Cyber Security

Happy Friday!

Let me start with these three scenarios:

• A colleague at work walks up to you and says that the Powerball lottery reached $2B and a group of colleagues at work are pooling money to buy tickets, and suggests you join in. – Could this be a scam?
• A friend says she is going to a casino tonight. She says they are booking a full table for all the friends to go and play tonight, and suggest you partake.?–?Could this be a scam?
• A stranger walks up to you at a bar and says he works for a company that is collecting data for a survey and you will have a chance to win $1M if you participate. All you have to do is, share your full name, address, date of birth, and SSN. – Could this be a scam?

Isn’t it obvious which one is a scam? We all instinctively can recognize when we are being tricked in our life. How about in our digital life? It takes awareness and just a little bit of vigilance to safeguard our digital lives.

It’s the 20th?anniversary of Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CSAM), celebrated every October, let’s discuss “cybersecurity” in this edition.?

In 2004, there were about 700M internet users in the world, a mere 12% of the population. The number of cybercrimes received by FTC was less than 500K. Fast forward to 2024, there are about 5.19B internet users in the world now, a staggering ~60% of the population. The number of cybercrimes received by FTC is over?5.7M. That is over a 1000% increase in reported crimes just in two decades. One cannot even begin to comprehend the emotional and financial toll these cyber-attacks cause on individuals and organizations.?

I do not mean to scare you with these statistics but merely draw your attention to the seriousness of the issue. As quoted in security circles, “The most secure computer is the computer that is off. ”???yet, you will be surprised to know it’s extremely simple to protect your computer and other digital devices. #SecureOurWorld.?

Just do 4 simple things:

• Let’s say you have two cars; can they be opened with the same key? Then why do you use the same password for your two different online accounts? Follow best practices to set a long, unique, and complex password for each of your digital accounts. You have many password manager tools available, should you need help with password management.? – Protect w Password.
• Most households in the US will have two locks on their front door, a deadbolt and a normal one. Simply extend the same idea to your digital front doors too and implement multifactor authentication. It’s easy for you to implement and makes it extremely difficult for the attackers to gain access to your digital assets.? – Turn on MFA / 2FA.
• You don’t have a long-lost aunt in the Netherlands who left you a fortune in her will nor does the prince of Nigeria urgently need your help to transfer funds. If the subject or content of the email sounds phishy, then it is phishy. Do not open it and report it. If you get a text message that seems too good to be true, then it really is malicious. Do not click any links in it and report it. – Report Phishing.
• When you receive Jury summons, will you ignore them? You must act and respond promptly to avoid any serious repercussions. Similarly, when providers of your digital assets send you s/w update availability notices, take the time to install them promptly. They are always working to update their products against cyber threats, so stay up to date. – Update Software.

Protecting our digital life is vital and it doesn’t have to be complicated. In the workplace, we have an additional responsibility to ensure the security of our customer’s sensitive data. Fortunately, we are equipped with all the necessary tools and training to fulfill this duty.?

Let me leave you with this anonymous and powerful quote, “People, the weakest link.” when it comes to Cybersecurity. Let’s do our part and be #CyberSmart and #SecureOurWorld.

I invite you to share a serious or humorous story of a cyber incident from your digital life.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay blessed. Thank you and have a great weekend.

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For previous articles on the same subject, Cyber Security, you can access them here and here.