Staying Safe Online

Garmin and Staying Safe Online

Thursday 23rd July 2020 was just like any other day this year. My new Covid 19 normal day consisted of working from home, doing an exercise class, and going out for a run. But like many of you, I was potentially stuck with one problem. Garmin was down, and not working.

I had a dilemma; if I went for a run and it didn’t sync to Strava via Garmin. How would anyone know?

I rebooted any device that was connected to these applications in the hope that it would ‘sync’. Alas nothing worked, there was nothing else to do but take to the social media platforms and complain that the thing, now attached to my wrist, was nothing more than a watch. I turned to my running family, who were all getting the same problem. It wasn’t me, it was an issue with Garmin. Garmin Connect updated with the words “Sorry, we’re down for maintenance. Check back shortly”.

I work in Cyber Security, and it suddenly dawned on me that this is the standard response most organisations display when they have an issue. Although Garmin have resolved the issue, it got me thinking. This was a ‘Threat Actor’, who had taken advantage of Garmin, and we as users of electronic devices are just as vulnerable. So, I‘ve come up with some tips on how you can look after yourself online.

Does your mobile phone/laptop/tablet/device/ notebook/watch have the latest software updated on it?

1. Companies such as Apple, Samsung and Microsoft tend to release software/firmware updates proactively, whereas Garmin only tend to update the latest software when enough people complain about it (In my opinion).

2. Make sure your device is set to ‘automatically update’. If a company finds a security issue, they tend to release an update as soon as possible; this means your device will automatically download the software/firmware and update it.

GROUP APPS

Garmin Connect Just to let everyone know; if you use a Garmin watch there’s a Shropshire Shufflers Group on Garmin Connect – which you can search for via the Groups tab on the main menu.

Passwords - Is your online banking password the same as your email password?

1. Try to avoid reusing the same password where possible. Threat actors know that people reuse passwords for most of their electronic devices and use electronic tools to spray commonly used passwords against the services we use. So, mix your password up a bit, by using a mixture of special characters and numbers. Avoid anything based on place of residence and birth year eg Shrewsbury80.

2. So how about something like this?

Shrewsbury80 then becomes 5hr3w5bur!80

I’ve replaced the S with a 5, the e with a 3 and the y with an exclamation mark.

Now that’s a lot more difficult to guess, and yet it’s still relevant to the person using it.

3. You could try this with your favourite song, and pick a line from the song. I’ll give you an example.

Foo Fighters “Something from nothing” – Opening line is “Give me the flammable life, I’m cold as a match”

Take the first letter of each word to make the basis of your password:

1. GMTFLICAAM

2. Make it case sensitive

3. GmTFLICaaM

4. Swap out a few letters for special characters and numbers, and your new password is as follows:

5. 6mT411c@@M Finally emails and text (‘phishing’ and ‘smishing’), don’t click on the link in an email or text if you aren’t 100% sure about it.

1. This is how Threat Actors will attempt to get your username or password.

2. They will normally push you and say it’s urgent that you must click on the link now. They will play on you being unknowledgeable.

Being on the internet doesn’t have to be scary; it’s about the simple steps you can take to protect your data.

Debbie Armstrong

Strava Also we have a group on running Strava (running app & website connecting millions of runners & cyclists worldwide) which you can search for via the Explore menu. So why not join and see where other Shufflers are running. (and how well they are doing too!)