#Internetseries In Conversation with…James Mundy
We visited Collective Member James Mundy; a creator, product manager and programme developer. We found out more about his projects and his advice on keeping your personal and company security safe
We all know that the internet has radically changed the way we work and socialise. It has created a wealth of opportunities, but with these opportunities there are also new threats! Paying attention to cyber security should be a key concern for small businesses as cyber attack stories in the news are becoming way more common… That’s why we’ve caught up with tech savvy Collective member James Mundy; a creator, product manager and programmer. He took part in a lunchtime special at Collective Temperance about cyber-security and what kind of tools you can use to improve your personal and company security to avoid being hacked or phished. We talked to him to find a little bit more about what he does and some key advice he has for small businesses:
How did you get to where you are? What paths led you to develop for Windows Phone?
I currently develop digital products and services for my own and other companies. I began developing apps at university and received funding from Microsoft and Nokia to build an app called Foundbite (https://foundbite.co) and release it on Windows Phone first. Foundbite allowed users to share sounds from all over the world and post them to a map anyone could explore to and hear what a place sounds like. We also released apps for iPhone and Android, and although it didn’t work out commercially we had a loyal audience uploading fantastic sounds from all over the world. Users uploaded Foundbites covering a range of amazing events including political protests in Ukraine, the Olympics in Brazil and wildlife conservation efforts in Australia.
Read more about his experiences building the app and a showcase of Foundbites that were uploaded on to his site here.
Tell us about some of the exciting apps you’ve created.
Audiu — (https://jamesmundy.net/audiu)
I worked on Audiu with fellow Collective members who I met in the space at the time I was shutting down Foundbite and who were looking for someone to create an app for their platform for music creators to get feedback from trusted industry professionals. I built the app with Mike and Ed over 3 months.
Caardvark — https://caardvark.co
I’m currently working on this as a fun side project. Caardvark allows you to send your own photos as postcards to anywhere in the world for £1.99 through Facebook Messenger. You just send a photo to our Bot with a message and address and the postcard will normally arrive about a week later to your friends or loved ones.
I’ve also worked on VizAge — a silly app that guessed how old you were using image recognition and Travelnapp, an app that woke you up before your stop on the train if you were to drunk or tired to stay awake.
What’s next for you?
Currently I’m working remotely for an Australian company called SailConnect (https://sailconnect.com) building digital products for the sport of sailing. Our first apps allows crew to find boats to go sailing on, helps boats find crew and allows clubs to promote their events.
How has Collective helped you over the years?
Being a member of Collective has provided me with a great place to work in London away from home. It’s meant I’ve met collaborators, clients and fellow members who’ve gone onto become great friends. Compared to other co-working spaces I’ve visited, there is a far wider range of members and businesses and the Collective mantra of “Don’t be an arse” seems to have worked and filled the Collective with a bunch of very nice people!
Here’s some of his star advice on which tools you can use to improve personal and company security:
Password Managers:
Password managers can be used to store Password managers you can use to generate and store secure, random passwords to all the services you use which can be accessed from your browser or mobile phone
1password, Last pass and LogMeIn are all apps that can be installed on Chrome or on your phone and they store all your passwords, so when you log in to facebook or twitter it automatically analyses the page and sees that there’s a username and password field. It also allows you to automatically generate secure passwords and it keeps them safe in one place. It can also notify you when it notices your site has been hacked. You can also use it to share passwords amongst your team without revealing the passwords you use —it’s useful for dealing with external contractors and a great way of giving access without compromising security.
Two factor authentication:
Two Factor Authentication is an extra layer of security that is known as ‘multi factor authentication.’ You can add it to many of your accounts and it requires you to enter a pin when you log in. Using a two factor authentication process can help to lower the number of cases of identity theft on the Internet, as well as phishing via email.
Cloudflare:
Cloudflare acts as a Domain Name System server and middle man between your website and the outside world and they have thousands of clients all over the world so that they can notice suspicious activity, so for example, if a hacker is trying to hack a site they’ll probably try all sorts of different sites and they’ll notice that this person’s already tried to attack the site, and they’ll notify you. It’s a great free service that keeps your website secure.
https://haveibeenpwned.com/ is a great tool for you to monitor when sites have been hacked and to get advanced warning that your password may have been leaked.
Phishing attacks:
There’s lots of great stuff about it but essentially it comes down to taking the time to think before you click! Everyone wants to get things done quickly but if you click a link in an email and it is immediately asking you for a log in to one of your accounts you should immediately be sceptical, take a step back and assess if the email is genuinely from that person.
Here’s a great article about it: https://www.wired.com/2017/03/phishing-scams-fool-even-tech-nerds-heres-avoid/
Visit James Mundy’s website for more info about him and his projects.
