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Protecting Your Information Valuables in “Cyberspace”. Charlie Russell Rappahannock Rotary Club May 30, 2012. Today’s Headlines. Cellphone Spamming can be curtailed. . . Stolen Laptop Exposes Boston Hospital Patient Data. What’s an Information Asset .
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Protecting Your Information Valuables in “Cyberspace” Charlie Russell Rappahannock Rotary Club May 30, 2012
Today’s Headlines Cellphone Spamming can be curtailed. . . Stolen Laptop Exposes Boston Hospital Patient Data
What’s an Information Asset • 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?
The “CyberSpace” Problem • 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.)
Some Protection Methods • 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
Problem Symptoms 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
Some “Cyber” Do’s & Don’ts • 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)
