Protect Your Digital Identity:
- Identity related fraud is now an epidemic, due in no small part to how little thought people give to their privacy and security
- Every action you take in the online world can potentially compromise your digital presence which can lead to serious consequences that wreak havoc on your personal and professional life
- Anything from fraudulent credit card purchases, drained bank accounts, loans in your name to theft of crypto assets can occur
- Here are some ways that you can protect your digital identity:
- Think privacy and security first
- Stop, think, protect. Be a human firewall
- Limit your digital footprint, understand "privacy" settings and be wary of what you post. Digital content can last forever...
- Ensure websites that collect sensitive data use encryption. Look for the lock and or https:// in the address bar of our your browser
- Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to provide security and anonymity
- Use a password manager
- Be wary of "free" software/apps. If you're not paying with money, you're paying with data. You are the product, NOT the customer
- Do a background check on yourself with a site likehttps://unmask.com/
- Seeing information that is readily available to others can help you prepare to answer tough questions in interviews, loans, etc.
- It can help you be aware of and clear up any criminal or financial information that is incorrect
- It can help you spot identity theft
- Monitor online activity - Google Alerts
- Use a privacy friendly browser such as:
- Firefox
- Brave
- Safari
- Tor
- Use an Identity Theft monitoring service such as LifeLock
- Limit IoT device usage
- Limit location services
- Freeze your credit
Behind the One-Way Mirror: A Deep Dive Into the Technology of Corporate Surveillance:
- Read the deep dive here:https://www.eff.org/wp/behind-the-one-way-mirror
Remote Workers Commonly Bypass Inconvenient Security Measures:
- The Covid-19 pandemic has created significant security challenges for organizations with employees working from home
- The "Rebellions & Rejections" study from HP indicates that employee buy-in for proper cybersecurity hygiene is not good
- They surveyed over 8,400 office workers that shifted to remote work during the pandemic. It included 1,100 IT staff with decision-making roles
- 30% of remote workers under the age of 24 said they circumvent or ignore corporate security policies that impede productivity
- 67% of IT leaders reported "weekly" complaints about restrictive policies
- 48% of all workers feel security polices and measures are a waste of time
- 91% of respondents felt pressure to compromise security for business continuity
- 83% of the IT respondents believe the current state of remote security is "ticking time bomb" for their organization's network
- With nearly 50% of all employees expecting to do some remote work, there are millions of vulnerable endpoints that could be a conduit into corporate
- Some employees use personal devices that are not properly secured
- 23% of respondents expect to to continue working remotely and 16% expect a hybrid approach
- Only 36% of workers have been trained to protect home networks and devices
- 80% of IT respondents reported dealing with increases in ransomware, firmware attacks, exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities that have been disclosed to the public, data leakage and “man-in-the-middle” attacks