In 2016, I received this e-mail from my oldest son.
Date: Saturday, October 22, 2016 at 7:09 PM
To: Howard Getson
Subject: FYI: Security StuffFYI - I just got an alert that my email address and my Gmail password were available to be purchased online.
I only use that password for my email, and I have 2-factor enabled, so I'm fine. Though this is further proof that just about everything is hacked and available online.
If you don't have two-factor enabled on your accounts, you really need to do it.
Since then, security has only become a bigger issue. I wrote about the Equifax event, but there are countless examples of similar events (and yes, I mean countless).
When people think of hacking, they often think of a Distributed Denial Of Service (DDOS) attack or the media representation of people breaking into your system in a heist.
In reality, the greatest weakness is people; it's you ... the user. It's the user that turns off automatic patch updating. It's the user that uses thumb drives. It's the user that reuses the same passwords.
via xkcd
Whether it's malicious or unintentional, humans are often the biggest security weakness.
As proof, watch the first few minutes of the video below to watch a social engineer find out this man's email and gain access to his cell phone account. She locks him out of his account at the same time.
I started the video with the interesting part, so you don't have to search for it.
via Real Future
As for passwords ... I recommend not knowing them. You can't disclose what you don't know. Consequently, I recommend a password manager like LastPass or 1Password.
Some other basic tips include:
- Keep all of your software up to date (to avoid extra vulnerabilities)
- Don't use public wifi if you can help it (and use a VPN if you can't)
- Have a firewall on your computer and a back-up of all your important data
- Never share your personal information on an e-mail or a call that you did not initiate - if they legitimately need your information, you can call them back
- Don't trust strangers on the internet (no, a Nigerian Prince does not want to send you money)
How many cybersecurity measures you take comes down to two simple questions ... First, how much pain and hassle are you willing to deal with to protect your data? And, second, how much pain is a hacker willing to go through to get to your data?
It doesn't make sense to put all your data in a lockbox computer that never connects to a network ... nevertheless, it might be worth it to go to that extreme for pieces of your data.
Think about what the data is worth to you, or someone else, and protect it accordingly.
