is more frightening, more violent, and more hopeless than it is.
“Step-by-step, year-by-year, the world is improving,” writes Rosling. “Not on every single measure every single year, but as a rule. Though the world faces huge challenges, we have made tremendous progress. This is the fact-based worldview.” Rosling lays out 10 areas that we can learn from and change our world view. This is an incredible book and in my all time top must-reads.
💬 Quote of the week
Arthur C. Clarke - “Any sufficently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
With Christmas around the corner we thought it would be an idea to build some perfect Gaming PCs to take the guess work out of buying your loved one the perfect PC for Christmas! You can check them out in the link below. Want something custom but don't know where to start? Give us a call :)
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