Almost every day another news report comes out saying information has been compromised, and personal data including banking account information, credit card numbers, and Social Security numbers might have been stolen due to a breach at major retailers such as Target (News - Alert) or Michaels.
When you hear these types of stories it’s hard not to feel helpless because there isn’t really anything else you could do to save your personal information; except maybe pay for everything in cash, which is impractical and usually not feasible. InformationWeek said a lot of the problem might be due to the fact that many of these stores allow for remote access. However, regardless of how the information is collected or used, the real story is how do we protect it?
A 2013 Strategic Security Survey report revealed some interesting information. According to the report, 79 percent of people say they have not experienced a security breach in the past year. Another 42 percent said they make security a top priority in their lives.
The report went further to discuss the maturation of the security, and help provide recommendations to help reduce the breaching risks that seem to be taking over the news and almost ever major retailer we shop at. InformationWeek said there are a few things people can do to make sure that they are on top of their game and help eliminate the hackers that might try to steal their personal information or worse, their identity.
They suggest that you set boundaries and know who has access to your online and virtual systems. In addition, they ask for users to trust but verify and make sure that they are authorizing the actual website and not a fake lookalike. There are also tons of attackers that are so sophisticated you might not even know you are logging on to the wrong site and in seconds they have your information.
The most important thing is to stay vigilant, double-check something, and if you get an email about resetting your password or entering credit card information, you are better off going to the source of the website and doing it there. It’s the safer way to try to keep the security risks down to a minimum.