In the last blog, we dealt with Security Habits. These are regular things you can do to make yourself secure.
If you like, these are the basics that you must manually go and do. However, what about the tools we have around us that we can use to support ourselves? This list is just that – tips and tools you can use every day to make you think about the way you work in a more secure way.
- Password Managers
- 2FA
- VPN
- Secure Screens
- Backup
- Cafe WiFi
- Help Others
Password Managers
Passwords are hard!
We know that all our passwords need to be long, strong, and unique, and yet we still have “Name of Something Significant”, “Year of Significance” and “a symbol” as our passwords:
Fido1982*
Then comes that glorious moment when you forget your passwords.
Passwords cause us anxiety
Get rid of the anxiety by letting something else take over your passwords for you. I use Bitwarden (others are available, but the free version is just fine for me!). Install it on all your browsers, devices, mobiles, tablets etc.
Uploaded all the passwords you think of into it (I was using Chrome to store them previously and Lastpass). I had over 800 passwords!! No way could they all be unique … and they were not!.
Steps to good password management:
- Choose a password manager you like the look of and is easy to use.
- Upload everything into it, the more you use it, the more you add
- For everything you use regularly, change the passwords to something long strong and unique – the password manager does that for you.
- Add these regular passwords to a folder in the manager called “Regular”
- For everything else, think … “do I need this anymore” and if not, delete the accounts and then remind yourself to go back and delete the password from your password manager in the future.
2FA
Make me unhackable (kind of!)
So, what happens if someone gets your password? They try it everywhere! Well, would you like to know if someone was trying to hack you? 2FA is you like is an easy way to see if someone is trying to log on as you. You don’t need to put 2FA on everything, despite what all the alpha-security people tell you! The critical ones are your social media, your email, your medical sites (if they have it!) and your financial stuff. For every site that holds something sensitive about you, put 2FA on.
What 2FA does is ask (when you access from a new machine or address) for an additional code. This may come as an SMS or from your authenticator – e.g., Google Authenticator. So if an attacker gets your password and is trying to log in, without your code, they can’t get in (or shouldn’t be able to). There are all sorts of security stuff here that I won’t bore you with like cloning SIM cards etc, but that’s a much different blog! For now, put 2FA on and it will reduce the likelihood of an attacker getting access.
VPN
No looky-looky
This is a bit overkill, but I am going to put it in here anyway, after all, this blog is about getting you to think about your security. A VPN creates a secret tunnel between you and the internet that no one else can see into. If you connect on a dodgy internet connection, then no one will see your internet browsing.
A VPN also has another benefit, some websites will not allow you access to them if you are in the wrong country. Well, some VPNs allow you to change the country you appear to be browsing the internet from! So this is about you thinking about where you are connecting to the internet and who can see what you are doing digitally from your internet connection.
Secure Screens
Do you see what I see!
Have you ever sat on a train, on a tram, the underground, and the person next to you has been doing something interesting on their phone? All the time! I get fascinated by the divorces, the affairs, the sales, I know, I know … I am that nosey guy!
But what can people see on your screen? If you were on a full London Underground carriage and you were emailing your friends, can someone over your shoulder see your Instagram account name? Your Snapchat iD? Your email address? Your phone number? It’s all a bit creepy – yeah. But this is the real world … people do this!
Watch your surroundings, who can see your screen, and what have you got on your screen? Can that private conversation wait?
Backup
I’ve lost it! Aaargh!
There is nothing worse than losing something, keys, marbles, or the kids. But what about your data? If your computer was to literally die right now, how much would you lose and would you know what you had lost?
Backups are there to rescue you from those “whoops” moments. They happen and probably more than you even realise.
There are hundreds of options available to you – the easiest is a bit like fake backups. Let me explain. A fake backup is basically cloud storage. A copy of your data does go to the cloud so that’s the backup in place – it’s in two separate places at once. However, the fake bit comes from the fact that if you delete something off your device it ‘can’ delete it from the cloud so you also can also lose it from both places. However, the ease of setting up Google Drive, Apple Cloud or Microsoft OneDrive really means there is no excuse for your critical stuff not to be protected by online backups.
Cafe WiFi
Free WiFi for all
We live in an age where connectivity is key. If you are not on 5G then you seemingly are hunting for the next best thing … free WiFi. But as with everything, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. If you go to a cafe, pub, restaurant, shared office space, the tube, the train … do you know who else is on that internet connection with you? Do you know what they are doing? Are you connected to the right one?
There are just too many questions about unknown WiFi access points that just add up to a bad security picture. As a result, you need to think about how you are connected to the internet. The answer is a VPN, that way no one can see your traffic, but remember, this blog is about changing your culture, changing you and the way you approach things. So, think about it. If you are in a cafe with friends, do you really need WiFi? Do you really need to be THAT person on your phone when out with your friends? Put the device is away securely in your pocket or bag. You can’t be hacked on a dodgy WiFi point if you are not connected to it!
Try the cafe game here: LINK
Help Others
With a little help from my friend
By the end of these two blogs, you now have some good methods to be on top of your security as well as some tools and tips to make you think about. But that’s you. You also may have picked up your own tips and tools along the way. Now it’s time t share them. I do a lot of IT support for my family and friends; I teach them at every interaction with their device to think. Now it’s over to you the reader. Go and talk to your family, the ones that are worried about hackers, the ones who are the opposite and don’t see the issue with over-sharing on social media, the ones that you know all their passwords – in business, we call it passing it down the line. Teach them to be aware and to then tell their friends too.
Summary
These two blogs are about changing you as an individual. As we start this year with new security habits, investigating better ways to work, we learn new ways of working safely and securely. Feel free to go and speak to your own security department at work about any questions, see if they can help you with tools you use in your business and if they are not doing something, maybe suggesting they do. Find your Security Awareness person and maybe pass down the line your journey with the wider company with the tips and tricks that you took out of this blog!
It’s your data that you put into these devices in apps that you choose to use, therefore, keep control of that data and don’t let the criminals get access to it.
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