Defending against cyber attacks

Dear Readers,

We all here about data theft and cyber attacks. The Help Desk has even given a few tips and steps to take to avoid being hacked, doesn’t everybody?

Let’s do something different today. What about the steps to secure yourself when your data is leaked.

Let’s start by remembering that prevention is always the best method to secure your online accounts and personal data.

The Breach is inevitable.

Pretend your doctor, or your email provider, or whichever online app that has your password and username has been breached.

And now a group of hackers has access to your name, address, credit card information, bank information, email address, and a username. What now?

What should you do first? Assess the situation.

As soon as you learn about a new breach you’re going to want to determine if you have an account with the company that has been attacked.

Which email did you use, and do you use it with any other accounts? Have you used that particular email and password combination for any other accounts?

What data was taken and how could it harm you?

Next step? Secure the situation.

Assuming the email is the main one linked to all your other accounts, we proceed. Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all of your accounts starting with your email account, and your cellular provider account.

These are the accounts that are used when passwords are changed and authentication texts are sent. These are the first two accounts a hacker will want to take control of in order to access the rest of your accounts.

With those accounts secured you can move on to setting up MFA for all other accounts that don’t currently use MFA. Banking and credit card accounts are the priority here.

What about the password?

Knowing which account was breached, and which password was being used is helpful. Identify any accounts that uses that password and change it immediately. We always want to avoid re-using passwords; but we are human.

Last step? Do the easy stuff.

For the time being you want to make sure the information that has been leaked isn’t used to cause any harm or open fake accounts. So let’s turn on alerts for all of our financial instruments including credit cards, and online banking accounts.

Do the same with any credit monitoring services you’re using. This way if any new accounts are opened in your name you can find out and take action before too much damage is done.

What does it all mean?

While hacking and cyber crime require expertise in computing technology, good defense (and prevention) do not. The main attack methods for hackers involve taking advantage of unsuspecting humans not machines.

While the steps outlined here are not the only steps to take when worried about being the victim of a cyber attack, they are a good start.

Until Tuesday.

Stay informed,

The Help Desk

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