The first step in improving your protection against cyberthreats is to understand exactly what it is that you need to protect. Only after you have a good grasp of that information can you evaluate what is needed to deliver adequate security and determine whether you have any gaps to address. You must consider what data you have, from whom you must protect it, and how sensitive it is to you. What would happen if, for example, it were publicized on the Internet for the world to see? Then you can evaluate how much you’re willing to spend timewise and moneywise on protecting it.
Identifying Ways You May Be Less than Secure
You need to understand the various areas in which your current cybersecurity posture may suffer so that you can figure out how to address the issues and ensure that you’re adequately protected. You must inventory all items that could contain sensitive data, become launching pads for attacks, and so on.
Your home computer
Your home computers may suffer from one or major types of potential problems relevant to cybersecurity:
Breached: A hacker may have penetrated your home computer and be able to use it much as you can and view its contents, use it to contact other machines, leverage it as a staging ground from which to attack other machines and penetrate them, mine cryptocurrency, view data on your network, and so on.
Malware: Similar to the dangers created by human invaders, a computer-based attacker, that is a malware may be present on your home computer, enabling a criminal to use the computer much as you can and view the computer’s contents, contact other machines, mine cryptocurrency, and so on. The most important thing is reading data from your network traffic and infect other computers on your network and outside of it.
Shared computers: When you share a computer with other people, including your significant other and your children, you expose your device to the risk that the other folks using it won’t practice proper cyber-hygiene to the same level that you do and, as a result, expose the device to infection by malware or a breach by some hacker or unintentionally inflict self-damage.
Connections to other networks and storage applications: If you connect your computer via a virtual private network (VPN) to other networks, such as the network at your place of employment, network-borne malware on those remote networks or hackers lurking on devices connected to those networks can potentially attack your network and local devices as well. In some cases, similar risks may exist if you run applications that connect your computer to remote services, such as remote storage systems.
Your mobile devices
From an information security standpoint, mobile devices are inherently risky because
- they are constantly connected to the insecure Internet
- often have confidential information stored on them
- are used to communicate with many people and systems, both of which are groups that include parties who aren’t always trustworthy, via the Internet (which is also inherently not trustworthy)
- can receive inbound messages from parties with which you have never interacted prior to receiving the messages in question Often don’t run full-blown security software due to resource limitations
- can easily be lost, stolen, or accidentally damaged or destroyed
- connect to insecure and untrusted Wi-Fi networks
Your Gaming System
Gaming systems are computers and, like computers, can sometimes be exploited for various nefarious purposes in addition to game-specific mischief. If the devices contain software vulnerabilities, for example, they may be able to be hacked and commandeered, and software other than the gaming system can potentially be run on them.
Your Internet of Things (IoT) devices
From smartphones to security cameras, refrigerators to cars, and coffeemakers to exercise equipment, electronic devices of all types now have computers embedded within them, and many of these computers are perpetually connected to the Internet. The Internet of Things (IoT), as the ecosystem of connected devices is commonly known, has been growing exponentially over the past few years, yet the security of such devices is often inadequate. Many IoT devices do not contain adequate security technology to secure themselves against breaches. Even those that do are often not properly configured to be secure. Hackers can exploit IoT devices to spy on you, steal your data, hack or launch denial-of-service attacks against other devices, and inflict various other forms of damage.
Your networking equipment
Networking equipment can be hacked to route traffic to bogus sites, capture data, launch attacks, block Internet access, and so on.
Your work environment
You may have sensitive data in your work environment and you can be put at risk by colleagues at work as well.
Social engineering
Every person in your family and social circle poses risks to you as a source of information about you that can potentially be exploited for social engineering purposes.
Later sometime we will discuss risks and their remediation
Cybersecurityworld 