WHEREAS, AHC is a nonprofit organization focused on public/private collaboration in support of homeland security, business continuity, and disaster preparedness, response & recovery.

                  WHEREAS, to further its mission,  AHC, in conjunction with other organizations, has developed a cloud-based exchange (the SISE, Sensitive Information Sharing Environment) to facilitate the sharing and synchronizing of certain proprietary and/or sensitive information to be used for operational purposes during periods  of emergency  response and  recovery,  and  such information  shall  be  treated   as  “SENSITIVE INFORMATION” hereunder.

                  WHEREAS, the DATA USER, in connection with its operations, desires to access information from the AHC and the SISE to be provided by pre-approved  DATA PROVIDERS from governmental agencies, businesses and other  organizations (the DATA PROVIDER(s))  to synchronize situational awareness  and further  facilitate collaboration, information sharing, decision making,  and  operational coordination between  these  governmental agencies, businesses and organizations in a no-fault, FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) free, private sector operated information sharing environment; and

                  WHEREAS, AHC and the SISE Data Providers are willing to disclose SENSITIVE INFORMATION  to the DATA USER and provide the DATA USER with access to SENSITIVE INFORMATION, for the purposes set forth above pursuant to the restrictions, protections, and other provisions hereof.

                  WHEREAS, AHC and the SISE will use technology that supports the sharing of data without USER(s) taking possession of the data and to protect data from FOIA (Freedom of Information Requests) and non- operational use by non-approved SISE DATA USER(s).

                  NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and promises set forth herein, the parties hereto agree as follows:

1.  SENSITIVE INFORMATION may include, but not be limited to:

1. datasets,  geospatial data, video, tabular data, maps, spreadsheets, pictures, apps, website links, documents and/or information provided to the SISE from the DATA PROVIDER, or to which the DATA PROVIDER provides access, in oral, electronic, or written form, whether or not marked or identified as sensitive for competitive, legal, or other reasons.
2.  all copies of all such documents and/or information,
3.  all other media or content that contains such  SENSITIVE INFORMATION, or other documents based upon or derived from  SENSITIVE INFORMATION, prepared by the DATA PROVIDER in connection with its operations during emergency response situation
4.  information  relating  to  the  SISE  Use Cases  approved  by the  SISE Working   Group and Committees.
5. For purposes of clarity,

1. 1. “SENSITIVE INFORMATION”  does not have the same meaning as the government’s data  labeling for FOUO (for operational use only), classified, secret  or top  secret information.
   2. all  information  such  as  customer  name,  customer  address,  customer  account number, customer  id number, customer social services number, either alone or in combination,  employee  name,  employee  id  number,  employee  address,  social security number, driver’s license number, taxpayer identification number, federal or state tax identification number, employer identification number, United States passport number, green card number/USCIS#, PCII (Protected Critical Infrastructure Information, LES (Law Enforcement Sensitive), sensitive or reserved data   for both internal and external communications  will be categorized as too sensitive and  may not be provided to the SISE based on DATA PROVIDER preference.

2.  The DATA USER shall:

1. 1. hold SENSITIVE INFORMATION in strict confidence,
   2. not disclose SENSITIVE INFORMATION  to any other person(s), organization(s), agency(s), firm(s), or corporation(s) (including, but not limited to, parents, subsidiaries, or affiliates of the  DATA USER),  outside of the  SISE  unless previously  approved  by the  SISE  DATA PROVIDER,
   3. not  use  SENSITIVE INFORMATION   other  than  in connection with its operations during emergency response and/or recovery situations, and in accordance with the Use Case(s) set forth by the SISE Working Group,
   4. limit reproduction of SENSITIVE INFORMATION  to the extent  required for its operations during emergency response  and/or recovery situations, or the  SISE  Use Case planning processes
   5. when applicable, store SENSITIVE INFORMATION,  based on DATA PROVIDER permissions, in a secure  location that  is not accessible to any person  not authorized to receive the SENSITIVE INFORMATION under the SISE provisions hereof, and
   6. otherwise use at least the same degree of care to avoid publication or dissemination of SENSITIVE INFORMATION  to  its employs (or would employs) with respect  to  its own SENSITIVE  information which it does  not  (or would not)  desire to  have  published or disseminated.

3.  AHC and the Data Providers, at any time, shall have the right to request adequate assurances that the foregoing restrictions and protections concerning SENSITIVE INFORMATION are being observed and the DATA USER shall be obligated to promptly provide AHC and the Data Providers with the requested assurances.

4.  Notwithstanding the  provisions of paragraph  2 hereof,  the  DATA USER  may disclose SENSITIVE INFORMATION to its directors, officers, employees, and in house contractors (collectively, “Agents”) who have a legitimate “need to know” of such SENSITIVE INFORMATION in connection with the DATA USER’s operations during emergency response and/or recovery situations, provided that each such

      Agent first:

1. is advised by the DATA USER of the SENSITIVE nature of such information; and
2. is caused by the DATA USER to agree in writing to be bound by and observe the provisions of this SISE DATA USER Agreement as though the Agent were a DATA USER.
3. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the DATA USER shall be responsible to AHC for any act or omission of the  DATA  USER’s  Agents which,  if committed by the  DATA  USER,  would constitute a breach of this DATA USER Agreement; and
4. data  sharing or access to the  information, unless otherwise defined, shall be limited screen  sharing technology or access to the  SISE’s cloud based,  information exchange platform and the specific information product

5.  The SISE will provide multiple tiers of DATA USER access security to protect  SENSITIVE INFORMATION:

1. Tier 1 – data supporting use cases in this tier will be accessible by SISE DATA USER(s) who are vetted  and  approved  via the  SISE  identity verification process  that  includes the creation of a SISE DATA USER profile, agreement with SISE DATA USER AGREEMENT terms & conditions. User profiles will contain user submitted information: name, organization, address, cell phone, valid email, and other survey information relevant to the users work and areas of interest.
2. Tier 2 – data supporting use cases in this level will be accessible by vetted SISE USER(s) from Tier 1 with the additional protections of a new agreement  and use of a 2-factor authentication process for each login.
3. Tier 3 – data supporting use cases in this level will be accessible by vetted SISE Users from Tier 1 with the additional protections to be defined by the DATA PROVIDER.

6.  Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2 hereof, if the DATA USER or its Agents, pursuant to applicable law or regulation or legal process, are requested or required to disclose any SENSITIVE INFORMATION, the DATA USER shall,

1. provide AHC with prompt written notice of such request or requirement to enable AHC and the applicable Data Providers to consult with the DATA USER with regard to the steps that may be taken by AHC or the applicable Data Providers to reduce the extent of SENSITIVE INFORMATION that must be disclosed and/or,
2. to enable AHC or the applicable DATA PROVIDERS to seek an appropriate protective order or other remedy reducing the extent of SENSITIVE INFORMATION that must be disclosed.
3. In any event, the DATA USER and its Agents shall disclose only such SENSITIVE INFORMATION which they are advised by legal counsel is legally required to comply with such applicable law or regulation or legal process (as such may be affected by any protective order or other remedy obtained by AHC or the applicable Data Providers) and,
4. the DATA USER and its Agents shall use reasonable efforts to ensure  that  all SENSITIVE INFORMATION that is so disclosed will be accorded to the appropriate treatment.

7.  In some cases, the DATA PROVIDER may share digital information with the SISE DATA USER(s) via email or other digital or non-digital for Where applicable, within five (5) days after the earlier of (a) the end of the emergency response and/or recovery situation has ended (as defined by the AHC/SISE) for which the SENSITIVE INFORMATION was accessed, and (b) AHC’s written demand, the DATA USER shall:

1. destroy and delete, and cause its Agents to destroy and delete, all copies of the SENSITIVE INFORMATION including all copies of all documents and of all other media that contain any SENSITIVE INFORMATION and all copies of any extracts, compilations, screen shots, studies or other documents prepared  by the DATA USER, or its Agents based on or derived from SENSITIVE INFORMATION; and
2. certify to AHC that the destruction and deletion by the DATA USER and its Agents required by clause (a) above has occurred by having a duly authorized officer of the DATA USER (or, if the DATA USER is not a corporation, agency, or other entity with officers, then the DATA USER shall  have an authorized person of similar position and authority in the DATA USER) complete, execute  and deliver to AHC (at the address for AHC pursuant  to paragraph  9 hereof) a certification in the  form attached  hereto  as  Exhibit A.   Compliance with this paragraph 5 shall not relieve the DATA USER from compliance with the other provisions of this DATA USER Agreement.

8.  Nothing in this DATA USER Agreement shall be construed as granting or conferring any rights, by license or otherwise, expressly, implicitly, or otherwise, under any patents,  copyrights or trade secrets of AHC or any of the Data Providers. Nothing in this DATA USER Agreement shall be construed as requiring the disclosure of, or the granting of access to, any SENSITIVE INFORMATION to the DATA USER, and the DATA USER’s access to SENSITIVE INFORMATION may be terminated at any time.  No rights or obligations other than those expressly stated herein shall be implied from this DATA USER Agreement.

9.  The DATA USER understands and agrees that neither AHC/SISE nor any of the DATA PROVIDERS are making any representations or warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the  SENSITIVE INFORMATION,   or any portion thereof,  and that  AHC and the  DATA PROVIDERS disclaim any and all liability from the use or reliance on the SENSITIVE INFORMATION.

10.  The DATA USER and its Agents shall not be relieved of their obligations hereunder  with respect to any SENSITIVE INFORMATION by reason of its availability to the public by publication or otherwise at any time and regardless of whether  it was available to the public before or after it was disclosed pursuant to this DATA USER Agreement.

11.  The parties acknowledge that disclosure or misuse of SENSITIVE INFORMATION  in violation of this DATA USER Agreement may result in irreparable harm to AHC and the Data Providers, the amount of which may be difficult to ascertain, and which could not be adequately compensated  by monetary damages,  and  that  therefore  AHC  and  the applicable Data Providers are  entitled to  specific performance and/or injunctive relief to enforce compliance with the provisions of this DATA USER Agreement.

12.  All notices and other correspondence  hereunder  shall be in writing and shall be sent by certified mail (return  receipt requested),  by personal delivery, or by a nationally recognized overnight courier service, as follows:

If to the DATA USER:

• to the name and address for the DATA USER first written above

If to AHC:

• All Hazards Consortium, 47 E. South Street, Suite 201, Frederick, MD 20701
• Attn:  Tom Moran, Executive Director

A  parties  may change  the  address  or addressee  for notices  and other  correspondence  to  it hereunder  by notifying the other party by written notice given pursuant hereto.

13.  The DATA USER irrevocably submits to the jurisdiction of the courts located within MARYLAND with regard  to any dispute or controversy arising out  of or relating to this DATA PROVIDER AGREEMEN    The DATA PROVIDER  agrees  that  service of process  on it in relation to  such jurisdiction may be made by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the AHC at the address  for the AHC pursuant  to paragraph  10 hereof and that  such service shall be deemed sufficient even under  circumstances where, apart from this paragraph  11, there  would be no jurisdictional basis for such service.  The AHC agrees that  service of process on it may also be affected in any manner permitted by law.

14.  This  DATA USER Agreement shall be interpreted, and the  rights and obligations of the  parties determined, in accordance with the laws of – MARYLAND without recourse to such state’s choice of law rules.

15.  This DATA USER Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which shall together constitute one and the same instrument. Copies of this DATA USER Agreement and copies of signatures on this DATA USER Agreement, including any such copies delivered by facsimile or .pdf, shall be treated for all purposes as original

16.  This DATA USER Agreement may not be amended or modified except by the AHC.

17.  This  DATA USER Agreement shall be binding upon, and inure to the  benefit of, the  permitted successors and assigns of each party; provided, however, that this DATA USER Agreement may not be assigned by a party without the prior written consent of the other  party and any purported assignment without such consent shall be void.

18.  This DATA USER Agreement constitutes the entire agreement  between  the parties with respect to the  subject  matter  hereof  and  any prior or contemporaneous oral or written agreements  or understandings with respect to such subject matter are merged herein.

19.  This DATA USER Agreement shall be construed as to its fair meaning and not strictly for or against either party.

20.  No portion of this DATA USER Agreement is binding upon a party until it is accepted by the DATA USER via:

1. the online SISE User Account Creation page or,
2. executed  in writing via a signed written agreement  on behalf of that  party in the space provided below and delivered to the AHC/SISE.
3. Prior to such execution and delivery, neither the submission, exchange, return, discussion, nor the negotiation of this document, whether or not this document is then designated as a “draft” document, shall have any binding effect on a party.

21.  The DATA PROVIDERS are third party beneficiaries of this DATA USER Agreement and may enforce those  provisions of this DATA USER  Agreement in which the DATA PROVIDERS    are specifically referenced.

22. The AHC does not endorse or guarantee any the 3rd party links to DATA PROVIDER websites, portals, apps, etc. The products and services offered on DATA PROVIDER sites are not products of the AHC and the AHC cannot attest  to the accuracy of information provided by the linked sites. Linking to a DATA PROVIDER website does not constitute endorsement by AHC, or any of its stakeholders (e.g., officers, working group members, contactors, employees or public/private stakeholders, sponsors, e) of the sponsors of the site or the datasets,  information or products presented on the site(s). Other websites which DATA USERS may link to from the AHC are not bound by AHC Security & Privacy Policies, or this DATA USER agreement.

23. As with all disasters, this information is subject to change without notice. The All Hazards Consortium, the SISE, the Multi-State Fleet Response Working Group, the utilities involved, and the states, expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever, for any usage of this information by its recipient. Recipient’s usage of this data constitutes a waiver of any claim it may have with respect to its use of the data. Please consider all information operationally confidential.

Why Social Media Security Matters:

1. Social media is an often overlooked area when it comes to information security. Because social is sometimes treated like a personal communication tool rather than a business platform, risk monitoring & governance, employee security awareness and corporate security policies are rarely in place. But social is undeniably a business system, one that we use daily to communicate with our customers, grow our revenues and engage our employees. According to Hootsuite, 52% of all online brand discovery happens in public social feeds.
2. Fixing the neglect for social media security is a bit more tricky than simply realizing it exists, because unlike traditional business platforms (think email), the enterprise doesn’t control the data or the access. Organizations need to take a different approach. They need to build employee awareness and social media security best practices around the dangers of targeted attacks and cybercrime on social media. They need to expand their phish testing to social media. They need to implement real-time external risk monitoring capabilities to identify when a targeted attack is happening. Most of all, they need to be able to remediate risk.
3. Social media represents the largest modern threat vector: it’s got more connectivity (billions of people), it’s more trusted (everyone is your friend) and it’s less visibility (simply by its nature) than any other communication or business platform. Security teams need to join their sales, marketing and customer success groups in the digital era, follow social media security best practices and implement risk monitoring & remediation technology around social media to secure their organization’s future.

Social Media Security Best Practices (for everyone):

1. Check if you have been compromised already. Check haveibeenpwned.com which has an easy search function to see if your email address has been leaked from some of the biggest hacks to date. While this site does not cover every leak, it should give you some insight into just how big of a risk cybersecurity is to our ever-connected society. If you do not show up on this site now, be wary that the next breach could have already happened, and you don’t even know about it yet.
2. Enable multi-factor authentication. This should be standard security practice for everyone online today. Multi-factor authentication forces anyone logging into an account to supply a code sent to an external device or use other 3rd party software.
3. Avoid password reuse at all cost. We know it can be difficult nowadays, when everyone has several dozen logins, to generate and remember unique, robust passwords. We suggest a password manager, which can automatically generate and store passwords, such as the popular Dashlane and LastPass products.
4. Update your security settings on all digital and social channel regularly. There are lots of good step-by-step privacy guides online to help get your settings secure.
5. Curate your connections. Cleaning out “friends,” followers, connections and more can take some serious time. While having the most connections may have seem like a popularity contest, it is also a huge liability to both your personal and professional life. The more connections you have, the more potential ways for a fraudulent or compromised account to send you a malicious link. Not everyone is as aware as you are, and friends may share things they don’t realize are malicious. Remember that while these networks are social in nature, that does not mean that they are particularly safe.
6. Monitor social media and digital channels for business and security risks. Continuously watch for phishing links, fraudulent accounts, scams and more. Invest in a digital risk protection solution like ZeroFox to do this automatically and at scale and help you remediate malicious content across not only social media but the entire public attack surface.Most of all, take social media security seriously. Learn to protect yourself and, more importantly, your business. Although the least impactful of social attacks, account takeovers, are often relatively harmless vandalism and trolling, imagine if a cybercriminal blasted your [enter number of followers] followers with a fake coupon appended with the latest and greatest malware. Imagine the cataclysmic fallout of a cybercrime at the scale and speed of social media.
7. Stay vigilant! Humans are simultaneously the weakest security link and the strongest defense. Whenever you’re online, remember that bad things can happen. Everyone should analyze accounts, links and direct messages with a careful, skeptical eye. When in doubt, don’t click.

Social Media Security Best Practices Checklist (for Security Teams):

• Work with marketing to gain access to social accounts
• Continuously monitor corporate social media accounts for cyber threats
• Blacklist/block malicious URLs and IPs found of social media
• Establish workflow for dealing with social media cyber crime targeting the organization
• Takedown malicious posts and profiles
• Test employees on susceptibility to social media cyber attacks
• Train employees on safe usage, best practices, and what to do in the event of an attack
• Work with marketing to keep a close eye on social media initiatives and campaigns

Be sure to follow these social media security best practices, and stay safe out there on social media!

Written by: ZeroFox Team

If your WhatsApp notifications are not working, here are some fixes you can try out…

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps out there. It’s free, fast, and supports multimedia sharing. It is possible to run into issues with WhatsApp on rare occasions.

One common problem that you may face is when you don’t receive WhatsApp notifications despite all its other features working correctly.

Either you don’t hear the notification sound, or your phone doesn’t show you the notification message preview. This can be frustrating, and if the problem isn’t fixed, you may miss an important notification.

Here are some fixes you can try to start receiving WhatsApp notifications again…

1. Update WhatsApp

If you don’t update WhatsApp frequently, you may run into issues with the app’s functioning. This may include you not receiving notifications on WhatsApp, having problems backing up your data, or having trouble making voice or video calls.

To rule this out, go to the Play Store or App Store and see if a new update is available.

To avoid experiencing this issues, turn on your auto-update settings after updating the app. This allows your phone to install updates whenever a new one for the app is available.

Here’s how you can enable auto-updates in the Play Store:

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Go to Play Store and tap on the account icon in the top right.

1. From the menu, select Play Store Settings.
2. Go to Network Preferences and select Auto-update apps.
3. To allow Google Play Store to update apps you can choose Over any network or Over Wi-Fi only.

Proceed to the next fix if the app is already updated.

2. Turn On WhatsApp Notifications in Settings

Android allows you to disable notifications for any app you find annoying. The chances are that you may have disabled WhatsApp’s in-app notifications if you have been receiving notifications from all other apps except WhatsApp.

You can check this by following these steps:

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Go to your phone’s settings.

1. Navigate to the App Management section.
2. Go to the App List. (Your phone might have different names for these options)
3. Choose WhatsApp from the list of apps.
4. Click on Manage notifications.

Here is where you can control the kind of WhatsApp notifications you want to receive in the future. If you already have every notification enabled, it’s time to try clearing the cache.

RELATED:How To See The Exact WhatsApp Message Read Time

3. Force Stop and Clear Cache

Similar to other apps, WhatsApp stores temporary data as a cache that speeds up processing and reduces loading times. However, when the data accumulates too much over time, it may cause some issues.

You may experience annoyances similar to not receiving notifications if the cache is not cleared for an extended time.

Here is how you can clear your WhatsApp cache:

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1. Navigate to your phone’s settings.
2. Click on App Management.
3. Open WhatsApp settings from the App list.
4. Go to Storage usage.
5. Clear both the cache and the app data.

Clearing the cache usually fixes most issues, but if that doesn’t work, you can try more fixes.

4. Free Up Some Storage Space

While downloading and saving multimedia files, WhatsApp consumes a lot of storage space. Lack of space may prevent WhatsApp from even receiving incoming files so it won’t notify you.

This may also explain why you are not receiving notifications.

Android will alert you when you are running low on storage, but if you want to check and clear some space manually, follow these steps:

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1. Navigate to your phone’s settings.
2. Go to Additional settings.
3. Tap on Storage.

Remove old videos, delete some documents, and free up some space taken up by rarely used apps. When there is enough storage, WhatsApp will begin receiving multimedia files with notifications.

If this fix does not solve your WhatsApp notifications issue, check if you’ve restricted the background data.

5. Turn Off Power Saving Mode and Background Data Restriction

You might not be receiving WhatsApp notifications if your phone is on power-saving mode, which automatically restricts the app’s background actions. Meanwhile, limiting background data may extend your phone’s battery life, but it may interfere with certain app features

Follow the below steps to turn off the power saving mode:

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1. Navigate to the phone’s settings.
2. Tap on the battery.
3. Slide the toggle to turn off power-saving mode.

Your phone may have the option to automatically turn on the power-saving mode when the battery falls below a certain percentage.

Some Android devices allow you to limit the data usage for apps by using the mobile data limitation feature. With no network connection with the app, you may not receive a notification despite having your mobile data on.

Furthermore, if your phone has an Airplane or Do Not Disturb mode, make sure this isn’t turned on.

6. Log Out of Your Account on WhatsApp Web

Using your WhatsApp account on WhatsApp Web or the desktop application transfers all notifications directly on your system rather than the Android app. Log out of your account from there to rule out this issue. Here’s how you can do it:

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1. Open the WhatsApp app on your phone.
2. Tap on the three vertical dots in the top right corner.
3. Navigate to Linked devices.
4. Tap on the linked devices one by one.
5. Click Log Out.

If the problem persists, try logging out of your WhatsApp account and then logging back in again.

7. Unblock/Unmute Users and Groups

If you do not receive notifications from specific individuals or groups, double-check that you have not mistakenly blocked them or muted those groups.

Here’s how you can unblock contacts on WhatsApp.

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1. Launch WhatsApp.
2. Tap on the three vertical dots in the top right corner.
3. Click on Settings.
4. Go to Account > Privacy.
5. Go to Blocked Contacts by scrolling down.
6. Tap on the contact name and select unblock “contact name”.

8. Update Your Phone

Check whether your phone is updated if none of the fixes has worked so far. Due to data restrictions or insufficient storage, your phone does not always automatically update.

Therefore, you may have to download and install the new update manually. Here’s how you can do it:

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1. Navigate to your phone’s settings.
2. Click on Software Update.
3. Download and install the update if it’s available.

If this fixes the problem, keep your phone up-to-date to avoid experiencing this issue again.

Start Receiving WhatsApp Notifications Again

With the above fixes, you should be able to receive WhatsApp notifications again. However, these fixes are not limited to WhatsApp. A few of these solutions may work for other messaging apps as well.

If none of these fixes work, we suggest uninstalling and reinstalling the app on your phone to see if you can get it working again.

Written by: Shan Abdul

Have problems with your home network? Learn how to troubleshoot network connectivity problems and get back online!

Of all the types of computer issues you can have, network problems are one of the worst. Though our computers can do a lot offline, being cut off from the internet isn’t fun. Even worse, when you can’t get online, it’s more difficult to research fixes for your problem.

Let’s step through the basic process of how to troubleshoot network connectivity problems. That way, next time you open up your web browser to a Cannot Connect message, you’ll know what to do.

Like all troubleshooting, we’ll start broadly and narrow down to specifics. After each step, try connecting to a website to verify that your connection is fixed. If it still doesn’t work, continue to the next part.

0. Make Sure It’s Actually Your Network Problem

Sometimes, what seems like an issue with your network is actually a problem on a specific website’s end. If you can’t get on Twitter, for instance, check another few websites to make sure that the problem isn’t just with a single site.

You can visit downfor.io, which is a short URL for the site Down for Everyone or Just Me?, to easily check if a website is down for everyone. Simply enter the URL and you’ll see where the issue lies.

If a site is down for everyone, you’ll have to wait until it’s fixed. But if the problem is only affecting you, continue on to troubleshoot.

1. Power Cycle Everything and Check Other Devices

There’s no need to get upset about network issues right away, as the fix to your problem might be as simple as rebooting your equipment. Restarting fixes a lot of issues, so make sure it’s your first response to network problems, too.

To start troubleshooting, reboot your PC, as well as your modem and router. If your modem and router have power buttons on the back, you can press those to turn them off. Otherwise, just pull the power plugs.

To fully clear the modem and router caches, wait 60 seconds before you turn them back on again. When you plug everything back in, plug your modem in first and wait for it to fully power on before connecting your router.

Turning everything off and back on first ensures that it isn’t a temporary network problem. It’s better to reboot now than to waste 30 minutes continuing on when you don’t need to.

Once you’ve restarted, if you have a second computer (or a mobile device), try getting online with that. If you find that no devices can connect, you likely have an issue with your equipment or your ISP.

Should you find that only one computer can’t get online, you can continue to narrow down the problem. On that device, make sure to run an antivirus scan to ensure you don’t have malware interfering with your connection. You should also make sure that your firewall settings aren’t blocking the connection.

Finally, try using a different browser to see if your usual one is somehow misconfigured. See how to fix “your connection is not private” errors if you’re seeing them on every website, which is a separate issue that involves security certificates.

2. Check Physical Network Connections

If your network problem persists after rebooting, you should next check to make sure that all physical network connections are in place. This is another easy fix before you start diving into settings and tests.

If you use an Ethernet cable to connect to your router, check to make sure that it’s not unplugged or damaged. If your laptop has a physical wireless switch, make sure that it’s not set to the off position.

Once you’ve verified a proper connection, check your router and modem. Are the lights on your router and/or modem flashing green as normal? If no lights come on after the reboot, the device could be dead or malfunctioning.

However, if you get red lights, or a power light but no connection light, your ISP is likely experiencing disruption. See #6 below if you think this is the issue—you may need to check the manuals for your equipment to interpret the lights correctly.

3. Run the Windows Network Troubleshooter

Windows includes some built-in troubleshooters that can automatically find and fix issues. To run the troubleshooter for network problems, right-click the network icon in your System Tray and choose Troubleshoot Problems.

You can also go to Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional troubleshooters and choose Internet Connections > Run the troubleshooter to launch it.

Once the troubleshooter runs, it could fix issues, find issues but fail to fix them, or find nothing. If the troubleshooter finds a problem that it fixes, try to connect again. If you get a specific error or problem name that Windows can’t fix automatically, take note of it for later research.

Advanced users might also look at using other Windows tools to troubleshoot network issues.

4. Confirm That You Have a Valid IP Address

At this point, you’ve verified that the problem is not temporary and that all your hardware works. Since Windows can’t fix the problem on its own, you need to pinpoint the spot along the connection where the network problem is occurring.

It’s a good idea to make sure that you don’t have any strange IP settings selected. To check this, open Settings and go to Network & Internet > Status. Below the Advanced network settings header, choose Change adapter options. In the resulting window, double-click the name of your network.

Next, you’ll see a status window. Click the Properties button here.

Inside the next dialog, double-click the Internet Protocol Version 4 entry.

Unless you’ve set up a static IP address (if you don’t know what this is, you probably don’t use one), make sure you have both Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically checked.

Repeat this process for Internet Protocol Version 6, if it’s enabled, to ensure everything is automatic there as well.

Reviewing Your IP Address Validity

Once you’ve done the above, you should check to confirm if the router is giving you a valid IP address. Open up a Command Prompt window by typing cmd into the Start Menu. Enter ipconfig and hit Enter, then look for the text under Ethernet adapter (for wired connections) or Wireless LAN Adapter (for wireless connections).

If IPv4 Address looks like 169.x.x.x, your computer is not receiving a valid IP address from your router. Typing the following two commands, one at a time, will release your computer’s current IP address and request a new one, which may resolve this:

ipconfig /release 
ipconfig /renew

Should you still have a 169.x.x.x address after typing the above commands and entering ipconfig again, your machine still isn’t receiving an IP from the router. Try plugging your PC directly into the modem with an Ethernet cable and see if you can get online.

If the connection works this way, your router is the problem. You may need to factory reset your router, or consider replacing it.

5. Try a Ping and Trace Its Route

If your IP address starts with anything other than 169 when you run ipconfig, you have a valid IP address from your router. At this point, you’ve confirmed the problem is somewhere between your router and the internet.

Type the below command to ping Google’s DNS servers to see if you can reach a website online (you can replace 8.8.8.8 with anything you like, such as www.msn.com):

ping 8.8.8.8

This will send four packets to Google’s DNS server. If they fail to send, you’ll see some basic info about the failure. In case you want to continue pinging indefinitely so you can monitor it while troubleshooting, just add a -t to the end, like so:

ping 8.8.8.8 -t

You can press Ctrl + C to stop pinging at any time. For more information, type this command to trace the route between your computer and Google’s DNS servers:

tracert 8.8.8.8

The above command gives you a step-by-step breakdown of the path the information takes to reach the destination you specify. Watch it, and if it fails, check to see where the problem occurs.

If an error pops up early in the route, the issue is likely with your local network. There are more useful CMD commands for networking, if you’re interested.

6. Contact Your ISP

Should all the above steps complete successfully, you’ve now verified that your equipment is working and confirmed you have a valid IP address from the router. Also, you’re sure that the problem is occurring outside of the network, and for multiple devices. If this is the case, your next best option is to find out if your ISP is having issues.

Using your smartphone will prove useful here, as you can look up an outage map (like DownDetector.com) for your provider. Searching Twitter to see if others in your area are experiencing issues can help as well.

If you don’t see anything of note online, try giving your ISP a call to see if there are known outages. Perhaps line issues are affecting a small area; a representative should be able to run tests to check.

7. Wait the Network Problems Out

Once you’ve let your ISP know of the issue and confirmed that it’s not just one computer having a problem, all you can do is wait. Many times, you can’t fix network issues on your own.

If your ISP is aware of the issues, hopefully they’ll get everything fixed in a short time. Meanwhile, you can take the opportunity to enjoy reading a book, going for a walk, or something else that’s offline.

8. Troubleshoot Specific Network Issues

While we covered general steps here, if you’re seeing a specific network error, it can help to focus your troubleshooting on that. Have a look below at some guides for particular network problems:

• Connected to Wi-Fi, but no internet access
• IP address conflicts
• “Windows can’t communicate with the device or resource”
• “Windows could not automatically detect network proxy settings”

Hopefully, one of these guides with more focused advice will solve your issue if these tips didn’t work.

Diagnose and Fix Your Network Problems

These steps are a general template for diagnosing network issues, as your exact setup may differ. In general, respond by restarting everything, seeing if multiple devices are having trouble getting online, and checking to make sure your settings are correct, per the above.

Even after you solve your major network issue, your connection might still be slow. This is a separate problem to work on.

Written by: Ben Stegner