Posts by Richard Stokes
Medical Practitioners Hit Hard by UnitedHealth Group Cyberattack
The cyberattack on Change Healthcare, owned by UnitedHealth Group, disrupted digital clearinghouse services, impacting billing and care authorization systems nationwide. On average Change Healthcare processes 15 billion health care transactions annually, managing one in three health care transactions in the US. UnitedHealth identified a ransomware group called ALPHV, or Blackcat, as responsible. The attack has…
Read MoreHow Pig Butchering Scams Work & How to Avoid Them
Pig butchering scams, a term that might sound odd and even gruesome in the context of cybercrime, are increasingly becoming a significant concern for individuals and businesses alike. More sophisticated than phishing or social engineering attempts, these scams are a long game to which many savvy people have fallen prey. In fact, the Homeland Security…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: Search Within WhatsApp
No matter what platform you use, messages accumulate over time, and it can be hard to find what you need, when you need it. Maybe you’re looking for the street address of a restaurant you want to try or that funny quote your sister sent to you. For those that use WhatsApp, there is an…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: Who Needs a New iPhone?
Did you know Apple has an iPhone upgrade plan? This was news to me. This plan is perfect for anyone who always wants the most recent iPhone and can afford it. I am sure my best friend has this plan as he has the new everything when it comes to technology! The first step is…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: FlightAware
If you’ve ever looked up at an airplane and wondered where it could be headed, well, wonder no more. With the power of the internet at your fingertips, you can view details on just about any airplane you see in the sky on FlightAware. With nearly-real-time tracking, you can view an interactive map of your…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: Keyboard Shortcut to AI
A couple of months ago I wrote a Tuesday Tip about Bing Chat (Microsoft’s ChatGPT equivalent). Since then, it has been rebranded as Copilot. If you are running Windows 11, the fastest way to pull up Copilot is to press the Windows logo key + C. The Copilot dialog box pops up to the right, and…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: Let Google Lend a Hand
Do you want to save yourself some time? Of course, we all do! Next time you need to write a document, especially a long one, try a little-known transcribing tool in Goggle Docs and let it do the typing for you. To activate this tool, open Google Docs and navigate to the Tools tab at…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: iPhone’s New NameDrop
We regularly encourage you to install updates since many of them include patches to protect against common scams. And while that still rings true, there is a new setting that comes with the recent iPhone iOS 17 update that you need to understand. What is NameDrop? To make information sharing as easy as possible, iPhone…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: What’s in Your Charging Cable?
With its release of the iPhone 15, Apple has finally jumped on the universal charging connector bandwagon. For consumers, this good news since it means iPhone users can now charge with the same cables as Android phones. But of course, this does not mean their USB-C cables are cheap, and in fact, they cost as…
Read MoreHackers Love the Holidays: Common Scams & How to Avoid Them
The holidays are here! This time of year is filled with exciting activities and much-needed downtime. It is also a time of increased online activity and shopping, which unfortunately also brings an increase in online scams. This is especially true on major shopping holidays, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In fact, according to the…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: Use Tin Foil to Boost Your Wi-Fi Signal
Who remembers the days of TV antennas (or rabbit ears as we used to call them) that sat on top of the TV? Do you also remember placing wads of aluminum foil on the ends of these “ears” to get better TV reception? Well, what is old is new again. I used to have spots…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: Three Biggest Scams Currently Conning Millions of Americans
As the holidays approach, please stay vigilant and don’t fall victim. Scams are a never-ending story. The Delivery Text Setup You receive a text message that appears to be from USPS, with a link in the text that says, “Click here, your package can’t be delivered until you update your address.” If you click the…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: Delete Emails that Contain Passwords
Most of us, including me, probably keep old emails in our inbox that contain important information/messages you don’t want to lose. Some of these old emails might contain usernames and passwords for some of your online accounts. As you probably know, many services send new subscribers welcome emails containing the username and password needed to…
Read MoreTuesday Tip: Use AI to Create Step-by-Step Process Guides with ScribeHow
Have you wanted to start using AI but aren’t sure how to start applying it to your daily work tasks? I recently discovered a tool that allows me to quickly and easily create step-by-step guides for training new employees or showing someone how to complete a task. ScribeHow is an AI-powered tool that turns any…
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