How to Avoid Exposure to Data Breaches: Tips on How to Increase Your Network Protection
When we are scrolling through our news feeds to catch up on family gossip and watching those cute cat videos that your old college roommates sent you in a group message; the last thing that probably goes through your mind is the fact that your privacy may not be protected.
Recently, Facebook has been in the news with a controversy addressing this exact issue, placing CEO Mark Zuckerberg under fire. On May 2, 2018; the Virginian-Pilot released an article stating, “…7,100 Virginians had downloaded a third-party app that potentially may have exposed the private information of 1.7 million "friends" on the social network site” (2 May 2018, The Virginian-Pilot, Facebook breach may have impacted 1.7 million Virginians). You may view the full article here.
According to an article with the New York Times by Nicholas Confessore, the personal and private information leaked was obtained and used by Cambridge Analytica to violate user profiles for political reasons (04 April 2018, NY Times, Cambridge Analytica and Facebook: The Scandal and the Fallout So Far). You may read the full story here.
The subject of safety with your private information is a topic that should be addressed not only with a social network, but in all aspects of your technology. Although the case of the Facebook data breach may have been mostly out of your hands, there are a few things you can do to keep your social and business networks a little bit safer.
INCREASE PROTECTION WITH PASSWORD SECURITY
Unlike many well-known celebrities, you may not exactly want to go the extreme of deleting your Facebook accounts. Despite the understandable feeling of having your data violated, many users will continue to keep their accounts and move past this event.
As general rules and best practices for any type of password care, these tips can be used in all aspects of your digital life.
Tip #1-Change your passwords every 90 days. Try not to make it too frequent or too infrequent. Remember, the more you change your password, the more likely you are to forget what your password is!
Tip #2-Don’t make your passwords too easy. If they are easy for you, they are even easier for hackers. Try to avoid using birthdays, anniversaries, or the classically used “123.”
Facebook makes it very easy for hackers to know what your security answers may be, when you publicly list your family members, what high school you went to, etc. Mode5’s Network Operations Center (NOC) Michael Lindsay states, “With so many websites using the same common security questions combined with social media, it’s a bigger danger than everyone realizes. This is just one of the many other vectors of attack they could use just with the information that is publicly available on social media.”
Tip #3-Don’t leave your passwords in a place where they are easily viewed. If you must write down your passwords, place them in a safe location out of view.
If you are a business looking for even more password protection, consider a two-factor authentication. Mode5 Secure Sign-on offers this option, to keep your login process as safe and secure as possible.
LEVERAGE ADVANCED SECURITY FOR BUSINESS
In addition to securing those passwords with options like Mode5 Secure Sign-on, businesses can leverage other advanced security options to help increase network safety. Being proactive helps keep you one step ahead of the rest. Whether it’s changing Facebook security settings on their page or utilizing Managed IT Advanced Security features.
Mode5 utilizes such features as:
Web Filtering
Intrusion Prevention
Anti-Virus
Anti-Malware
Firewalls
And more!
Questions? To learn more about Mode5 Advanced Security features, please Contact Us. To view more information on Facebook security, you may view an article here from Tech Gadgets with some tips on adjusting your settings. To learn more tips on how to keep your networks safe, visit our Events page for information on our monthly cybersecurity webinar, where you will learn tips on how to keep your business networks safe from data breaches.
