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Data Privacy

Explore best practices for protecting personal and organizational data from unauthorized access and misuse. Articles cover privacy regulations, browser settings, encryption tools, data minimization strategies, and steps to reduce your digital footprint online.

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Data Breach Reporting

How to Report a Data Breach: A Step-by-Step Guide

The Clock Starts Ticking the Second You Discover a Breach In March 2024, Change Healthcare suffered a ransomware attack that exposed the protected health information of over 100 million individuals. The fallout wasn't just technical — it was a cascading failure in communication, notification, and reporting that took months

Carl B. Johnson Apr 19, 2026 6 min read
Is It Legit

Removed App: Is It Legit or a Security Risk?

When "Removed" Shows Up and You Start Googling You found an app, a service, or a browser extension labeled "Removed" — or maybe something you installed just vanished and now shows as "removed" in your app list. So you searched "removed is it legit.

Carl B. Johnson Nov 28, 2025 6 min read
Is It Legit

Removed App: Is It Legit or a Security Risk?

Every week, someone on my team flags a new app or service that employees are asking about. "Hey, is this legit?" It's the single most common security question I hear — and for good reason. The FTC reported over $10 billion in consumer fraud losses in 2023,

Carl B. Johnson Jul 23, 2024 6 min read
Adware vs Spyware

Adware vs Spyware: What's Actually Stealing Your Data

In February 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that malware-related complaints had surged again, with losses running into the hundreds of millions. Buried in those numbers is a distinction most people get wrong: adware vs spyware. I've watched organizations treat adware as a minor

Carl B. Johnson Apr 10, 2023 6 min read
Is It Legit

Removed App: Is It Legit or a Security Risk?

Every week, I get emails from readers asking the same type of question: "I found this app called Removed — is it legit?" Sometimes it's Removed, sometimes it's another obscure app that popped up in a search result, an ad, or a text message from

Carl B. Johnson Aug 23, 2022 7 min read
Adware vs Spyware

Adware vs Spyware: What Security Pros Know You Don't

In March 2021, Avast researchers disclosed that at least 28 browser extensions — used by roughly three million people — were quietly harvesting browsing data and redirecting users to phishing and ad-laden sites. Some of those extensions looked like simple ad-blocking tools. Others posed as social media helpers. Under the hood, they

Carl B. Johnson Sep 16, 2021 7 min read
Is It Legit

Removed App: Is It Legit or a Security Risk?

When "Removed" Shows Up, Your Instincts Are Right to Question It Last month, I received three separate emails from readers asking the same question: they'd encountered an app, service, or website branded as "Removed" and wanted to know — removed is it legit? The fact

Carl B. Johnson Jul 13, 2021 7 min read
Is It Legit

Removed App: Is It Legit or a Security Risk?

When "Removed" Shows Up and You Don't Know Why Last month, a colleague forwarded me a screenshot from their phone. An app called "Removed" appeared in their app list, and they had no memory of installing it. Their first instinct was to Google "

Carl B. Johnson Mar 20, 2019 6 min read