Certification – July 2019

TECH KNOW

Keeping all of that under wraps can
be difficult to do in this age of sharing
everything with everybody, but you
would be amazed what a hacker can
do with your birthdate (or even just
your birthday), place of employment,
personal photograph, the name of
your bank, a list of places that you reg-
ularly shop, your telephone number or
e-mail address, your home address, or
a general account of who your family
and friends are. All of these things are
routinely shared on social media, and
all of them can be used to attack you.

Protect logins and connections

Change your passwords and keep
each one unique. Don’t use the same
password at the library, for example,
that you use for your bank account. If
a hacker stumbles across your pass-
word at one place, they will try it at
every single place they can reasonably
assume that you regularly log in, and
seek to gain access.
Where possible, use two-factor
authentication and strong passwords
that include upper and lowercase
letters, numbers, and special charac-
ters. Not too long ago the generally
accepted wisdom was that passwords
ought to be at least 8 characters long,
but currently at least 12 characters are
suggested.
Monitor your financial accounts for

unauthorized activity. Regularly check

for charges you didn’t make, even

small ones. Hackers will gain access to

your accounts and routinely withdraw

small amounts to see if the account is

active, and whether or not the charges

go unnoticed.

Be aware of cyber attacks on organi-

zations you deal with. If you hear of

such an attack, immediately change

your password. Unfortunately, orga-

nizations generally do not disclose

breaches immediately — often because

they are not aware of breaches imme-

diately — so you need to take action

as quickly as possible to limit the

extent of damage done.

Use public wifi with caution. It’s

tempting to use the wifi at your favor-

ite coffee shop, or at the airport, but

be aware that others might be actively

monitoring what you are doing. If

you must use public wifi, never do

any banking or financial transactions

— that can wait. Consider using a

VPN service or encryption, as well as

turning “sharing” off on your device if

you must use public wifi.

Watch out for others

Finally, have a cybersecurity con-

versation with your children and oth-

ers who might use your devices. Make

them aware of your security concerns

and the hazards of sloppy Internet

usage. You could be using impeccable

cybersecurity hygiene, but if other us-

ers are careless, then your actions may

be for naught.

We all would like to think that we

are safe as we utilize and surf the

Internet. In reality, however, it can be

a highly dangerous place — especially

for those who don’t exercise due cau-

tion a much as possible.

Just as in driving an automobile,

each of us needs to be cautious of our

own actions and aware of what others

might be doing that could endanger

us. If we safely follow the rules of the

information superhighway, then we

may not avoid all incidents, but the

likelihood of a catastrophic event can

be greatly diminished. Enjoy the inter-

net — but watch out for the other guy!

While we can’t

control the cybersecurity

practices of organiza-

tions we deal with, there

are many things that the

average person can do to

lessen their vulnerability

to cybercrime.