Technology Tips: August 2023 Edition

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Should you use ChatGPT?

The newest tech tool popular among students and businesses alike, ChatGPT is a language model that creates conversational, human-like responses. Signing up is easy—all you need is an email and a password. But is it a tool worth using?

Similar to a search engine, you can ask ChatGPT just about anything, from name suggestions for a gluten-free bakery to how to learn the programming language C#. You can even ask it to “come up with a list of 15 icebreaker questions I can ask my 10-year-old students.” The more specific you are, the more helpful the information ChatGPT will provide. We asked ChatGPT to give us some ways it could be useful in education, and it suggested helping with personalized learning, homework assistance, creative writing support, professional development, and more.

If you decide to use ChatGPT, it’s important to remember to be cautious. While it’s certainly a helpful tool, it is not to be trusted. ChatGPT will be the first to tell you that you should never share any personal information about yourself or others, since it sends all information and questions to a large memory bank to create a more robust database. You should also not assume everything AI tells you is true. In addition, it's worth noting that ChatGPT can’t show empathy or emotion.

In the end, it's up to you whether you give ChatGPT a try. It can certainly be a beneficial tool to use, if you take the proper precautions. 
 

Passkeys

We’ve written extensively about passwords and passphrases, but are you familiar with passkeys?

Passkeys may be a solution that is easier and safer in certain situations. They are an automatically generated string of random characters that are tied to a single device. Apple and Google allow passkeys and Microsoft is adding passkey support to Windows 11 OS.

Similar to using a password manager, you can securely access your passkeys with your fingerprint, face, or PIN. They are more secure since they’re incredibly difficult to guess, and you don’t have to worry about remembering password after password. Here is information for signing in with a passkey on your device with Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
 

Smishing becomes more convincing

Hacking attempts through text messages (smishing) are becoming more common and easy to fall for. This text from Venmo seemed as if it was giving helpful security advice. It provided a security code, sign-in notification, and warnings to not share the information. However, the red flags are apparent if you look close enough.



🚩 1. The odd capitalization and extra spaces before punctuation marks.

🚩 2. The Venmo logo was sent as a separate picture.

🚩 3. The web address in the link is clearly not from Venmo.

🚩 4. The text was sent from an individual's cell phone, not from a business number.

🚩 5. The text creates a sense of urgency and asks you to sign in using a link they provide (not your usual login method). 

In this case, we can assume with confidence this is a smishing attempt.
 

Malware of the month

Each month we sift through stories of recent malware attacks, but the past few months there hasn’t been too much in the news. Our theory? Hackers are taking a break from their usual 9-5 to enjoy summer vacations. (Wow, they are just like us.)

Discord.io is currently offline after a hacker stole data from over 760,000 users. Discord.io is a third-party service that allows users to create custom invites for Discord (an instant messaging social platform). Hacker Akhirah said that they hacked Discord.io because they allegedly link to child sexual abuse material. They are open to keeping the stolen information private if Discord.io deletes all links containing the abusive material.