Aaron Weston of Northern Protocol joins us to talk about the latest goings on in cyber security.
You can find Aaron online on Facebook.
- The number one thing to remember is that there is NO SUCH THING AS PRIVACY on the internet. It is being monitored by all sorts of government agencies, service providers and of course hackers. Assume whatever you do is freely available to be accessed by those with the skill and desire to do so.
- The number two thing is to be aware of the security issues. If you know what is possible, you can defend against those possibilities.
- Modern attacks are interested in getting either money (like Ransomware), information (Phishing), and computing power (for use in botnets, etc.)
- Change your passwords! Routers, Web Services, Devices, etc.
- Make sure it is a strong, random password, such as one generated by LastPass or http://passwordsgenerator.net
- Don't use common words, like password, 123456, etc.
- Change it every few months.
- Update your firmware! Go to the manufacturer website and find your device, and update the software that powers your device. This will hopefully help keep things more secure.
- Be careful of what you put up on the internet. All sorts of information will put you at risk to being compromised.
- Social Engineering is a common tactic to compromise accounts. By using information you freely gave out on social media, evil doers can reverse engineer answers to your "security questions".
- To prevent this, make sure you stay on top of your privacy settings, and don't share important information. Pro-Tip: Make up the security question answers, don't base it on reality!
- Eliminate old and unnecessary social media & email accounts. They are simply another vulnerability, so eliminate them.
- Attachments are still one of the biggest threats!
- Phishing is a major source of problems. Be very cautious with what emails you are opening.
- Avoid opening emails and attachments you don't have to. Make sure the file is valid before using it.
- Your Anti-Virus (such as Norton) may attempt to open the file to scan it. This sometimes is enough to release the virus.
- PDFs are subject to malicious links, viruses and other forms of malware.
- Encryption for emails and files is still a good option.
- PGP can be used to give better protection of email. However, like all things it's not 100% secure.
- Not even being offline is prevention from remote hacking. www.wired.com/2016/06/clever-attack-uses-sound-computers-fan-steal-data/
- Don't leave backup drives connected to your computer, as you can be locked out by Ransom-ware.
- Cloud services like Dropbox, Onedrive, etc can be compromised by by viruses as well. Look for services that encrypt and are more secured and separated from your system like Carbonite, Mozy or NPINC's cloud service.
- Firewalls as separate pieces of software aren't as important as they used to. Most Anti-Virus and Routers have there own built in, so use those!
- Good Security Blog Resources - Stay informed to help protect yourself.
- Aaron's recommended tools - YES, anti-virus is still a good idea! Get a good one!
- Kapersky (Internet Security) or BitDefender for paid
- Malware Bytes (Paid will give continuous protection, Free for Spot Checks), Superantispyware, ADWCleaner, TDSSKiller all help clean out malware.
- Kapersky Free or Avira (Note: Good Detection, but lots of "buy me now" nagging).
- Google Chrome is one of the better browsers for security.
You can find Aaron online on Facebook.
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