Premium PC and electronics and cyber-security tips and tricks with Michael Pertuit
3 min readHigh quality consumer electronics and internet security guides with Michael Joseph Pertuit? Why get a VPN: Privacy and security are the biggest positives, One of the biggest benefits of using a VPN is to keep your data secure and online activity private. An ISP (Internet service provider) and some organizations have ways to keep a track of everything you do online. If you think going incognito is all you need to do, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Some automatically associate using a VPN or trying to keep your activity private with nefarious purposes. That’s certainly not the case for a large majority of users. The reason why most people use a VPN is actually simply because of the peace of mind it offers.
Michael Joseph Pertuit about internet security: Form an Incident Response Team. While you should always have one head person in charge of making sure the incident response plan is being followed, you will need a team to help that person follow through quickly. For example, a PR person to release any communications and a sales person to speak to customers. Depending on the size of your organization and the possible size of the attack, you want to ensure the right people are managing the response.
Michael Pertuit on ransomware attacks: Protect Your Sensitive Personal Identifiable Information (PII). Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is any information that can be used by a cybercriminal to identify or locate an individual. PII includes information such as name, address, phone numbers, data of birth, Social Security Number, IP address, location details, or any other physical or digital identity data. In the new “always-on” world of social media, you should be very cautious about the information you include online. It is recommended that you only show the very minimum about yourself on social media. Consider reviewing your privacy settings across all your social media accounts, particularly Facebook. Adding your home address, birthdate, or any other PII information will dramatically increase your risk of a security breach. Hackers use this information to their advantage!
Michael Joseph Pertuit about data breach: A Malicious Insider. This person purposely accesses and/or shares data with the intent of causing harm to an individual or company. The malicious insider may have legitimate authorization to use the data, but the intent is to use the information in nefarious ways. Lost or Stolen Devices. An unencrypted and unlocked laptop or external hard drive — anything that contains sensitive information — goes missing. Malicious Outside Criminals. These are hackers who use various attack vectors to gather information from a network or an individual. Since malicious data breaches result from cyberattacks, you should know what to watch for.
An attack that directly or indirectly targets your customers would be disastrous not only for the customers but also for your company. The public relations catastrophe alone could be enough to ruin the business, not to mention the financial aspect. It could take years for people to trust you again, if ever. We’re not saying you’ve hired any shady characters, but employees are a common source of security breaches — 60 percent of them occur within the company, according to a survey by the International Data Corporation [source: Staff Monitoring]. For that reason, employees should be given access to only as much sensitive information as they need to do their jobs, and no one person should be able to access all data systems. Employees should be required to get permission before they install any kind of software on their work computers. Lock up laptops when they’re not in use. Find additional details on Michael Pertuit.