Protecting Your Information Valuables in “Cyberspace”

Charlie RussellRappahannock Rotary ClubMay 30, 2012

Today’s Headlines

Cellphone Spamming can be curtailed. . .

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What’s the Most Important Information you hold? Banking Data? (account numbers) Mortgage information? (balance) Healthcare and medical data? (prescriptions) Other Financial information? (401k, loans,

insurance) How to Determine Value

What information do you use each day? What data could you least do without? Could it be replicated from another source?

What’s an Information Asset

People make money from other’s people’s data (Credit, healthcare, financial)

The Web is worldwide and wild – it was not designed to be secure Some terms you should understand:

“Phishing” – form of social engineering Emails with attachments - .exe files “Cookies” – ‘welcome back, Mr. Jones’ “Spam” – uneeded emails “Virus” – malware or spurious code Criminal emails (e.g. Nigerian newsletters)

Who can you trust? (Hint: it’s you) Social Media Use

Linked In Facebook Instant Messaging (Google Talk, etc.)

The “CyberSpace” Problem

Use Personal firewalls: Inside your provider’s environment (e.g.

Verizon, Comcast, etc.) Within your home network

Use Antivirus, antispam, anti ‘adware’ tools Wireless protection at home and ‘on the go’ Password Protection

Use natural, easy to recall and use, but unique Use versions (e.g. 1.3.5) Employ some reasoning behind your selection

Some Protection Methods

Computer runs slow, seems to take hours to load simple software or email messages

Increase in numbers of unknown messages from unfamiliar accounts

Your ‘junk’ mail file seems to fill up rapidly Friends say they’ve received mail from your

email account that you didn’t originate A password that worked last week no longer

works Requests for account updates arrive from

previously unnamed sources

Problem Symptoms

Don’ts:- Host critical data on computers used by students or ‘gamers’ in the family

- Visit unknown or unsecure websites (gambling, pornography) Do: - Make backup copies each month of your complete data files (memory is cheap) - Store a copy of Operating System startup files (MS Windows, Vista, MS Version 7 or XP) on another media (USB or ‘flash’ drives) then lock it up

- Protect your wireless: use only WPA2 encryption or better - Employ encryption for key critical files that you transfer to others (e.g. PGP or MS)

Some “Cyber” Do’s & Don’ts

Otherwise You’ll Be Fine!