Digital security: staying virtually safe

Since the early ’80s when personal computers first became a part of daily life, computer security has been a constant issue.

Viruses, adware, spyware, malware, worms and trojans… these are words you may have heard about on TV or movies or maybe even from your IT department at work, but what do they mean?

If you’ve been keeping up with the news over the last few weeks, you’ve seen the large spike in the amount of cyber attacks that we’ve seen around the world. Here at MHCC, all staff were sent an email recently by the school’s IT department to immediately install a patch to fight against a particularly vicious and incredibly nasty piece of ransomware called “WannaCry.”

For those who might not know, ransomware is software that hackers use to create cyber attacks which lock out a person or group from their own computer, or damage computer systems, before they demand a ransom be paid before they repair/release the information.

Hackers exploiting malicious software leaked/stolen from the National Security Agency (NSA) executed damaging cyber attacks on May 12, hitting dozens of countries worldwide. They forced Britain’s public health system to send patients away, froze computers at Russia’s Interior Ministry and wreaked havoc on tens of thousands of computers elsewhere around the world.

The attacks amounted to a brazen global blackmail scheme – demanding $300 from each victim – and brought to garish daylight the vulnerabilities of the digital age.

Soon, they had spread to more than 74 countries, according to security firms tracking the spread. Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cyber security firm, said Russia was the worst-hit, followed by Ukraine, India and Taiwan. Reports of attacks also came from Latin America and Africa.

Major global corporations were attacked as well, including FedEx and several large telecommunications companies.

The NSA connection to the software behind these ransomware attacks is really alarming, since starting last summer, a group calling itself the “Shadow Brokers” started releasing hacking tools and software that originated as “digital weapons” belonging to the U.S. government.

Netflix soon became a target, with the newest season of “Orange is the New Black,” as well as Disney, which had its new “Pirates” franchise movie hacked.

This is a hacking epidemic that crosses into all markets, and will likely see further expansion in the future. It’s a real problem, one that the Advocate thought our readers not only should be aware of, but informed on steps to protect themselves against.

In an effort to help our readers be a bit safer online, we came up with five tips to help keep you digitally secure.

First, be suspicious of emails. A lot of cyber attacks are launched through simple malicious email campaigns. Email is a wonderful way to communicate because you can send anything to anyone, but that also means it can be a huge security risk. Phishing, for example, sends victims seemingly normal emails that will lead victims to fake websites asking to “update their personal information.”

The best way to avoid being scammed by phony emails is to just make sure the sender is who you think it is. Double-check their email address to see if they match with the website you think it’s from. To be extra cautious, you can check the IP address of the sender.

Second, check the location of any links you hover over before you click. Surfing to a mysterious website can bring about unintended consequences. For one, it could mimic a site you know and trust and help you fall prey to a phishing scam.

Or, it may be non-secure or infected with malware. Read the address carefully before you end up at www.googgle.com and find yourself being asked for your card number.

Third, NEVER open attachments on an email unless you are 200 percent sure who it’s coming from. One of the most common ways for a hacker to gain access to someone’s computer is by an unsuspecting person downloading a file containing malware.

Fourth, use secure passwords, and change them frequently. A secure password uses both upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols such as @ and &, and even isn’t a word at all – it is just gibberish, as an example a bad password would be personal “secret” but a good password could be $Ecr3t.

The final rule, and one that is broken regularly, is don’t share personal data if you are on public wi-fi. If it’s not your own, secured wi-fi at home, or your password protected, secured internet connection at work or school, then don’t share any personal information. Sitting at Starbucks and using the wi-fi is for drinking coffee and doing homework, not for checking your bank statement or filling out your taxes.

Remember, the digital world can be just as dangerous in this day and age as the physical one. You wouldn’t go around shouting your social security number and debit card number, would you? Then don’t do it online!