By Conrad C. Cross
Conrad is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Florida Virtual School. He has held similar positions with the City of Orlando, the City of Miami and also in the private sector. Imagine that the White House servers got hacked and the President of the United States (POTUS) email was there for the Russian hackers to read. Well, don’t imagine that scenario because it actually happened. If POTUS cannot be guaranteed computer security what do mere mortals do? The real challenge is how can computer hacking be prevented or minimized in the future. Outlined below are 10 tips for securing your computer accounts whether you are an individual or an organization.
1. Put policies in place to know what you are protecting and what level of protection is needed. If your information has no value and is available for all the world to access, do you need to
protect it and if it is valuable and needs protection how much protection is necessary?
2. Use complex password that must be updated regularly. Don’t just use your children’s names, your pet’s names or common terms that are easily deciphered such as “password”. Use passwords containing numbers (0 – 9), special characters e.g. (!@#$%&*), mix in capitalization, use more than eight characters. The longer the password the stronger the password.
3. Determine a system to alert you whenever security of your computers have been compromised. If a burglar were to break into your home could you tell and what would be the telltale signs? Would they trip your house alarms, did they ransack your home, are there footprints, is your safe or valuables missing? Using the house analogy think about your computer security in a similar manner e.g. acquire software to track forced access, make sure the software provides alert/alarms, determine if your files were modified or deleted, when was the most recent access and was it authorized, etc.
4. Avoid phishing scams. The word phishing is similar to the other word fishing and the concept is the same i.e. place a bait and let’s see if something gets caught. Phishers have developed sophisticated methods of targeting and tricking employees. Another term for this is social engineering. It is very difficult to avoid phishers because of the variety of tricks and schemes that are devised therefore vigilance and education are essential.
5. Create frequent backups of your data. There is no better way to recover from a security violation than to have a current backup of your data. To reinforce this idea remember in some computer circles it is believed that the first rule of computing is to have a backup.
6. Use spam and web filters. The era of viruses is coming to an end due to better technologies however we still have spam and cookies that carry unwanted software (malware).
7. Pay attention to your mobile devices, they are computers too. Your phone, tablets, apple watch, laptops and many of the devices you carry around on a daily basis have your confidential and important information on them and deserves the same or sometimes greater security than your traditional computer. In many ways they are more vulnerable to security hacks because
of the many different wireless networks they get connected to.
8. Keep current with what’s happening in cyberspace. You don’t have to be a geek or computer expert but it doesn’t hurt to know what some of the current threats to your computing environment are. Validate what you hear and read about these threats, at legitimate sources on the internet (e.g. www.mcafee. com, www.microsoft.com, www.sophos.com etc.).
9. Accept the updates pushed out by the major software developers that are intended to keep your computers safe. Stay current with your computer browsers and operating systems, and implement the latest security patches.
10. Don’t panic, keep a cool head but if all else fails call your local computer expert, everyone should have one. Security isn’t convenient and may cause you to jump over hurdles just to access the basic functions of your computer, however always remember the bottom line is, if there is value in your data you and everyone else wants it, then it needs to be safe guarded with the utmost care.
Happy and safe computing.
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