Shannon interviews Lynn Eshleman of Pacific Ridge Homes at our annual Crab Feed and Elected Officials Reception. Shannon and Lynn discuss the big issues facing Snohomish County residential building professionals.

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By MBAKS Senior Policy Analyst Allison Butcher

In May, the median home price rose to $775,000 in King County and $655,000 in Snohomish County, up 23.6% and 32.86% respectively from a year ago. The low inventory of homes for sale plus high demand continues to put upward pressure on home prices.

The Builders Bulletin is intended to provide a convenient way to track housing in our market and includes information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, State of the Cities Data Systems, Office of Financial Management, and the Washington State Employment Security Department.

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Cybersecurity can be a scary subject. We get it. It’s daunting and something you just want to ignore in hopes that nothing bad will happen to you.

Sorry friend, this subject is all TOO real to ignore. But we’re here. We got you.

We want to give you the knowledge to protect yourself from phishing attacks, ransomware, and other online scams. So here we go! But to start, a chilling reminder of our recent past:

• June 2018, MyHeritage—more than 92 million email addresses and HyHeritage account passwords were compromised.
• April 2018, The Facebook data breach—this was one of the largest misuses of personal data in history! In fact, just last month, Facebook revealed that 15 MILLION people had their personal info accessed by hackers.
• March 2018, Under Armour’s MyFitnessPal App—an “unauthorized party” gained access to 150 million user names, emails, and encrypted passwords from users of the fitness tracking app.
• July 2017, Equifax data breach—a quick calculation tells us that the 143 million potentially affected makes up a full 44 percent of the country’s total adult population.
• May 2017, WannaCry ransomware attack—this attack will go down in the books as one of the most successful malware campaigns in history.

So yeah, now more than ever you need to be educating yourself about how preventive cybersecurity strategies can keep you safe in a digital world of malicious criminals and hackers.

Cybersecurity awareness tips

1. Enable two-factor authentication
   1. This will make it harder for someone to access any of your accounts.
   2. This added layer of security can make a big impact.
2. Check a website’s SSL Certificate before using
   1. This will ensure the website is safe to use.
   2. Beware—hackers can copy a safe site if you click on a malware link. For example, links found in phishing emails.
3. Never save credit card information online
   1. This is a great basic tip to keep your bank account information secure.
   2. If that site is ever compromised, your card information will be, too.
4. Up your password game
   1. Think of a long password (10+ characters). Using a sentence instead of random letters is much more efficient. For example: eattacosonthe9th!!
   2. Never use the same password on different accounts.
   3. Never write down your passwords and store in a Word file; use password vault software instead.
5. Think twice before clicking an email link
   1. Not all links are created equal. Some seemingly safe links can wreak havoc.
   2. Phishing emails are becoming harder to detect. Look into social engineering training.

These basic tips can help you, your employees, and your business stay more protected when using your computer.

Emerald City Solutions is an information security company offering high-grade, professional IT business solutions using cutting-edge technology to help our customers modernize their business, protect valuable assets, and improve business connectivity. For more tips and tricks, check out Emerald City Solutions’ weekly blog or give them a call at 206.340.1616 to learn more about IT and cybersecurity services for your business.