EDITOR’S QUESTION
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must be applied to your applications,
whether they are PDF readers, Java or
Office applications. You need to ensure
they are patched and up to date to
prevent exploits.
3. Always check your security and
privacy settings: On every online
platform on which you engage, you
need to be careful to keep your security
settings up-to date. Check these
settings regularly to guarantee that your
information and identity is secure
A
s we live in a globally connected
world, almost all our personal
information – a virtual expose of our
lives – exists online and we need to ensure
that our digital identities are protected in the
same way that we care for ourselves and our
physical property.
Here are a few practical tips to help you keep
your digital identify safe.
1. Passwords: The world still relies on
passwords for security. Please make
sure that your password is not easy
to guess, it must not be your name
and do not include your birthdate. You
do need to ensure that you do not use
the same password for every online
portal and wherever possible, use two-
factor authentication
2. Antivirus and applications: While
Antivirus struggles to identify many
modern threats, it is still important to
ensure it is running, up-to-date and has
the latest updates at all times. The same
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4. Think before you post: Before you put
anything online, think about whether
you are comfortable having that
information in the hands of a stranger.
Share personal, company and family
information only with those who need
to know about it. Telling the whole
world that you are on holiday and out
of the office can give a cybercriminal
the opportunity to trick your colleagues
into falling for a cyberattack. Consider
everything that you post is public, do
they really need to know?
5. Get rid of your friends: Ok, not the real
ones. Make sure you do regular reviews
of your connections and friends. If you
do not know them, cull them.
6. Stranger danger: If you do not know
the person you are speaking with,
approach with caution. Do not click
on their links and do not open their
attachments. It takes a few seconds to
do some verification. A few seconds can
save you a lot of money.
7. Monitor everything: Whenever there is
a deviation or an anomaly, investigate.
Nothing is 100% guaranteed and you
need to monitor in order to identify
problems. Look out for strange activity
on your bank statements. Ensure you
can see strange behaviour across your
network. A sudden change is a good
indicator of compromise.
8. Use common sense: If you did not
enter a competition or have never been
to Italy, you did not win their lottery. As
exciting as it seems, there is nothing in
this world that is free. Obviously, never
tell strangers your identity number or
bank pin codes.
9. It is not just about the company: We
see too many compromised businesses
because they do not monitor behaviour
of all connected equipment. Your email
security platform may be great for
corporate email. This does not help if
your user is compromised through their
free email service, accessed from their
work PC.
10. Talk about it: The biggest contributor
to rising cybercrime statistics is
ignorance. People are generally not
taught what to look out for. Users are
not engaged in awareness campaigns
and do not understand technical
jargon. Conversation and awareness
training is required for the technology
users and in a manner they can relate
to and understand. Above all never
stop monitoring, responding, adapting
and improving.
www.intelligentcio.com