The hacking of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign began with something we can all understand: a phishing email requesting a password change. If you work in any kind of sensitive job, you could be vulnerable too, even on personal email.
“They want your passwords,” said Karen Walsh, who runs a marketing company that helps cybersecurity companies explain their capabilities in plain English, “because people reuse passwords between home and work.”
Eric Gosh, an Air Force veteran who spent part of his time shielding sensitive technology from Russia, now runs a Chicago technology consulting firm. He constantly reminds clients to ask themselves three questions when strange emails arrive, and the answer is supposed to be yes to all of them: Is it from someone I know? Is it what I was expecting? Is it in the format I was expecting?
“If the answer is no, pick up the phone and call,” he said.
Ms. Walsh recommends a tried-and-true 3-2-1 plan for backups: Three copies of any essential data in two different formats or types of storage media, with one of them in a cloud.
If you’re undergoing sensitive medical treatment right now, for instance, it’s wise to maintain multiple copies of your records, keeping in mind the mess that malware made of hospital systems in 2020. Your health care provider might have them, sure — but you can ask for and keep your own copy in the cloud as well as on a thumb drive or in a paper folder.
There’s more. Update the operating systems on your devices, or better yet, enable automatic updates. Write down, screenshot or photograph essential street addresses and phone numbers, just in case.
As for everything you may have personally stored via Google, Phil Venables, chief information security officer for Google Cloud, offered some reassurance this week.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/05/your-money/cybersecurity-tips.html
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.