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The reuse of passwords is a common risk to your online security and data protection. With an ever-increasing number of online threats a data breach to one of your accounts can render you vulnerable to attacks on all your accounts sharing the same password.
Hackers and criminals regularly use "Credential Stuffing" (stolen usernames and passwords) to target other accounts as the practice of reusing the same password is commonplace.
Short passwords containing personal information or commonly used words or terms known to be used in passwords are a big security risk that put your online accounts and data at risk.
Did you know?
Some of the most common passwords used online include "password" and "123456".
Over the years many major internet services and companies have been subject to significant security breaches exposing both your account information and passwords as well as your sensitive personal information and financial data. These companies include but are not limited to eBay, Yahoo and LinkedIn.
Identifying if you have been affected by one of these publicly reported breaches can help you to take appropriate measures such as resetting passwords and considering the consequences of what details may have been compromised.
Using the internet and connected devices without the use of anti-virus/anti-malware software and a firewall presents certain significant risks which may expose you to viruses/malware/ransomware and a range of other threats to your personal information and data.
Security threats on our devices and IT systems are discovered on a daily basis; are your computers and devices configured to be updated with the latest patches to address these vulnerabilities?
Are you devices still receiving security updates? Many phone manufacturers support their products for a surprisingly short time and stop providing software updates leaving your data at risk.
Public Wi-Fi presents both a significant security and privacy risk. If you use an unsecured public Wi-Fi network without observing some essential steps and practices your data is at risk.
The storage on our devices and can fail without warning, do you have that data safely backed up and a clear plan of how to restore it?
What would happen if your computer was lost, stolen, or destroyed in a fire? Do you have secure copies of your most important documents and files? What impact would losing these documents and files have on your life?
Have you ever considered why your free email account is 'free'? The price to pay may surprise you in terms of the impact on your personal privacy and anonymity.
How important is email to your life? If, like most people, you use it for important financial, health-related and personal communications, are you satisfied with the terms under which your email provider uses your data?
If you use a social network your personal information and data can be used in a number of different ways that impact your privacy. On all the major social networks your personal data and interactions with their services (e.g. through a smartphone app or web-browser) are used to profile you for the purposes of targeted advertising and tracking your activity both online and offline. In addition, if your accounts are not restricted to friends/trusted others your personal data can be collected, collated and analysed by anyone with access to the internet including data tracking companies and criminals.
Did you know?
Your social media profiles are now commonly used to profile you when performing important activities such as applying for a new job, loan or credit card.
If you answered yes (we hope you did!) we can help you to achieve this goal through carefully analysing your requirements, configuring your devices, and helping you to learn skills, and implement practices to greatly improve your online security and privacy.
Get in touch today for your free assessment.