HAPPY
NEW YEAR!!! “Should auld acquaintance be
forgot…..”
I’ll stop… Truthfully, I
thought it was “Should OLD
acquaintance be forgot…” By the way, what does that mean? Anyway, it’s a new year again which means it’s time
for all of us to once again make promises to ourselves and our love ones and
then forsake most if not all of them, casting our promises aside like yesterday’s
rubbish. We all mean well, but in these
times of rush, rush rush it is very hard to stay focused on what NEEDS to be
done since we constantly get bombarded with… Well, life. I know that going to the gym or walking the
dog more is beneficial but so is protecting your assets, your identity, you’re
STUFF. I always try and keep my personal
info out of the hands of people who want to use it wrongly, but truth be told,
I fail from time to time. But this year “I vow
to be more vigilant with my personal information!” and the Target hack
has really got me thinking. I usually
only use one credit card for purchases but on occasion have used my debit card
too. This really isn't a good idea to do
because if fraudsters drain your bank account, the bank may reimburse all the charges but you most likely will be on the hook for any overdraft charges that
occur as a result of the fraudulent goings on. DON'T USE YOUR DEBIT CARD FOR ANYTHING BUT THE ATM!!
How
about encryption? We all should use this one.
E-mails are one of the biggest concerns to me. I recently bought a house and I must have
sent 20+ e-mails to and fro to various lenders and realtors etc. that had some
very personal info and attachments on them. Each
time I hit send; I gulped, closed my eyes, did the sign of the cross and prayed
for mercy. Encrypting ones data really should
be a no brainer.
Back
it up… I know another no brainer but how often do we actually do it? I try and
do it monthly but since I have 3 PC’s at home that I am in charge of, I occasionally
forget. This is one of the most
important things we should do and it should be done weekly. If you lose your device or it is compromised in
some fashion, a solid backup can really save your behind and get you back on
your feet quickly.
Finally,
I am going to utilize a password manager.
I have wanted to do this for some time now but just haven pulled the
trigger yet. I found a great article in Informationweek.com
written by Dino Londis (2013) that discussed his thoughts about this topic and
even gives several options that you can consider. If you are interested, check out the link
below, it is a good read.
Parting shots: It seems that a
day doesn't go by where we don’t hear something in the news about XYZ Company getting hacked or ABC group claiming they did some nefarious deed to XYZ etc.
We all need to do our part to protect our assets and be vigilant so these clowns
have a much harder time getting the goods…
“Run Silent, Run
Deep” A novel by Edward Beach Jr.
Cited:
Londis,
Dino. (2013). 10 Top Password Managers. Informationweek.com.
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