We are living in a digital age. We share personal information on social media. Online banking has revolutionized how we look at the financial sector. Medical information and the healthcare system are deeply digitized. Even entire businesses exist in the digital space. Everything that exists as digital assets, information, or entities should be protected just as vigilantly as you would physical property, if not more so. As we transition to live life more in the digital space, more opportunities arise to have our information and safety compromised. It is more important than ever to arm yourself with the knowledge of how to protect yourself in your digital kingdom in the modern age.
Why is Cybersecurity important?
If your digital information is compromised, your whole life could be affected. This might include your finances, private communication, health information, and more. Similarly to physical security, your movements can be tracked by unknown entities. When you provide personal information to different websites without taking proper precautions, you may be opening yourself to the risk of that information being exploited, sold, or abused.
A Cautionary Tale in Cybersecurity
True story, but for privacy’s sake, let’s say we have a man named Greg. Greg works for an accounting firm. One day, when Greg comes into work, he notices something is off with his computer. Files were gone, his background was gone and replaced with a black screen, and when he went to use the computer, he was inundated with pop-up messages. Rather than reaching out to his supervisor, Greg kept it to himself since he figured it was a prank pulled by someone else in his office. It wasn’t. A hacker had accessed and infected his computer with a ransomware program. Because he did not alert the team, eventually all of the computers in his network were infected, leading to the loss of confidential financial documents and ledgers that impacted their ability to do business.
So How Do You Stay Safe?
Trends are everything, even in the world of cybercrime. We talked to Digital Renegades’s Lead Developer, Abe Manangan, for some pointers on how to stay safe online.
“Failing to prioritize the security of my team’s hard work compromises their time, dignity, and reputation. My responsibility in cybersecurity for Digital Renegades safeguards the future of our creative endeavors.”
Abe MANANGAN
Digital Renegades’ Essential Steps to Protecting Yourself Online
- Use a strong combination of characters as a password. Include symbols, numbers, and a mix of upper-case and lower-case letters.
- Refrain from sharing sensitive personal information on various websites, such as birthdate, address, phone number, or answers to common security questions. This is especially true on social media.
- Stranger Danger! This is just as true online as it is in real life. It is better to steer clear and not entertain strangers. This is one of the easiest ways to fall victim to deceptive tactics such as phishing e-mails or social techniques to trick individuals into divulging sensitive information.
- Avoid using unsecured public Wi-Fi Spots. These open you up to others on the network. If you have no choice, use a VPN.
Additional Advanced Steps for Added Protection
- Where available, leverage two-factor authentication on your online accounts.
- Keep up with your devices. Make sure you are utilizing the latest software updates and security patches. Be cautious of installing apps and extensions or downloading files that could risk getting malware or potentially stealing sensitive data.
- Don’t click e-mail links from unknown senders. The same goes for scanning random QR codes or tapping unidentified NFC devices.
More Risks to Keep an Eye On
- As AI becomes more complex, watch out for cyber criminals who may leverage the power of AI and deep fake technology. If something seems too good to be true or unbelievable, chances are that it is probably fake.
- Cracked and malware-injected software. Use official software and avoid torrented or shared copies. Do not download programs from 3rd party providers.
- Social tactics such as phishing(e-mail), vishing (voice phishing), and smishing (SMS phishing)
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a technique to get data through solicitation via e-mail or a website. The perpetrator will often present themself as a trustworthy person or business. Over the last few years, there has been an increase in phishing scams targeting the elderly. The scammer pretends to be from the IRS or a financial institution to collect data to access accounts and other financial assets. Remember, no reputable business will ever call you or reach out to you and ask for sensitive information.
Recent Real-Life Examples of Cyber Attacks
Change Healthcare (February 2024)
Change Healthcare is a unit of United Health Care and one of the largest medical insurance companies in the United States. It was noted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that a cybersecurity incident impacted Change Healthcare in late February of this year. This impacted entire sectors of the health insurance industry. The biggest impact has been on insurance billing, causing missed or incorrect payments and leading some healthcare providers to worry about whether they can afford to continue their practice and patient care. These systems continue to be impacted while the HHS works with insurance companies to implement a new cybersecurity strategy.
Okta (October 2023)
For those of you unfamiliar with the brand, Okta is, according to its website, an American identity and access management company that provides cloud software that helps companies manage and secure user authentication in applications and allows developers to build identity controls into applications, website web services, and devices.
Or, in simpler terms, a back office management system that many companies use to authenticate employee systems and HR solutions. In late 2023, the company faced a security breach that affected nearly all of its clients. The company reported that the incident was narrowed down to an employee logging into their personal e-mail account while using company equipment, allowing the hackers in through the back door to access customer information, including full names and e-mails. While that may not seem like much at first glance, even that little bit of information can fuel phishing scams.
Bank of America (November 2023)
In November, The Bank of America (BoA) experienced a data breach that leaked the personal information of nearly 57,000 of their customers. This information included full names, e-mails, financial information, social- security numbers, Birthdates, addresses, and more. It is still unclear how much data leaked, how it will affect customers, or how long the effects will last. The affected consumers were alerted early in February, nearly 90 days after the attack, making them even more vulnerable to financial loss and identity theft. The Bank offers free enrollment into its identity protection program to those affected by the hack while they continue to work through the mess created by the attack.
You can read about other significant cybersecurity attacks and leaks here through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) website.
Digital Renegades and Cybersecurity
Our team takes several additional steps to ensure that all of our client’s digital spaces are safe and secure. Some examples include:
- Hiding origin IPs
- This keeps hackers from being able to complete multiple complex attacks on a website’s server.
- Keeping software and dependencies up-to-date
- Every system has its own vulnerability. Consistently scheduled venerability tests allow for preemptive patching of potential security risks.
- Cloudflare Firewall
- This allows our team to automatically check each visitor to our client’s websites and detect whether the visitor is a bot, search engine crawler, or human. When a visitor is tagged as potentially suspicious, Cloudflare will initiate a challenge to verify that they are, in fact, human.
Final Tips From Our Cybersecurity Expert
- Do NOT click links in Spam e-mails or from unknown profiles on social networking sites.
- ALWAYS check the sender before you open an e-mail
- Hackers use text messaging (SMS) and apps such as WhatsApp to send scam messages. Do NOT respond to unknown numbers.
- Watch out for third-party data sharing, and make sure you are only sharing data with trusted sources.
- READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Yes, they are long and full of jargon. However, it is imperative that you know what you are signing up for and what data you are agreeing to share in exchange for using the service.
Want to know more about how to make your digital space more secure? Digital Renegades is here to help! Reach out today to schedule your consultation.
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