Are You Taking Chances with Your Cyber Security?

It’s only human to know what’s good for us but still not do it. The recent 2016 Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report from Symantec shows this also goes for protecting ourselves from cyber criminals. While we won’t expect anyone to come out and admit it, look at a few of Symantec’s findings and ask yourself if you’re guilty.

Poor password protocols – John Podesta, a Democratic political operative and Hillary Clinton ally, was one of the victims of email hacking during the past presidential campaign. It was alleged that his password was “password.” That’s probably not true, but it is a fact that we’re often our own worst enemies. It seems that 76% of us continually engage in risky behavior like sharing passwords or making them ridiculously easy to guess.

Unprotected devices – As another example of inadequate security from the political realm, consider the infamous Clinton emails and all the unsecure devices and servers that may have received and transmitted highly classified documents. According to the Norton report, 35% of us have at least one unprotected device, thereby leaving all our data and devices vulnerable to a host of cyberthreats including viruses, phishing and ransomware.

Not recognizing friend from foe – No one is sure what the Russians were up to during the last election, but we should remain on guard against the likelihood of state-sponsored cyber warfare. Not recognizing a threat until it’s too late isn’t just a failing of our political leaders, however. Slightly more than half of us are terrible at recognizing a phishing email and are much too quick to download a suspicious attachment or share sensitive information.

Public recklessness – Are there any politicians you feel should keep more things to themselves? We all love the convenience of Wi-Fi, and being able to go online in places like airports, hotels or coffee shops helps us be productive when away from home or the office. But public-Wi-Fi is notoriously susceptible to hacking; we’re just making it easy on cybercriminals to steal our information. In fact, 61% of us enter our financial information online over unsecure networks. Eeeeee!

Unrecognized risks – Whether we’re as careful as we ought to be or not, at least most of us at least understand that our computers, notebooks and smartphones are targets for cybercrime. But thanks to the Internet of Things (interconnectivity via the cloud) even devices like baby monitors, smart thermostats and DVRs can be an open door to surrendering sensitive information or system control. We’re being naive: more than 60% of us wrongly assume our popular smart devices have been designed with security in mind.

Worried about the future? You can always count on your friends at SynchroNet to assist you with the latest and most effective security systems, processes and protocols. But remember, there are things you can do, too: We each, as individuals, must be our own first line of defense. If you have specific questions, let us know; we’re here to help you stay safe, protected, and productive with your technology.