Diamond Digital Marketing Group

Category: Project Tools

  • VPN Installation

    VPN Installation

    Definition

    VPN

    A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a technology that creates a secure and encrypted connection over a less secure network, such as the internet. VPNs are commonly used to protect privacy, ensure online security, and access restricted content.

    Imagine two fortified castles, each representing a VPS, located in different kingdoms. These castles are well-guarded and full of valuable treasures (your data). To communicate securely and share their treasures, they build a secret underground tunnel that spans the distance between them. This tunnel is heavily fortified, ensuring that no one outside the castles can detect its existence or tamper with the messages being passed through.

    The VPN acts as this hidden, secure tunnel, allowing the two castles (VPSs) to exchange information safely and privately, away from the prying eyes of bandits (hackers) and enemy spies (cyber threats). Inside the tunnel, the messages travel swiftly and securely, ensuring that the valuable data remains protected during the journey between the two fortresses.

    VPN Installer

    In normal daily conversation, the VPN is most likely referring to the VPN Installer – A Software or APP which you can install into your laptop or Mobile device such that you connect to the VPN Service Provider. Therefore, VPN Installer or VPN is used interchangeably, even though there are actually referring to different underlying objects.

    What Problem Patterns a VPN Solves

    Geo-Restrictions and Censorship

    Limitation of VPN

    Step By Step Guidelne – VPN Installation

    Windows

    Mac

    Android/iOS

    Step By Step Guideline – VPN Application

  • Zoho Vault

    Zoho Vault

    Definition

    Zoho Vault is an online password manager (with APP version or Desktop version) designed to securely store and manage passwords, documents, and other sensitive information. It acts as a digital vault for your credentials, helping you keep everything organized and protected from threats

    What Problems does Zoho Vault Solves

    Lost Mobile Device

    If you have saved all the passwords of your applications into your mobile devices, in the scenario that you have lost your mobile devices, all of these passwords are  being exposed. 

    Instead, it is better to save all the passwords from different applications into a cloud SaaS whenever your mobile device is lost, you can simply end the login session of the lost devices and then no one can exploit the password lists any more.

    Mistakenly Modified the Password

    While you save all your passwords in a Google Spreadsheet, every single record of the password will be editable even though you would only want to access one of them, making the remaining password records under the risk of being modified mistakenly.

    Time Wasted on Password Management

    Believe it or not, there are more than 200 login and password records can be found in DDM’s Group.

    Significant amount of time will be wasted on following aspects with a bad Password Management because you will have hundreds of login and password records which is much more than you can imagine :

    1. Time on searching for Login and Password
    2. Your own time for forgetting and resetting Password
    3. Your teammate’s time for assisting you to reset your Password.
    4. Opportunity time cost of spending the time on production (vs spending time on search and resetting Password).

    What Problems Zoho Vault (Free Version) Cannot Solves

    1. Password sharing – cannot share a specific password record to a specific person within specific time period.

    Why Zoho Vault

    1. It’s free for life time
    2. Zoho Vault is owned and operated by a MNC Zoho Inc, which is unlikely to be shutdown
    3. Mobile APP and Desktop version are both available.
    4. Topest Security Level
    5. The account in Zoho Vault is 100% owned by you. There is 100% nothing relating to DDM Group, non DDM Group has any authority to access or manipulate your Zoho Vault account.

    Preparation before installation

    Mobile Phone Number Ready for Receiving SMS

    You will need a Mobile Phone Number to receive the SMS verification code during the Zoho Account registration process. In the future , in case you need to change your password or be requested for any identity authentication, you may need this Mobile Phone Number to do the authentication process again. So please make sure the Mobile Phone Number that you used can be under your control in lifetime. 

    Your Personal GMAIL Address

    The passwords which you saved in Zoho Vault will last for lifetime. Besides the password information related to DDM Group, you can also save the passwords from your personal application. 

    Therefore, the email address that you chose to register for the Zoho Vault account SHOULD be your personal email account (e.g. Gmail) which is forever free and you can always login without any friction. 
    DO NOT use any domain email address (e.g. [email protected]) to  register for the Zoho Vault account

    A Master Password That You Will Never Forget

    Prepare for a password for registering the Zoho Vault. You should never forget this Master Password because there is almost no way for you to reset your password. Keep this password in a safe place which only you will know.

    What Types of Password to be saved in Zoho Vault

    1. Your personal application
    2. Your own login of the application which is related to DDM’s Group (e.g. the password of your own [email protected] wormail login)

    Step By Step on Zoho Vault Installation

    Sign Up Zoho Account (Lifetime Free)

    1. https://www.zoho.com/vault/pricing.html
    2. FREE FOREVER
    3. START FREE TRIAL1
      • Email = <<YOUR_PERSONAL_GMAIL>>
      • Password = <<YOUR_PASSWORD_001>>
    4. No, My Organization is new to Vault
    5. Personal
    6. Create master password = <<YOUR_PASSWORD_002>>2
    7. Confirm master password = <<YOUR_PASSWORD_002>>
    8. Enter the text you see in the below image
    9. [wpfa icon="fa-square-check"]
      • I understand that if I forget the master password, Zoho Vault will not be able to recover it.
    10. Get Started

    Install Zoho Vault in Mobile Devices

    1. Your Mobile Device
    2. Google Play Store or Apple App Store3
    3. Search Zoho Vault Password Manager
    4. Install
    5. Login Zoho Vault and related steps ….

    Once you have completed the registration and installation, you should immediately record the login password of Zoho Account and Zoho Vault account into your Zoho Vault App

    Conclusion

    Remember , in DDM Group there is NO ONE who will help you to reset your password. Always record your login credential to Zoho Vault immediately after you created or modified it. Please be a teammate with civic virtue which will never waste your and others time to reset (or assist you to reset) your password.

    Footnotes

    1. There is no any logical or technical concern. I will skip the step by step on signing up a Zoho Account. ↩︎
    2. While in the future you may use your Zoho Account to apply for another Zoho Application , it is recommended to use different password for your Zoho Account and Zoho Vault account. ↩︎
    3. Google Play Store will be taken as an example to demonstrate the steps. ↩︎

  • Github as a Project Tools

  • Google Authenticator

    Google Authenticator

    Definition

    Google Authenticator is a two-factor authentication (2FA) app developed by Google. It adds an extra layer (i.e. 1 Factor + 1 Factor = 2 Factors) of security to your online accounts by generating one-time verification codes that you use in addition to your password when logging in an application (e.g. Your Gmail account)

    What Problem Patterns that Google Authenticator Solved

    Vulnerability on one-factor authentication

    While the term Authentication always mean :

    • What you have (e.g. You possess a Mobile Device)
    • What you know (e.g. You know the password)
    • What you are (e.g. You are the fingerprint owner of the unique fingerprint)

    Software or APP always use the above 3 factors to secure the ownership of the software or APP of the owner.

    However, it is not secure enough to use only 1 factor to authenticate an user. For example, while you lost your mobile device when you didn’t set a login pin, the person who picked up the mobile device can probably manipulate any APP that you have logged in before via the mobile device. 

    Another example is that if you only use the What you are factor to authenticate who you are via a fingerprint scanner, when you meet a robber , you may face the risk that you will be forced to use your finger to log in your mobile device and Bank account APP.

    To tackle the security vulnerability found in 1-factor Authentication, the world is being introduced to 2-factor Authentication. 

    Other than simply providing the APP Password (i.e. what you know), some APP may also require you to receive an 6-digit One Time Password (OTP) which is generated from the Authentication APP installed in your mobile device , so as to prove that you own the mobile device which is used to log in the app (i.e. what you have)

    One of the example of this Authentication APP is Google Authenticator.

    Lack of capacity to develop a Authentication function by each Software and APP

    Step By Step – How to Install Google Authenticator

    iOS

    Step 1 – Download from Apple Store via your Mobile Phone

    Android

    Step 1 – Download from Google Play

    Enable 2FA of Google Account

    Step 1: Install Google Authenticator App

    1. Google Play Store or Apple App Store > Search "Google Authenticator" > Download > Open App

    Step 2: Enable 2FA on Your Google Account

    1. Account > Security > 2-Step Verification > Sign In

    2. Add authenticator app > Set up Authenticator > Scan a QR code >Next > Enter Code > Verify

    3. Turn on 2-Step Verification > Turn on > Done

  • Bookmarks in Google Chrome

    Step by step on importing Bookmarks into your Google Chrome

    Step 1 – Get ready for the Target Importing Bookmarks File

    Step 2 – Export Bookmarks from Your Current Browser

    Safari (Mac)

    • Safari > File > Export Bookmarks
    • Export Bookmarks File Window > <<SAVE_LOCATION>> > Save

    Step 3 -Import Bookmarks into Google Chrome

    • Google Chrome > ⋮ > Bookmarks > Bookmark Manager.
    • Bookmark Manager > ⋮ > Import Bookmark.
    • File Explorer > <<EXPORTED_BOOKMARKS_FILE>> > Open.
    • Bookmarks Bar or Other bookmarks > Imported Folder.

    By following these steps, you will successfully export bookmarks from your current browser and import them into Google Chrome as shown in the cap screen below.

  • Google Spreadsheet Usage in Project Management

    DDM

  • Google Drive Usage in Project Management

    Definition

    Google Drive is a cloud-based file storage provided by Google which is totally free for use if the storage usage is under 15GB. You can regard it as a storage of your hard drive in your laptop, except that the storage is stationed in the Cloud instead of your laptop..

    Problem Patterns that Google Drive solves

    Files needed to be stored in mutli-location and multi-device

    By storing the file into Google Drive (i.e. the Cloud Drive) , you can access the file in any device including laptop , desktop or even mobile phone. As long as you have access to the internet, you can use any browser to login to Google Drive and access the storage.

    This is a common scenario where you have saved a important Powerpoint file in the laptop in your home but in the morning you forgot to copy that Powerpoint file from your laptop to the USB drive, which eventually you failed to use the file to do the presentation. 

    Different roles need different access rights level for different files in the storage

    Imagine a scenario that when you are working for a project with your client, you want to share only one of the files in the storage, while keeping the vendor quotation files away from your client.

    Another scenario is that you want to only share the company profile .pdf file to your client for reading and don’t want them to have the rights to delete the file.

    This capability is what we called Role Based Access Control🛈, which is one of the features of Google Drive.

    Company’s Files scattered around different local storage

    Imagine if you have 30 staff in your company and everyday they work very hard to do their jobs via their laptop. One day , you have a very important sales pitch which drives you to gather all the past job references from your colleague. While you may need to get the Social Media Ads Image Ads from a designer, you also need to go for the programmer to ask for the wideframe of the website. Without luck, the programmer who created the wideframe just quit last week without leaving any clue where he stored the wideframe which he created 2 years before.

    If this scenario sounds familiar to you, it is time for you to think of using Google Drive to centralise all the important files and documents to save the time of searching.

    Scenario of using Google Drive

    Sharing files to your client by Role Based Access Control

    Step By Step

    1. Determine the hierarchy level that you want to share in the Google Drive

    As said before, Google Drive is no different than any of the File Manager in your laptop computer, except that the files inside the Google Drive are stored in a cloud harddisk, while the Files accessed by your File Manager of your laptop are saved in your local laptop harddisk.

    Therefore , both of them are using the same tree hierarchy to locate the files. Allow me to illustrate the File Manager Hierarchy with the example below:

    Your Company Google Drive File System Hierarchy

    • Google_Drive_Root
      • Human_Resource (Folder)
      • Accounting (Folder)
      • Client (Folder)
        • 00_Alice_Ltd (Folder)
          • 01_Facebook_Post_Image.png (File)
          • 02_Facebook_Post_Text.docx (File)
          • 03_Alice_Quotation.pdf (File)
          • 04_Vendor_Invoice.pdf (File)
        • 05_Billy_Company_Ltd (Folder)

    In this example, as the Project Manager of Alice Ltd, you may probably want to share the whole Folder of Alice Ltd (i.e. 00_Alice_Ltd) to your Assistant Digital Marketing Manager , Sam, but not Billy Company Ltd (05_Billy_Company_Ltd), which Sam has no time to manage.

    Meanwhile, you may want your Digital Marketer to access only the Image (01_Facebook_Post_Image.jpg) and Text file (02_Facebook_Post_Text.docx) , and you don’t want him to access the Quotation to Alice Ltd which contains the selling price of the Project.

    In this case, to share the Whole Folder of 00_Alice_Ltd to Sam (Assistant Digital Marketing Manager), you can :