How to keep safe digitally in WikiLeaks age – USA TODAY

In this excerpt from their Facebook Live interview, USA TODAY's Elizabeth Weise and Jefferson Graham weigh in on tips to keep your digital lives safe in a Wkileaks era.

LOS ANGELES Hacking into your cellphone, router and even smart TVis far easier than any of usthought: the government, according to a stolen stash of documents,even has a guide on how to do it.

A telephone from the 1940s.(Photo: Elizabeth Weise)

As we saw this week, the latest data dump from Wikileaks allegedly showed how the CIA outlined ways the agency could potentially hack into our digital devicessmartphones, computers, TVs, Skype calls, text messages and more.

The CIA hasn't confirmed or denied the authenticity of these documents, but some of the big tech companies whose products were named in them Apple and Google, to name two took a close look at what they contained. Conclusion: Most of the techniques would have been stymied by recent updates to the operating systems.So download those updates!

As we do each weekend, we look back at the week's biggest tech headlines, and lead with the latest hacking scare.

We'd also like to offer some quick tips we discovered along the way this week to keep safe.

Cover the webcam on your laptop. Brett Molina points out that if Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and FBI Director James Comey think throwing tape over theirlaptop webcam is a wise way to keep hackers out of your business, you should, too.

Use a landline. Elizabeth Weise put together a 13-point list of ways to keep yourself digitally safe, and it includes the landline. Yes, the old, analog phone that many of us grew up withand have ditched. Weise reports that landlines are far harder to track than cellphones. (Many of us use cheaper, VOIP service as a home alternative to landlines, but alas, digital phone service in the home is just as easy to track as cellphones.)

--Two-Factor Authentication. On our Facebook Live broadcast devoted to digital safety tips, Weise pointedout that the 2-factor sign-in is a must for e-mail and social media accounts. It's a little harder--you essentially have to sign in twice before being allowed in, by typing in a code that comes usually via text, but it's worth it, she says, since hackers probably won't have access to your personal phone. (Watch the video clip on Two-factor directly below.)

How to keep your digital life safer in the Wikileaks era? USA TODAY's Elizabeth Weise and Jefferson Graham weigh in on 2-factor authentication for e-mail and social media on #TalkingTech.

Finally, while some were shocked to see this spelled out in black and white, the CIA/WikiLeaks news shouldnt be that surprisingany device thats connected as a two-way unit is vulnerable. Concerned about your digital safety? Turn off your Wi-Fi.

Meanwhile, the other memorable tech headlines of the week:

Facebook introduced yet another shameless clone of a popular feature from the Snapchat app this week. Snapchat Stories is a way for Snapchatters to show off a collection of photos and videos to friends that live for just 24 hours. Facebook, which already copied this feature for its Instagram and WhatsApp apps, is now bringing it to Messenger, the popular messaging app. However, there's nothing that much different about it.

(Speaking of Snap, inc. the parent company of Snapchat, had its first full week as a public company on Wall Street, where investors weren't as giddy about its future. While the stock jumped to $27 in the first two days of trading, this week it fell and hovered around the $23 mark, before closing Friday at $22.07.)

Google this week updated its Hangouts app, changing the focus from a group video messaging app to oneaimed at businesses for group chat among employees. In other words, Google is taking on the popular Slack service with similar features. To get there, as Edward C. Baig points out, Google split the app into two: a video chat service called Hangouts Meet, and a team-oriented messaging service known as Hangouts Chat. The update will become available later this year.

The Airbnb service announced this week that it had raised $1 billion in additional funding, which will help it push off an IPO. The company, which competes with hotels and motels by offering alternative lodging, is now valued at $31 billion. And guess what: It's making an operating profit.

Bugs Bunny poses with smartphone to plug the new Boomerang cartoon service(Photo: Warner Bros.)

Finally, two new streaming entertainment services were announced this week. If on-demand movies and TV shows from the likes of Netflix and Hulu arent your thing, how about an endless supply of classic cartoons or British dramas? The Warner Bros. Boomerang service, debuting in the spring, will offer5,000 toons from the Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera and MGM libraries and at $5 a month, sounds like a steal to me.

BritBox, from the BBC, touts British dramas like Upstairs, Downstairs and Brideshead Revisited. The endless supply of new announced streaming services got me wondering this week. If we order a bunch of them, we could end up paying just as much as we do now on cable. Cord cutters say no, but I wonder?

And thats all folks, for this week's edition of the top tech headlines of the week. I invite you to join me on Twitter, where I'm @jeffersongraham.

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How to keep safe digitally in WikiLeaks age - USA TODAY