Technology Tips for your new home

It is so exciting buying a home and moving in... but there are some items we might overlook with so much to handle. Don't leave yourself exposed by not making sure your technology is secure! Thanks to Michael Sicard, owner of DataFast in Peoria, AZ for these tips!!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hello everyone and welcome on today's episode of Bed, Bath and Banter, Arizona Real Estate Edition. We have a special guest with us that's going to give us tips for technology. Now, smart homes are, you know, kind of the latest buzz, and I've personally seen all the horror movies with uh or yeah, horror movies about technology. So I'm gonna have Michael kind of talk to us about how to keep ourselves safe and best technology for homes. This is Michael Secard, uh, owner of Data Fest Networks, located in our awesome Peoria, Arizona. Thanks for joining us. Okay, so Michael, I'm just gonna start with the my question and then I'm gonna let you talk about your sp his expertise. Uh he's been IT for you know 2,000 years because he's a lot older than me. Uh this is my brother, and um, you know, fortunately, I love so much having uh a tech expert in my life because I don't have to know anything. I can just say fix this and do this, and he does. It's pretty awesome. But he's a lot older than me, despite what he likes to tell people.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

It's not super awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

It's an inside joke, and it most people think that he's actually younger.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

So it's it's obnoxious. Uh people no, they're wrong.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

I brought this beard out for you so people know more.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

I know, I appreciate that so much. Okay, so Michael, um, I'm just gonna go back to my horror story. You know, we've seen a lot of movies on, you know, how houses kind of attack people with technology. So uh no joke, as a result of that, I love my technology, but I've never connected my doorbell um to my Wi-Fi. Uh, there are other things like I won't use an Alexa, you know, there are other things that I will not connect. So am I stupid for feeling that way?

SPEAKER_01 1:42

No, you're not stupid.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

But well, for that, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

The toast you made did not get burnt because somebody hacked your toaster. I know you want to say that, but you just overcooked your toast. Who knows? But if you're worried about that, like you are with the ring door bill or any of that stuff, there's a few things you can do. For example, you could put it in a guest Wi-Fi network. This is what we do for enterprises. We do a lot of enterprise wireless networks. We put everything that's dumb, or we don't want people to access in a guest network. That way it's isolated from your actual data. All right. The other thing you can do is only buy devices that have a Matter logo, M-A-T-T-E-R, that's certified to work with security, AI assisted, harder, way harder to hack. Okay. But if you don't have those light bulbs, a lot of you know, smaller residential appliances won't have that matter logo, then you can just put them in a guest network. Okay. All right. The other thing you can do is they're not really trying to burn your toast. What they're trying to do is get your financial information. So what they do is get your email address out of there and email. So another thing you can do is have a zero quick policy for any email you didn't expect. So if you're not expecting email, do not click on anything, regardless of how legitimate it is. All right. If you have zero quick policy for emails, then that takes away a lot of the worry as well.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Oh my gosh. Okay, well, you know, being in self-employed and just busy lives, busy kids, we get a ton of emails. And my company actually, um, because we're a financial services, we're very secure, they actually send tests out all the time to see if we click on something that we weren't expecting. I have failed it multiple times. Um, and not on purpose. Like one of them, I got a something about my Discover card uh over the limit. Well, I haven't used my Discover card in like five years. And mindly, I didn't even realize it came into my work email. I immediately went, oh no, I clicked on it and it was a test and I failed. So very good point. Don't click on things you're not expecting. If someone really needs to get a hold of you, they will.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

So Michael, I got a question for you. So you you talked about having uh like a guest Wi-Fi. Is that similar to like comparing internet versus intranet?

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Um, no, it's more of a separated network within the side the home. So you both can access the internet inside the home, but the guest network generally can only get to the internet. They can't access anything outside of any ancillary devices in the network. Where generally, if you're on Wi-Fi, your regular Wi-Fi, you can connect to other things and connect to your music, I can connect to your TV, I can connect to, but when you have a guest Wi-Fi, those things are will only be able to get to the internet, not neighboring devices. Okay. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

I didn't even think about the TV one. You know, you've seen shows, and I mean, I I've had it happen where someone acts, like I can screen or um uh what's that called? Cast to uh I mean I get it in restaurants where my phone pops up, oh, cast to this TV. I almost do it just for fun. Um but I don't know if that gives me access to anything, but that's actually kind of scary.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

My goodness.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Right. So that's why you do want an isolate in your home and do want, you know, to set up maybe another email account for that with a zero quick policy.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Oh, that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

All right, that's another thing. Going back to the certification, we do offer on our website if you go to datafast.net slash training for your viewers, they can take an anti-phishing test I created there and get a certification from me, a diploma, that says they took our certification test. That's at datafast.net slash training.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Okay, that's awesome. Um, I will do that. I will definitely do that. I will do it.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

She'll try to make me do it for her.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Hey, lending is my specialty. I am not a technical expert, and I love so much having one in my life. All right, you want to talk about that a little bit? Yes, um, yes, please.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

So outside of shutting it off and turning it on, what do we do when our technology acts up?

SPEAKER_01 5:31

So well, that's the number one thing. Is always always reboot before you call me. You know, it might it might save you a few bucks. But the other thing you can do is call Dave Vast, uh 623-486-9200, and we could certainly help you if rebooting it does not do the job. Okay. Fair enough. With regard to real estate, you know, the reason I want to talk to you today is a lot of people have smart houses. Smart house is a you know a buzzword these days. But now what's coming into is AI, edge smart house. And what that means is everything's AI related, where it won't just notify you as somebody's at your door like a ring camera. It'll notify you if somebody's trying to break in because it can tell the difference between a UPS man, a post office worker, or a burglar. Oh my God, that's really scary. It'll automatically shut it off during the day or night or holidays, whatever you prefer, without you having to set all that, because it knows when our holidays are now.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Okay, so what is that? What is the AI edge? I have never even heard of that.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

There are just um cameras where they'll go out to the internet and you know they have language models now. And what that means is data that's been downloaded from the internet so that knows all the traditional things that people would generally set up on their equipment so they'll be happy with, but it gets set automatically now with artificial intelligence.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

It's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Are you okay? And I know that you are an AI, you're become if you're not an AI expert, you're very close. Um, you kind of head up a lot of the what do you what do you do? The AI for the state? What is that? I apologize.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

I'm on the Mesa Chamber of Commerce Technology Board, Glendale Chamber of Commerce. We do their IT and um take care of all their AI technologies. Also Peoria. Okay. On all those boards. I have a certification from University of Arizona. I'm Google AI certified, and you don't even know this yet, but I will be Harvard AI certified at the end of April.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Okay, so that Ivy League or VIP.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

I know he's gonna rub that in forever. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

You're gonna rub anything into my siblings.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Constantly, every single day. Um so I'm afraid of AI personally. I'm actually worried about it. You know, I really am worried about it taking us over.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Like Skynet.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

I am really glad I am not my kid's ages. Uh on it, I'm just gonna be honest. You know, you see all these videos, you see pictures, you can't trust anything you see anymore. Yeah. Um, so is do we have, I mean, you're not gonna agree with this, but do we have anything to worry about with AI taking over?

SPEAKER_01 7:55

No, I certainly agree with it. I I'm worried about that. Everybody's worried about that. But what I want you to do is replace that worry a little bit with looking at it as help, because AI is like education. Yes, AI is not trying to take over work as much as it's trying to augment your work and make it easier. So if you look at it as if it's an inexpensive employee as opposed to somebody trying to take your job, I think that will relieve some of your stress because that's really what it is. You will have to adopt it. Everybody will have to adopt it. Absolutely, yeah. But it will make um everything go smoother and work better in the long run. People were scared of cars originally because they said it will get rid of all the horses. Oh. No, it didn't. It just made us grow more, and now everybody can do more things. And that's what's gonna happen with AI as well. It'll be a learning curve and it'll be a little bit harder, but then it'll vastly expand our knowledge base for everything.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Okay, I love that so much. All right, I'm a little less scared. Maybe I'll take some advice from my Harvard certified IT brother. Yeah, it can be just throwing designations around. It's because you didn't care. It wasn't because you weren't smart. Okay, so with regards to residential, I know most of your clientele, they are commercial businesses. You do a lot of medical offices. Um, is that your main uh clientele?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah, many, many months ago I was in charge of IT for banner. Since then, now at 25 years, you know, I've run my own company, but our major vertical is medical. Okay. So we have to be very secure with HIPAA, we have to make sure all that's compliant. But we still do the same things we would do for residential clients. That's where you know you and I can intersect. For example, sometimes when we set stuff up, like a copier or something, you know, we'll have a QR code next to it so people get instructions on how to use it. I recommend the same thing for you if you have real estate agents with like a smart security panel. Have a QR QR code there. When somebody comes in for an open house, they they scan a QR code and it shows a video of how they have a smart energy panel in their home. Oh, I love that. And now your AI have a smart AI home. Yeah. So that kind of stuff kind of intertwines.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Okay, and uh, are you a super fan of security cameras?

SPEAKER_01 10:03

I'm not a super fan of recording vandalism from the old school cameras. That's all they really do, right? What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Somebody's gonna be a little bit more than a couple. There they go, they're leaving now for the crime they committed.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

So I am a fan of the proactive ones, you know.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Oh, does that come out with a gun and shoot the people the whole time?

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Not yet, hopefully. But uh, but you know, there is some now that they, like I said, they can recognize a burglar and they will call the cops for you.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Okay, I actually really like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

That's AI related as opposed to the old school where you know you had to see them and it was reactionary. So, yes, I'm a fan of the new modern, more modern AI-enabled technology, not so much of the old school ones.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Do they have any that will launch nets and like capture them on the spot and they can't get away? That would be awesome. That would be fantastic.

unknown 10:50

That would be awesome.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Okay, so um, so when someone is purchasing a new home or new to them home, what do you recommend they do? Because a lot of people are being sold these security systems, and you know, now nobody has landlines anymore. So is there any like advice you give to people who are looking to make their homes either more secure or more accessible? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

We did requests just about daily at Data Fast. And what you need to do on that, if you're selling, obviously reset everything. Factory default everything, but when you buy it, also go back and factor default everything. Good idea. Because the seller probably didn't do it. And if they did, you want to be sure. So factory default everything, all right? Then you can set it up, like I said, on a guest network, or if you want on your primary network, so be it. But at least you're in charge of it that way.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Okay, I like that. Yeah. Because a lot of sellers will leave like the ring doorbells. You don't know who has access to that. And I think that they make you set up a new account. Yeah, but you still don't know what anybody can see. So I I've always replaced it.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

It's the same advice that we give folks like rekey your home. Yeah. Right? You don't know who has a key. Now it's digital world. Yep, yeah. Yeah, so same thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yep. Yeah. And again, if you need help with that, you can always reach out to us. But um, that's the first thing I would recommend for anybody who does.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Oh, and then if you have one of those uh door locks that have keypads, which we've had for the last 15 years, uh do not use the code that the seller has provided you. Figure out, um, again, call data fast or you know, get some advice on how to completely reset that to ignore to get rid of all of the previous codes and recode it. Especially like a lot of the companies um that sell homes, the um open doors and whatnot, they uh put a keypad on there for ease and then leave it for you. That's your gift. Reset that stuff immediately. Get some advice on that. Um, I personally have always purchased new cameras and new handles because um, you know, I just like the newer technology without connecting it to my Wi-Fi. Um, but uh, you know, definitely reach out to Data Fast for any help on that. They can help you wire, you know, home entertainment systems. They can help you set up your computers, which obviously is their forte. Uh they can printers, uh, they can set up, you know, cameras, doorbells, all that good stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Yep, we do background check and fingerprinting as well. Um, for if they want to submit a support request on our website and say they're from this podcast or even that they know you, I will I will help them, especially with like those smart locks or cipher locks. We can reset those for free. I'll just walk, I can walk somebody through resetting that for free. Oh, that's awesome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

All right, it pays to know people, even if it's your very much older brother.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

I mean, it's not for free, you're you will owe me. But but yes, for certainly we can have, but you can submit a support request on our website at datafast.net for any of that.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

And what other uh what other items do you specialize in with regards to your services outside of residential?

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Oh, it's mostly corporate, to be honest. We do a lot of enterprise level stuff. Um, so we do networking. Our new thing now is geared towards AI servers. We sell computers, we're Mac certified, Dell certified, Microsoft certified, 365, cloud-based. I have a data center where we back up people too. So you name it with technology. And that's where we differ from a lot of, you'll hear a lot of technology companies do this, they do security. Security is the big buzzword. Our specialty is the breadth of our knowledge. Okay. So the amount of things that we can handle. So just give us a call, and most certainly we can handle it. And you do your phone systems now too, right? Yes, correct. We have a such a company called Telefast, that's our business phone service provider. That I like to say 100% of the time, anybody that goes to Telefast, we save them money. And we have 100% of the time. So that's if you need to save money on your phone system, please at least give it a shot because I will save you money.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Absolutely. All right, so I can personally vouch for this guy. Um, he has been handling all of my IT needs for the last 35 years. Oh, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

I'm very old. I should mention this. You said 47, not 47. I didn't have technology back then. This just came out yesterday, but I should mention we're now nominated for um BBB Torch Award.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Oh, fantastic!

SPEAKER_01 15:00

So we're very honest, and um we'll see if we win. But that just came out yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Okay, so I I this is my podcast, I don't have to be PC. Uh, what do you think about the other uh IT companies out there, like um uh what's it called? What's the best by one?

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Geek Squad.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Geek Squad. Um, and then you know, some of the other IT companies, data doctors and whatnot. Um, I always like kind of, I mean, fantastic companies, I'm sure, but I always chuckle.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

So everybody, everybody, you know, has a piece. There's enough for to go around. Yeah. So I don't I don't like to say things. I'm not saying bad mouth, it's categorizing anymore. But like I said, the one thing we provide that none of them do is our breadth of knowledge. You know, you have to call somebody else for this. We'd like to be one throat to choke. So one throat to choke. Nobody, nobody else offers that that I'm aware of. So I I don't like when people do this as their problem or their problem. Yeah. But that's the one thing we don't do. You know, we just we don't like doing that. One throat to choke. Yeah, Best Buy offers computers and computer repair. Data doctors does a little bit of consulting, but they don't do a lot of business stuff. So we kind of do it all.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Yeah, you know that one window company that harasses or harassed the heck out of us.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Am I allowed to say it?

SPEAKER_00 16:07

I wouldn't. I don't want to give them bad press, but oh my god, you know who it is. I don't want to get a cease and desist order either.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

If you've been stocked for 10 years, you know who it is.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

But needless to say, that's one of their, like with the point you just made, that's one of their selling points is hey, you know, a lot of people will blame the installer, blame the manufacturer, like we do it all, right? So you just blame us, right? If something doesn't work, you just blame us. Um and not to go to the same same theory that you're especially in technology because there's so many different things you have to deal with.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

You know, um, so that's a very good selling point for us. A lot of people say specialize, specialize, specialize. I haven't found success in that. I found success in knowing a lot of different things with technology.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

And you guys do a lot of data recovery from old computers, old laptops, phones.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

There's three levels of data recovery, um, one, two, and three. And they're based the numbers are based on how hard it is. We do, we do one, two, and three.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Okay, awesome. So you really are a one-stop shop. Like honestly, everyone that I've ever sent over to him, they use them for everything. Um, you just don't know what you don't know. And, you know, we really think, oh, we need to go to a Best Buy. Um, you know, when I see people advertising or I'm putting it out there, oh, I need to buy a new computer. You know, yeah, you can go online and buy one for, you know, a few hundred dollars, but it's completely empty.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Yeah. You know, or you can come to us. We have almost 600 five-star reviews on Google. And like I said, we're just normal nominated for an ethics award. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Yeah, so I highly recommend checking out Data Fast. Again, they're located in Peoria, Arizona, um, but they go statewide, uh, statewide, valley wide. Yeah, they pretty much do anything.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

We we used to do all the western United States. Yes, yeah. So, but yes, now we now we're more focused in Arizona.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Yes. Um, again, datafast.net, you can find them anytime, or you can always come through me and I will get you their information. My website is keeping at real estate with amb.com, and you can find how to contact all of us on that website. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Michael, for your for your knowledge. And uh now I will go and do your training and get fishing certifies.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, so she that's her own.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yes, and it's gonna have fixing your stuff.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

No. No, no, you still have to fix my stuff.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Your much older, young older brother, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Much older brother.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Significant is really the word she was looking for, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Some people think I'm on that.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Thank you so much for joining us today on Bed Bath and Banter. It was on a real estate edition.