As the title of this post suggests, online security means many things. Let us look at three crucial aspects. Cyber Security. Passwords. HTTPS URLs. Are YOU prepared to handle online security for you and/or your firm? Unfortunately, security today is worse today than ever.
For our followers, you already know that we take security issues seriously. For non-followers, these are a few past posts to consider:
- Must Read!! Build Stronger Passwords NOW
- YOU: Act Secure Online
- Ransomware — What Can YOU Do?
- Not Trying to Keep Scaring You, But …
Online Security Means Many Things — Factors to Consider
In this post, we present various statistics and recommendations about online security. And our goal is for you to better prepared.
Cyber Security
According to J.M. Porup, writing for CSO:
“Cyber security is involves the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of information. Thus, it represents the ability to defend against attacks by adversaries. The latter include script kiddies to hackers and criminal groups capable. With the latter able to execute persistent threats. And they pose serious threats to the enterprise. Business continuity and disaster recovery planning are as critical to cyber security as application and network security.”
In Porup’s view, we must guard against various danger points. And he offers suggestions for doing so. Among the danger points are these.
* Critical infrastructure “includes the cyber-physical systems that society relies on. Such as thee electricity grid, water purification, traffic lights and hospitals. By plugging a power plant into the Internet, for example, makes it vulnerable to cyber attacks.”
* Network security “guards against unauthorized intrusion as well as malicious insiders. And to ensure network security often requires trade-offs. For example, extra logins might be necessary, but slow down productivity.”
* Cloud security. “The enterprise’s move into the cloud creates new security challenges.”
* Application security, “especially for Web applications, has become the weakest technical point of attack.”
* Internet of things security involves “critical and non-critical cyber systems. Such as appliances, sensors, printers, and security cameras.”
Click the image to read Porup’s tips and more!
Passwords
As we know, the passwords we use are important for our online security. But the frequency of password changes is a hotly debated topic.
One expert, Dan Price, recently asked. Are Frequent Password Changes Actually Good for Your Security? In this video, he addresses several things to consider. To read much more, click the link to the question.
HTTPS URLs
By now, we ALL should know the difference between HTTPS and HTTP in a Web address. And we should never assume that HTTP is secure. But some firms still collect personal data at such sites.
So, Google Chrome is going to do something about this situation.
“Google has announced it will be labeling all HTTP sites as ‘not secure’ with the release of Chrome 68. For some time, the search giant has encouraged developers to switch their sites to the more secure HTTPS protocol. This stance will accelerated by the release of the new Chrome 68 in July 2018. Users navigating the Web through Chrome 68 will find all HTTP sites classified as not being secure. Because users will most likely turn to sites that are HTTPS protected, Web developers will also most likely upgrade their sites to counter the loss of Web traffic.”