In the News
Security alerts occur at such a high rate, looking into all of them is somewhat impossible. In 174,000 Alerts per Week Besiege Security Teams from Infosecurity Magazine, Kacy Zurkus discusses the large quantity of security alerts that cyber security centers and their analysts are notified of per week and the actual number that get investigated. Zurkus reports that over 174,000 security alerts are sent to these teams a week, but less than 7% of them are actually investigated and responded. Zurkus explains that this request to response ratio is so small because of a lack of staff that is trained to handle such requests.
Our Take
Even with the increasing quantity of news and awareness surrounding cybersecurity, threats to your personal information may be occurring without any news or someone to stop it quickly. Security alerts and the content of concern in each alert come in all shapes and sizes. It is difficult to distinguish which security alerts are more or less dangerous in the immediate picture and the task assigned to analyst is quite daunting. Although there is a clean need for additional workers in this field to secure the privacy of user data better, it is also vital that you, the consumer, take personal steps to protect the information you put out into the world.
Recommendations
So how can you protect your privacy in light of so many security breaches?
- Understand the risks of putting your personal information into the world, and only share what you have to
- Track your finances closely to spot unfamiliar activity before it becomes harmful
- Understand the legal rights and practices of companies that store your data
- Stay up to date on the best way to secure your information whether with individual companies, plugins, or privacy settings on an account
- Set up your own alerts for bank account activity, social media account activity, etc…