Today I would like to welcome the author of the Avon Romance, Trust No
One Series, Dixie Lee Brown to my blog.
Before I turn the blog over, here is a blurb for the next
release in this series, WHEN I FIND YOU and some background information on the
author. This book is set for release tomorrow,
July 16th 2013- so mark your calendars!
Blurb:
Dixie Lee Brown continues her heart-racing Trust No One series with a
sexy veteran determined to protect an innocent woman on the run.
As a former Marine, Walker could find a needle in a haystack. But when he's
asked by the U.S. Marshals to track down a nanny fleeing from the mafia, he's
sure she'll be more trouble than she's worth.
Especially, after the sexy little thing clubs him and leaves him for
dead. Walker's stunned by her courage—and her curves—and can't help feeling
drawn to this damsel trying to dig her way out of distress. He'll find her, and
when he does, it'll take more than the mafia to tear him away.
Darcy Maddox never expected to be
running for her life. But when it suddenly looks like foe may become friend,
Darcy's faced with a choice: Go it alone or trust a man she just met—never mind
the way his touch gets her heart pounding. The choice seems simple enough until
she realizes it's not just her life at stake—it's her heart.
Author Info:
DIXIE LEE BROWN started writing
romantic suspense nearly twenty years ago. Then life took a few unexpected
turns, and the writing career was put on hold in favor of starting a new life
and a new job. One’s passion is not easily forgotten, however. Two years ago,
Dixie started writing again-a YA novel-but, before she could finish, another
idea pushed to the forefront and wouldn’t go away until a full-fledged novel
was completed.
That idea became All or Nothing, the first book in the Trust No One series. All or Nothing placed third in the 2011 TARA Contest (Tampa Area Romance Authors) in the romantic suspense category.
Dixie now lives in sunny Central Oregon with two small dogs and a cat for company while she writes the third book of the Trust No One series. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, movies and trips to the beach.
That idea became All or Nothing, the first book in the Trust No One series. All or Nothing placed third in the 2011 TARA Contest (Tampa Area Romance Authors) in the romantic suspense category.
Dixie now lives in sunny Central Oregon with two small dogs and a cat for company while she writes the third book of the Trust No One series. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, movies and trips to the beach.
Now, please join me in welcoming Dixie Lee
Brown to Save Your Money for Books, along the theme of Trust No One- she has
some advice for protecting yourself from potential hackers! Thanks for joining us today Dixie and
Welcome!
Dixie
Lee Brown:
Good morning! Thanks for inviting me to your blog today.
Ever stop to consider how our lives would be different without computers
and the internet?
As all writers must, I spent a staggering amount of time in front of my
computer to finish my newly released book, WHEN I FIND YOU, second in the Trust
No One series. I shudder to think how long it would have taken to peck out the
manuscript on an old manual typewriter. Don’t even ask me to edit
anything—gives me the shivers just thinking about it—and how many research
trips to the library did the internet save me?
The world of computers and the internet is a must, not only for writers,
but people in every occupation. However, in this day of phishing, hacking, and
malware it can also be a very scary place.
I recently had my PC looked at by a local IT guy who I’d worked with a
few times in the past. During his service call, he entertained me with tales of
his earlier years as a hacker. Hackers are highly skilled computer gurus who
break into computer systems for a variety of reasons, from financial gain to
just for the fun of it. My hacker was one of the latter.
I came away from that appointment with a PC that performs like new, a
short list of things I wouldn’t mind having a hacker around for, and the
knowledge that if a hacker wants my computer, I might as well hand over the
notebook I keep with all my passwords and save him the three seconds it would
take him to get in on his own.
I’m a writer. My life is spent in front of a computer. From the actual
writing, to answering e-mail, to promotion through websites and social media,
to paying my bills—you see my dilemma. Stop doing all those things? Go back to
writing with pen and paper?
According to my hacker, there is no 100% guaranteed strategy to keep our
computers safe. There are, however, a few simple safeguards that will make us less
vulnerable. First and foremost, BE AWARE! Know what the dangers are and
take the necessary steps to protect against them.
In this age of social media, people think nothing of posting pictures of
the kids or that trip to the lake. Through an EXIF (exchangeable image file
format) data file embedded in digital photos, an interested stalker can determine
the date and time the picture was taken, the street address, and sometimes a
full name and phone number. Scary for any number of reasons!
Fortunately, there are two ways to protect ourselves—three if you count
never posting another picture! 1) The geo-tagging feature in our Smartphone’s
can be disabled by following each manufacturer’s directions. 2) The EXIF data
can be stripped from digital pictures by using Microsoft’s Picture Viewer in
Windows.
The simple act of logging in—we do it a hundred times a day—puts us at
risk for someone stealing our passwords or credit card numbers. Creating a
complex password may forestall a computer program spewing out letters and
numbers to try to crack our code, but if a virus or Trojan horse has downloaded
a key logger to our computer, we’re out of luck.
A key logger records every key we type, so the simplest way to
protect against this attack is to hide our password in with a series of random
letters and numbers in a text file, then copy and paste from the text file to
the login field.
All of these things take time, something we’re all short on these days.
If you’ve ever been the victim of a hacker, malware, or a Trojan horse, you’ll
probably agree it’s time well spent. Here are a few more safeguards that could
make our lives easier:
1. Install an anti-virus program, including a firewall, and keep it
updated. Industry experts say that last year there were 3 billion attacks on
computer users by 286 million different types of malware, and the software
designed to guard against these attacks catches approximately 60%. Not
great—but I’d rather be in the 60% than the 40%!
2. Don’t use the same password for all of your accounts.
3. Change your on-line passwords at least once a year.
4. Don’t write passwords down and leave beside the computer. If you must
write them down, there are encryption programs for that.
5. Close out of accounts when done and don’t use the “remember me”
function.
Well, darn! I don’t know about
you, but I’ve got work to do on all of those items! Hopefully, something here
has made you just a bit safer. I’d love to hear your suggestions too.
Thank you so much for
joining us today!
For more information on
Dixie Lee Brown here are some ways to find her:
Buy Links:
Good morning and thanks to everyone here at Save Your Money for Books for having me today and highlighting my new release, When I Find You!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting today!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips Dixie! Thanks for sharing them with us.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa!
DeleteGreat security checklist, Dixie. And I can't wait to read about Walker and Darcy's adventures in book #2 TOMORROW!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited for the release of this book! Thanks for stopping by, Lorraine.
DeleteAh it's a bit scary isn't it? I definitely have things I need to be better about when online. Can't imagine not having any internet access. It's amazing how much we rely on it these days.
ReplyDelete~Anna