Think your information is secure online? You might want to think again
Posted On September 23, 2019
Think your computer is secure? Think passwords are a devious prank the IT department invented to drive us all crazy? Think the Dark Web is a working title for the next Spider-Man movie?
Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working With Cam Marston” begs you to think again. Glenda Snodgrass is president and lead consultant of The Net Effect, a Mobile-based firm that specializes in cybersecurity training.
And Snodgrass says not only is the Dark Web real, but it’s likely that information like your computer passwords, email address and cell phone number are already on it.
This is how we get multi-level phishing attacks – Snodgrass calls them Smishing – that try to trick you into clicking a link or calling a number by sending you urgent messages – sometimes through multiple methods, such as text and email.
“What most people don’t realize is that millions of pieces of data like this are dumped on the dark web every day,” she says, “and it’s very easy to match up that information.”
Snodgrass says the best way to avoid such attacks is to simply not do what you’re asked to do. Instead of clicking an attached link to see if your back account has been compromised, as the urgent message warns you, contact your bank directly.
Cybercrime is big business, Snodgrass says, often perpetrated by multi-level criminal organizations. But there are things we can do to make it more difficult, and therefore less likely, for them to gain access to our business or personal networks.
Snodgrass discusses the dangers of unsecured wireless networks, smart devices (particularly those with microphones), unpatched software, and spyware disguised as legitimate online tools. She outlines how to make our home wireless routers more secure, discusses why multifactor password authentication is so effective, and shares the latest password tips.
Most of all, she says, it’s important for us to understand how the technology we use works. “If you don’t know how something works, you don’t fully understand the risks you’re taking in using it,” she says, “and you don’t know how to actually secure it to mitigate those risks.”
Join us for an eye-opening discussion about cybersecurity and learn why Snodgrass urges us all to “be productively paranoid” about our internet and wireless use. And stick around to the end of the show to hear a testimonial from Mobilian David Webb on his brand obsession with a tasty, locally produced treat – Conecuh sausage.