This archive contains proof of concepts and a whitepaper that describes multiple email client implementations where popular clients for email are vulnerable to signature spoofing attacks.

Fall has arrived, and with it comes fundraising season. More than one-third of charitable giving happens in the last three months of the year, and the emergence of Giving Tuesday (on November 28 this year) makes the year's end even more critical for charities.

Feeling overwhelmed? Your local NetSquared group is here to help with free, in-person events being held across the U.S. and the globe.

Naples, Florida, is hosting a meetup on tools for effective email fundraising; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, is hosting a series of Giving Tuesday brainstorming sessions; and Chicago, Illinois, will explore how your CRM can save end-of-year fundraising plans.

With more than 75 events scheduled for October, there's probably an event scheduled for your community, so RSVP now for one of our meetups.

Join us!

Upcoming Tech4Good Events

This roundup of face-to-face nonprofit tech events includes meetups from NetSquared, NTEN's Tech Clubs, and other awesome organizations. If you're holding monthly events that gather the #nptech community, let me know, and I'll include you in the next community calendar, or apply today to start your own NetSquared group.

Jump to events in North America or go international with events in

• Africa and Middle East
• Asia and Pacific Rim
• Central and South America
• Europe and U.K.

North America

Monday, October 2, 2017

• Vancouver, British Columbia: Photojournalism for Nonprofits and Small Businesses #Storymakers2017

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

• Portland, Oregon
  • Happy Hour with Nonprofit Tech Luminaries
  • NTEN Presents: Oregon Nonprofit Tech Roundup
• Montréal, Québec: Développer une Présence Web Efficace
• Naples, Florida: Tools for Effective Email Communication
• Mason, Ohio: Connecting Nonprofits and Techies in Cincinnati

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Bagels and Bytes — Allegheny
• Baltimore, Maryland: WordPress 101 and Tech Help and Consultations
• San Francisco, California: Code for America Civic Hack Night (Weekly)

Thursday, October 5, 2017

• Calgary, Alberta: Evening on Data Ethics

Friday, October 6, 2017

• Seattle, Washington: King County Executive Director Forum

Monday, October 9, 2017

• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin: Giving Tuesday Brainstorming

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

• Columbus, Ohio: Nonprofit IT Forum
• Decatur, Illinois: Free and Low-Cost Resources for Nonprofit Software
• Ottawa, Ontario: Review Progress on Data Analysis Projects

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

• Mason, Ohio: Help Create an App for Homeless to Manage Money More Effectively
• San Francisco, California: Code for America Civic Hack Night (Weekly)
• Boston, Massachusetts: Tech Networks of Boston Roundtable: Building an Effective Data Culture at Your Nonprofit
• O’Fallon, Missouri: Learn How to Apply for a $10,000 per Month Google AdWords Grant
• Phoenix, Arizona: Website Building 101: Quick and Easy Web Presence for Nonprofits
• Los Angeles, California: Nonprofit Volunteer Management
• Chicago, Illinois: Net Neutrality

Thursday, October 12, 2017

• Chicago, Illinois: It's Never Too Late: How Your CRM Can Save End-of-Year Fundraising
• Seattle, Washington: What You Need to Know About Board Governance

Saturday, October 14, 2017

• Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Blogger Conference | by Get Social Events, the Social Media Breakfast Folks ($25)

Monday, October 16, 2017

• San Francisco, California: Social Impact in Tech: Panel Discussion with LinkedIn, Lyft, and Salesforce
• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin: Giving Tuesday Brainstorming
• Seattle, Washington: Fall Nonprofit Technology Speed Geek

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

• Buffalo, New York: Essential Data Management
• Orlando, Florida: Tech4Good Orlando October: Search Engine Optimization and Strategy

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

• San Francisco, California: Code for America Civic Hack Night (Weekly)
• Houston, Texas: NetSquared Houston
• Research Triangle Park, North Carolina: Crowdsourcing Change: The Social Web to Nonprofits

Thursday, October 19, 2017

• Monroeville, Pennsylvania: TechNow 2017 Conference
• Sweet Briar, Virginia: Using Data to Reach Your Audience

Friday, October 20, 2017

• West Chester, Ohio: Southwest Ohio Give Camp
• Boston, Massachusetts: Tech Networks of Boston Roundtable: Can Appmaker Help You? A Free Database Tool from Google

Monday, October 23, 2017

• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin: Giving Tuesday Brainstorming
• Austin, Texas: Engaging the Millennial Donor

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

• Vancouver, British Columbia: How Delivering Webinars Can Benefit Your Mission

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

• Baltimore, Maryland: Salesforce 101 for Nonprofits and Free Tech Help and Guidance
• San Francisco, California: Code for America Civic Hack Night (Weekly)
• Seattle, Washington: Recruit, Engage, and Retain a Great Board

Monday, October 30, 2017

• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin: Giving Tuesday Brainstorming

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

• Seattle, Washington: Bolder and Wiser: Nonprofit Advocacy Rights (Part 2)

Central and South America

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

• Guatemala City, Guatemala: Pechakucha Guatemala — Historias Digitales Vol. 15

Africa and Middle East

Sunday, October 1, 2017

• Cotonou, Benin: L'Utilité des Logiciels de TechSoup dans la Progression d Nos ONG dans le Monde
• Kampala, Uganda: Digital Storytelling for Nonprofits Workshop

Monday, October 2, 2017

• Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: Monthly Meeting of Local Members

Saturday, October 7, 2017

• Matloding, South Africa: Technology for Rural Development
• Bunda, Tanzania: Microsoft Cloud Computing
• Morogoro, Tanzania: Role of ICT for Farm Management

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

• Bamenda, Cameroon: How to Create Digital Stories

Friday, October 13, 2017

• Katabi, Uganda: Using Social Media Applications for Development
• Pangani, Tanzania: Storymakers Campaign

Saturday, October 14, 2017

• Bunda, Tanzania: Microsoft Cloud Computing

Sunday, October 15, 2017

• Cotonou, Benin: Les Logiciels Mis en Don par Techsoup.org pour les ONG et Association au Benin

Saturday, October 21, 2017

• Bunda, Tanzania: Microsoft Cloud Computing

Saturday, October 28, 2017

• Bunda, Tanzania: Microsoft Cloud Computing
• Morogoro, Tanzania: Technology for Livelihood Improvement

Asia and Pacific Rim

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

• Taipei, Taiwan: NGO要怎麼搞群眾募資？- 綠盟經驗談

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

• Singapore, Singapore: DataJam!

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

• Wellington, New Zealand: Set Your Email Newsletter on Fire | Net2Welly Oct '17 Meetup

Sunday, October 15, 2017

• Jakarta, Indonesia: Web Hosting

Europe and U.K.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

• Paris, France: AdWords Express — Grands Débutants

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

• Puidoux, Switzerland: 7ème Journée Pédagogique ESV-SPV (AVMES/AVMD)

Friday, October 6, 2017

• Carouge, Switzerland: 12h de Hackaton pour Afficher les Termes et Conditions, Que Vous Ne Lirez Jamais

Saturday, October 7, 2017

• Genève, Switzerland: LINforum3 Partage Idée, Réflexion, Projet, Startup, Service … Responsables!

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

• Cambridge, United Kingdom: Social Media Surgery — Hands-on Help with Social Media

Thursday, October 12, 2017

• Paris, France: La Data pour Vous Renforcer

Saturday, October 14, 2017

• Pully, Switzerland: Intergen.Digital à Pully

Monday, October 16, 2017

• Birmingham, United Kingdom: Social Media Session

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

• Dublin, Ireland: Smart Cities for Good

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

• Paris, France: Forum National des Associations et des Fondations
• Bordeaux, France: Les Personas pour Optimiser Votre Conversion

Thursday, October 19, 2017

• Bath, United Kingdom: Tech for Good Community Mapping
• Paris, France: Brainstorming, Plans d'Actions sur Internet

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

• Manchester, United Kingdom: Tech for Good: At the BBC
• Paris, France: AdWords – Initiation
• Paudex, Switzerland: RdV4–0.ch: 3. Solutions Informatiques — Cloud — SaaS — Services en Ligne

Thursday, October 26, 2017

• Barcelona, Spain: ¡Relanzamos NetSquared Barcelona! ¡Te Esperamos!
• Paris, France: Analytics — Initiation

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

• Renens, Switzerland: OpenLab: Visite du Fablab de Renens

Left photo: Gregory Munyaneza / NetSquared Rwanda / CC BY

Center photo: Chrispin Okumu / NetSquared Kenya / CC BY

Right photo: Chrispin Okumu / NetSquared Kenya / CC BY

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In Week 1 of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) we looked at spoofed emails, cybercriminals' preferred method of spreading malware. Today, in an effort to provide you with the best information out there to keep you safe online, we're hitting you with a double dose of cybersafety news.

Let's take look at the topics for Week 2 and 3 of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: malware and password security. They're separate but related issues in the world of Internet crime prevention, and a better understanding of each is key to protecting your property and personal information in today's digital world.

Malware

Malware is an umbrella term used to describe software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems. If you'd like, you can take a moment and watch this video on malware from Norton Security. But the best way to begin protecting yourself against this stuff is to learn about all the different types of malware that can affect your computer. There are tons, so we'll just go over the broader categories for now.

Viruses: Malicious bits of code that replicate by copying themselves to another program, computer boot sector, or document and change how a computer works. Viruses are typically attached to an executable file or program and spread once a user opens that file and executes it.

Worms: They're like viruses, but are different in terms of the way they're spread. Worms typically exploit a vulnerability or a weakness that allows an attacker to reduce a system's information assurance. Missed that last Windows update? You might be more vulnerable to worms.

Trojans: These look like legitimate pieces of software and are activated after a user executes them. Unlike a virus or a worm, a trojan does not replicate a copy of itself. Instead, it lurks silently in the background, compromising users' sensitive personal data.

Ransomware: This refers to a type of malware that prevents or limits users from accessing their system, either by locking the system's screen or by locking or threatening to erase the users' files unless a ransom is paid. You may recall the WannaCry attack that affected users across the globe this summer, only to be thwarted by the accidental discovery of a "kill switch" that saved people from the malicious software.

Spyware: This malware collects your personal information (such as credit card numbers) and often passes this information along to third parties online without you knowing.

You can check out more descriptions and examples of the types of malware that exist today at MalwareFox, a malware detection and removal software program.

Tips for Protecting Yourself Against Malware

Staying malware-free doesn't require an engineering degree. You can greatly reduce, if not completely eliminate, your chances of falling victim to malware by following these easy tips.

• Keep your operating system current.
• Keep your software up to date, particularly the software you use to browse the Internet.
• Install antivirus and security software and schedule weekly scans. At TechSoup, we're protected by Symantec Endpoint Protection. At home, there are dozens of solutions you can use to protect yourself (PCMag lists many here).
• Mind where you click. Think twice before you download torrent videos or free Microsoft Office templates from some random website.
• Avoid public, nonpassword, nonencrypted Wi-Fi connections when you can. Use a VPN when you cannot.

Spread the Word

Let people know that TechSoup is helping you become more #CyberAware by sharing a message on your social media channels. If you tag @TechSoup on Twitter, we'll retweet the first two tweets. Remember, we're all in this together.

Password Security

Now that we've covered the nasty stuff that can make your life miserable if it ends up on your computer, let's go over some password security tips to help prevent malware from getting there in the first place. Using best practices when it comes to protecting your passwords is a proven way to protect your personal and financial information. Curious how knowledgeable you already are? Watch this video and take this quiz to enter a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card!

First, let's go over some facts.

• Passwords are the first line of defense to protect your personal and financial information.
• A weak password can allow viruses to gain access to your computer and spread through TechSoup's or your family's network.
• It's estimated that 73 percent of users have the same password for multiple sites and 33 percent use the same password every time. (Source: Digicert, May 2014)
• Despite a small sample size of 1,110 U.S. adults, a recent YouGov survey still found that 28 percent of adults use the same passwords for most of their online accounts. (Source: Business Insider, October 2017).

Best Practices for Effective Password Protection

One great way to better protect yourself is by opting for a passphrase, which is much more difficult to crack than a single-word password. Here are some guidelines to creating one.

• Pick a famous quote or saying and use the first letter of each word.
• Add a number that you can remember.
• Capitalize one letter.
• Make it unique by adding the first letter of your company's name to the beginning or end of the passphrase.
• Make it between 16 and 24 characters.

You should never write your password down, but if you must, never store user IDs and passwords together. Finally — even though it might seem unwieldy — you should always use a different password for each site that requires one. In today's world, everything is connected. A savvy hacker can easily breach your bank account, email, and medical records in one fell swoop if you're using the same password for all three.

Additional Cybersecurity Resources

In case you missed it, take a look at last week's post on recognizing suspicious emails.

Need a little inspiration? Find out how TechSoup and Symantec are making a difference in the lives of at-risk teens.

Get more security tips from the National Cyber Security Alliance. National Cyber Security Alliance Month — observed every October — was created as a collaborative effort between government and industry to ensure that all Americans have the resources they need to stay safer and more secure online. Find out how you can get involved.

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Here's a simple way to keep your data safe from potential bad actors in one easy step. Are you ready? Here it is: Log out and lock your computer whenever you're not in front of it.

That's right, it's so simple it can almost be seen as an analog approach to cybersecurity. But make no mistake, all those in-depth disk encryption efforts can be rendered pointless. If you step away from your computer while it's on and unlocked, anyone passing by can access it.

Working Remotely Promotes Data Vulnerability

What's perhaps most insidious about someone gaining physical access to your computer is the fact that the attacker doesn't need any advanced technical know-how to steal sensitive information. A momentary lapse in vigilance at work or a coffee shop can result in a data breach of epic proportions.

Let's say you're working remotely at your favorite café down the street from your apartment and you get up to put in an order for a late breakfast, forgetting to lock your laptop. During that brief moment, a low-key cybervillian could easily stick a USB drive into your computer and copy any sensitive files about you — or your organization — and leave undetected.

Furthermore, if you were logged in to Gmail, your medical records, or your bank account, that malefactor could wreak havoc on your personal and professional life in a matter of minutes.

Tips for Protecting Yourself

The good news about all of this is that warding off these types of would-be data plunderers is really, really easy — it's simply a matter of using your operating system's screen locking functionality. If you don't want to do this, then at the very least you should log out of any sensitive online accounts whenever you step away from your machine.

For each of the following options, be sure you are aware of the password connected to your user login before locking yourself (or anyone else) out.

Screen Locking in Microsoft Windows

• Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and select Lock this computer
• Press Windows+L

Either of these will lock your computer and require a password to log back in. You can choose Control Panel > Personalization > Screen Saver Settings and set up a screen saver that provides a login screen to get back in once it's been initiated.

Screen Locking in macOS

• On an external keyboard or older laptops, press Ctrl+Shift+Eject
• On a MacBook Air or Pro Retina, press Ctrl+Shift+Power

You can also go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and select Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins (provided you have already set up a screen saver by clicking System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver).

Additional Cybersecurity Resources

• Find out how to recognize suspicious emails and protect yourself against malware through better password security
• Check out our recent post on the future of security threats

Get more security tips from the National Cyber Security Alliance. National Cyber Security Awareness Month — observed every October — was created as a collaborative effort between government and industry to ensure that all Americans have the resources they need to stay safer and more secure online. Find out how you can get involved.

Image: National Cyber Security Alliance

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On Tuesday, July 23 at the HydroVision International keynote, Vice President Marla Barnes asked the audience to close their eyes and envision their next vacation. “Are you sitting on a beach? Are you packing your family into the car for a wild adventure? What do you see,” she asked.

Distributed Energy Resources (DER), such as residential solar panels, are not only changing the way energy systems operate, they also present an opportunity to change the way local communities operate by giving consumers the ability to sell excess energy, generated by microgrids or renewable set-ups, to their neighbors – it’s the new energy paradigm.

Just after the midnight hour of New Year’s Eve 2020, more than confetti will be abandoned on America’s sidewalks and parlors. Somewhere around $130 million dollars of Investment Tax Credit (ITC) from that year’s anticipated Commercial & Industrial solar projects will fall out from any hope of reaching the proverbial pocket books of the nation’s infrastructure investors (assuming 2000MW of C&I and Community solar, and a $2/w installation cost). On 1/1/20, the ITC drops to 26 percent, a first step to further decrease the following year.

As the world responds to the challenges of climate change, energy systems are evolving, and evolving fast. The past 10 years have seen the rise (and dramatic cost reduction) of renewable energy such as wind and solar, to the extent that they are no longer considered alternative energy. They have become mainstream energy sources. Now, what will be the “next big thing” as the world shifts to a low carbon future?

“Recognizing leaders in the power and energy industry not only gives us the opportunity to celebrate them and the projects that they are involved in, it also enables us to learn vital business and life lessons from these often exceptional individuals. We find out what makes them tick, what frustrates them and the processes they follow to address challenges – this is often inspiring, eye-opening stuff and cannot but contribute to the growth of the sector.“

On Tuesday, July 23 at the HydroVision International keynote, Vice President Marla Barnes asked the audience to close their eyes and envision their next vacation. “Are you sitting on a beach? Are you packing your family into the car for a wild adventure? What do you see,” she asked.

At last night’s PennWell Awards Ceremony, Kim Greene, a 24-year veteran of the power industry, was named the POWER-GEN 2015 Woman of the Year.

Greene began her career as an engineer with Southern Company in 1991 and ascended to leadership roles at Mirant and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), before returning to Southern Company Services in 2013 to become President and CEO. She was a keynote speaker at POWER-GEN International in 2014.

Today, she serves as chief operating officer of Southern Company and is responsible for overseeing system operations, which include generation, transmission, engineering and construction services, system planning, and research and environmental affairs, as well as the company’s competitive wholesale generation businesses.

A new partnership between Enel and InnoCentive focuses on the power of the crowd to solve many of the world’s sustainable energy challenges.

Utilities are — and have been for a long time — seeking better ways through which they can engage with their customers. According to Jeff Hamel, director of energy and housing partnerships at Google, the Nest smart thermostat, which is part of the hardware product line that Google provides, is a good example of a simple way that utilities are partnering with their customers.

It’s hard to find a common thread between the business models of Gap, Bloomberg, Cox, Salesforce and Workday but today they are announcing that they all have one big thing in common: their desire to clean up their organizations’ energy supply by using renewable energy.

As scientists seek more ways to harness nature’s power to produce renewable energy, there’s one energy source burned naturally every day that isn’t being harnessed: calories.

Big Oil wants to put a box in your hall closet that works like a human brain, can cut the lights, stop the refrigerator and will know how you move about in the privacy of your home better than you do.

As the world responds to the challenges of climate change, energy systems are evolving, and evolving fast. The past 10 years have seen the rise (and dramatic cost reduction) of renewable energy such as wind and solar, to the extent that they are no longer considered alternative energy. They have become mainstream energy sources. Now, what will be the “next big thing” as the world shifts to a low carbon future?

“Recognizing leaders in the power and energy industry not only gives us the opportunity to celebrate them and the projects that they are involved in, it also enables us to learn vital business and life lessons from these often exceptional individuals. We find out what makes them tick, what frustrates them and the processes they follow to address challenges – this is often inspiring, eye-opening stuff and cannot but contribute to the growth of the sector.“

On Tuesday, July 23 at the HydroVision International keynote, Vice President Marla Barnes asked the audience to close their eyes and envision their next vacation. “Are you sitting on a beach? Are you packing your family into the car for a wild adventure? What do you see,” she asked.

I like websites that have sections called "Frequently Asked Questions" – FAQ, for short. Typically, the questions I have aren't new ones … others looking at that site have asked the same thing. It's an efficient, quick way to get answers to my questions.

Distributed Energy Resources (DER), such as residential solar panels, are not only changing the way energy systems operate, they also present an opportunity to change the way local communities operate by giving consumers the ability to sell excess energy, generated by microgrids or renewable set-ups, to their neighbors – it’s the new energy paradigm.

Big Oil wants to put a box in your hall closet that works like a human brain, can cut the lights, stop the refrigerator and will know how you move about in the privacy of your home better than you do.

As the world responds to the challenges of climate change, energy systems are evolving, and evolving fast. The past 10 years have seen the rise (and dramatic cost reduction) of renewable energy such as wind and solar, to the extent that they are no longer considered alternative energy. They have become mainstream energy sources. Now, what will be the “next big thing” as the world shifts to a low carbon future?

“Recognizing leaders in the power and energy industry not only gives us the opportunity to celebrate them and the projects that they are involved in, it also enables us to learn vital business and life lessons from these often exceptional individuals. We find out what makes them tick, what frustrates them and the processes they follow to address challenges – this is often inspiring, eye-opening stuff and cannot but contribute to the growth of the sector.“