Every year we become increasingly connected online and more reliant on technology. And why wouldn't we? Social media helps us keep in touch; Alexa and Google answer all our questions; digital maps point us in the right direction; and apps make it easy to do...just about everything. But all that connection can come at a cost to our privacy and security. And unfortunately, you're a target: In 2021 alone, middle-aged and older adults accounted for 60% of victims of Internet crime and lost over $4 billion to hackers and scammers, per a report from the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. Hackers are always finding innovative ways to sneak into our lives and steal valuable data, from posing as tech support people to inundating us with dangerous links.
Luckily, you don't have to be a tech pro (or anything close) to protect yourself and your loved ones from digital disasters. Start with this guide to learn which threats should be top of mind for you and how you can build a stronger cybersecurity shield in seconds.
DIGITAL PRIVACY 101
IS MY PHONE LISTENING TO ME?
If you've ever talked about something only to see an ad for it pop up on your screen a moment later, you've probably at least wondered whether companies could be spying on you. In fact, more than 40% of Americans who have a smartphone believe their device is recording them without their permission. But is this actually possible?
David Choffnes, Ph.D., a computer science professor and executive director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute of Northeastern University, says he gets this question a lot. From 2017 to 2018, he and his team analyzed more than 17,000 Android apps and did not find a single example of an app covertly activating a phone's microphone to collect audio recordings.
This story is from the October 2023 edition of Good House Keeping - US.
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This story is from the October 2023 edition of Good House Keeping - US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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The Stress-Busting Hack That's Right Under Your Nose- Breathwork is more than the wellness trend du jour- it's a science-backed route to relief from multiple modern ailments.
“OK, OK, just take a breath.” If that’s what a friend advises after you panic-share about a major-anxiety-inducing situation — your teen taking his maiden solo voyage behind the wheel, work instability, another high-stakes world crisis dinging your phone every few minutes — it’s probably because they hate seeing you so on edge. But also, your friend is offering an effective means of slowing your spin. “The way you breathe affects anxiety, and anxiety affects how you breathe,” says James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. “It’s a two-way street, and while anxiety isn’t a conscious choice, our breathing is.”
Do Men Really Not See The Mess? - The answer might surprise you. Journalist and author Gemma Hartley pulls back the curtain to reveal the invisible forces that drive this all-too-common cause of marital strife.
There was a time, earlier in my marriage, when every morning as I walked into the kitchen I braced myself for the rage and resentment that would well up in me.Cupboards left open. Dirty dishes in the sink. Coffee cups strewn around the house. And usually a pair of slippers or shoes, with inside-out socks, on the floor somewhere nearby. Even when I had left the house spotless the night before, I’d wake to a scene of disarray — the mess my husband had left behind on his way out the door for work.I didn’t know which scenario seemed worse, my husband’s consciously expecting me to clean up these messes or his truly not noticing them at all. I found myself silently tallying these small resentments, furious and flummoxed in turn that he seemed oblivious to things that needed to be tidied up around the house. It seemed as if he was always waiting for me to tell him what had to be done, as if he was incapable of noticing the mess himself even when he was creating it.
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