Hunter Bonner/IT Professional
This article is difficult to write, because it requires using language in a way that likely will offend. However, we as human beings need our little bubbles of false security busted. Why? Because only when that happens, we not only see how we were in fact wrong, but how galactically wrong we are/were.
What is this all about? It is about you being wide open to hackers.
I have mentioned in previous articles on how you can secure your information. Gently, I have advised you to use complex passwords for your banking login, and wherever possible, use two-factor authentication. However, not a week goes by on local Facebook Group Pages around the area, or people that I know will post, “If you get a friend request from me, I didn’t send it. I’ve been hacked!” When I ask some basic security questions, the answers are always, “No, I didn’t do that.”, or, “That’s too much to remember so I do not do it.”
Although incorrectly attributed to Einstein, the following rings true:
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
The simple fact is, whether you are just a home user of a computer, or running one of our fine businesses in Marion County, most of you are literally sitting ducks for a cyberattack. If you are a local business, ask yourself, “How long can I afford to be down?” “What if the cash registers get hacked?” “What would happen if I lost all our customer data?”
Let me say it clearly, and plainly: You likely would be out of business. It’s really that simple.
Having your customer data compromised, is a serious breach of privacy. If credit card information is involved, now you are going to have to pay for credit monitoring for your customers. That starts at around $300 a pop. Oh yes, get ready to get sued. The lawsuit will be easy to prove negligence, when they discover that your entire network was either not protected by a firewall, or, you are using an easily hackable consumer router to “protect” your business network.
As for home users, you will just lose all your pictures, documents, and likely your identity will get stolen. To prepare you for this, please understand that it can take years to sort out identity theft. One of the first things they will go for is your bank account, since you stored all your passwords in your browser. After that, they likely will try to sell your house out from underneath you. That’s a form of mortgage fraud. All of this can literally happen in seconds.
However, there are some reading this that say they have cyber insurance and that you are protected. But are you really? Please re-read your cyber insurance policy. There is always a clause, or stipulation that will void your entire coverage if the source of your security issue was caused by a lack of using “industry standardized security measures.”
Is this fear-mongering? Perhaps, but if you haven’t changed your online habits, then maybe it is what is needing to be said? All of the above can be mitigated simply by performing some common sense changes to how you conduct yourself online.
As an IT Professional, I do not expect you to understand, or go and research this for yourselves. You need a guide, and I am here to help. Let’s get together by contacting me, and I can help show you the way. Seeking out help after a security incident is too little, too late.
Hunter Bonner is an IT Professional
He can be reached through his blog: https://techedgeblog.wordpress.com/