Security 101: Minimum Recommended Security Steps

Most information security professionals would agree there are basic, minimum steps everyone should be taking to keep their data (information), as well as their family’s and client’s data, safe and secure. While the list of recommendations may change slightly from expert to expert, there are several that remain constant. Although these steps won’t ensure you are 100% protected from hackers or data loss, they will make you a much harder target and prevent a lot of the common hacks and potentially protect you from easy mistakes that lead to data (information) loss.

We will discuss what we feel should be the basic, minimum steps everyone should be following to help keep not only their data safe and secure, but the data for their family and clients as well. We will try to make these steps as easy as we can to understand, provide guidance on how to implement the recommendations, explain why we think the recommendations are important and, where possible, provide real-world examples. We will also provide more advanced tips for people wanting to go a step further in a “Security 102” series (coming soon).

Topics discussed (more will be added in the future):

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April 16, 2018

Passwords: Writing down valid data to look random

April 16, 2018/ Logical Cybersecurity

We have heard time and time again that we should NEVER write down our password(s). That is our recommendation to people as well, but writing down a password is pretty much required these days due to needing a different and complicated password for each account. Our recommendation is to never write down all passwords in one place. Our basic recommendation for remembering passwords is to use a password manager, but there are some passwords you may want/need to write down to keep in your wallet or purse or store on one of your devices (phone, tablet, computer, etc.). When writing down a password, you need to be extremely careful. You will want to record the password in such a way that someone wouldn’t know what they were looking at if they found/read it. You must find a method that works for you, but we will provide you with some tips/options to get you started. We strongly recommend using a password manager to help create and remember all of the passwords for your accounts. You can read our Security 101 blog post on Password Managers to learn more.

April 16, 2018

Enable and Require a Login to Your Devices

April 16, 2018/ Logical Cybersecurity

This Security 101 topic is pretty straight forward. You should always enable and require logins (fingerprint, password, code, etc.) to access your devices (computers, phone, tablets, etc.). Regardless if “you have nothing to hide” or not. A login to your device should be a bare minimum. There is little inconvenience to you, but could seriously help you in the event one of your devices is lost or stolen. Think about what is stored on your computer, phone, and tablet. If any of these devices were lost, stolen, or accessed without your permission, how much personal, private information would a person have access to?

April 04, 2018

Password Managers: Possibly the best security advice

April 04, 2018/ Logical Cybersecurity

A password manager can be a vital part in keeping your accounts safe and secure, but it is important to implement strong security protocols so your password manager remains protected. We will discuss why using a password manager may be the best advice we could give, the options to look for when choosing a password manager as well as what steps to take to keep your password vault secure.

April 03, 2018

Multi-Factor, 2-Step, 2-Factor Authentication;

April 03, 2018/ Logical Cybersecurity

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), also called 2-step or 2-factor authentication, is one of the most important steps you can take regarding your accounts. If you aren’t familiar with MFA, it is a way of authenticating yourself (“logging in”) with more than just a password. Authentication, or logging in, can be done in 3 ways, with something you know (password), something you have (phone or token) and/or something you are (biometrics such as a fingerprint). MFA involves using at least 2 of these 3 methods such as something you know, a password, and something you have, an SMS Text message from your phone. While MFA isn’t guaranteed protection for your accounts, enabling it does offer strong additional protection and can stop an account from being taken over (also referred to as “hacked” or “compromised”).

April 03, 2018

Finding the Balance: Security versus Convenience

April 03, 2018/ Logical Cybersecurity

There's one important "rule of thumb" to keep in mind while we discuss implementing the various security best practices in the Security 101 and 102 series. Whether it's security on your accounts or security on your devices, the same theory/rule will apply. The more secure something is, the less convenient/easy it will be. Which means the opposite is also true, the less secure something is, the more convenient/easy it will be.