Hack Attack: Internet & Email Security - Knowledge Share Wednesday, 04/26/17, 1-4pm ET

Wow, now let's meet our panel of experts!

@ApexRon has installed, repaired, marketed and supported large-company electronic equipment for decades.  He's active in his homeowner's association, and local law enforcement group.  ApexRon joined the community in August, 2010.  He's earned earned 14 badges, received 150 kudos and authored 50+ Accepted Solutions.  He accepted the Award for Community Excellence in 2016.

@ATTU-verseCare has been active in the forums since 2010. As a team of 3 AT&T Technical Managers (David, Chris, and Jared), with a total of 25 years in the company, these techy dudes are always looking to share solutions with customers in the Community! The team also tweets for @ATTCares and @DIRECTVService as a fun way to share all the community self-help tips.

@Jeramy_G has been with AT&T 12 years and has been in the industry for 18. He works as one of the mail and product subject matter experts and has been in the position for about 6 years.

@JefferMC  started networking computers with async terminal cables in 1984. Today he’s a web application developer who enjoys online gaming, disc golf, ultimate Frisbee and cheering the University of South Carolina. He joined the AT&T Community Forums in November, 2009, and has earned earned 32 badges, received 1k+ kudos and authored 400+ Accepted Solutions.  He accepted the Award for Community Excellence in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. 

 @MsMaggie is an AT&T knowledge engineer for Internet, Phone, and TV services. She enjoys boating, fishing, camping, and hiking the outdoors with her family and four-legged friends in sunny Florida.

@pgrey  used to write lots of code but now primarily does systems design/engineering and Project Management.  He and his family enjoy riding road bikes, skiing, snowboarding  and backpacking.  .He joined the AT&T Community Forums in February, 2008,, and has earned earned 12 badges, received 59 kudos and authored 68 Accepted Solutions.  He accepted the Award for Community Excellence in 2016, and was ACE of the Month in December, 2016.

 @ranen19 manages support content for AT&T. She enjoys traveling and cooking, but mostly eating what other people cook.

@RhodesMan is a native of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) who handled importing, manufacture and distribution of all the gear needed to receive satellite signals for its DTH industry, He also worked in IT for 10 years, including two in the military.  He's a volunteer for his local fire department and the Amateur Radio Emergency Services group.  He joined the AT&T Community Forums in November, 2010, and has earned earned 11 badges, received 20+ kudos and authored 19+  Accepted Solutions.  He accepted the Award for Community Excellence in 2015 and 2016.  See his August, 2016 ACE of the Month interview here.

@RossCS is an avid "technophile", who loves all things tech. He has worked with AT&T since 2009.

The latest Knowledge Sharing Session Hack Attack: Internet & Email Security will be held here on Wednesday, April 26 from 1-4pm ET / 12-3pm CT / 10a-1pm PT!

Welcome to our latest Ask an Expert event!

We look forward to your questions about internet and e-mail security.

Good morning all from the left coast!

@RhodesMan Good morning, fellow left-coastian.

🙂

Yep, same, hi all; different "left coast" though, WA state ;-]

Hey there, @pgrey! I think you and I are on the same left coast. WA state represent!

So to get the ball rolling here are a couple of topics that I have researched in the past.

Want Safer Passwords? Don’t Change Them So Often.

What’s the Best Antivirus for Windows 10? (Is Windows Defender Good Enough?)

Sure, you could add "write 'em down, in a safe place", my #1 recommendation to people regarding passwords (okay, outside of the obvious, "don't use "1234""), and consider a reputable password "vault".

I could probably write volumes about the Defender issue, being a former Windows dev, mostly hardware and driver/plugin stuff though, but security is always a big part...  I think it's "good enough" for most people, but for those visiting a lot of "questionable" sites, or unknown, I sometimes recommend running a separate malware app (excluding each other, of course).

Okay... this is tangentially related, but something I have been unable to get a clear definitive answer on: It is common knowledge that Yahoo, at least for the foreseeable future, provides ATT's e-mail service.

My question is, who actually does the day to day operations of the e-mail servers? (ATT or Yahoo?)

As often happens, if an att customer who has an account that, for whatever reason, loses their password for, especiley the legacy accounts, who do they need to contact to see about getting that account reactivated? (Also, whatever information they might need to provide to verify ownership of that account.)

That is enough for now...  I'll let others have their turn.