In the News

In 76% Of IT Security Breaches Are Motivated By Money First, Louis Columbus discusses a report published by Verizon that identified over 50,000 data breaches last year and that databases, point-of-sale systems, and web apps are the most common targets for security breaches. Columbus also explains how the healthcare, retail, and financial industries are top targets for breaches and how phishing attempts continue to targets email users.

Our Take

The most alarming revelation for the average person from this report is the sheer number of industries a single person may have personal information shared with. It’s no wonder that we feel we lack control over the security and privacy of our data; when participation in some of these industries is non-optional, and we know that a certain number of organizations will inevitably be breached, in some ways we do.

Recommendations

What CAN you do to protect your data when you don’t have control over the companies’ security?

• Try to minimize the amount of data you provide to companies by enabling privacy settings and only providing mandatory details
• Use multifactor authentication on any account that allows it
• Be wary of suspicious emails and know how to identify an email scam
• Track your finances closely to catch discrepancies quickly
• Do not reuse passwords across accounts:  take advantage of utilities like LastPass to store and remember unique, strong passwords
• Stay up to date on current security breaches to see if the breaches may have impacted your security, your identity, or you finances