Over the past few weeks, there has been an increase in the number of reported cyber crime related incidents, impacting major corporations and conglomerates such as Massy. Akash Samaroo from Guardian Media Limited spoke with CyberSafeTT on the matter and subsequently published this article.
There were some key takeaways that weren’t mentioned so I will outline below.
1. Install and keep updated Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware software – purchased options preferred. MacOS isn’t immune, consider Sophos as an option.
2. Use strong passwords and wherever possible, set up 2 Factor Authentication. Accept that 2FA may become the norm so get used to it at home and the office.
3. As convenient as it may be, don’t register your CC with small providers. User PayPal if that’s an option or even have a separate lower limit CC for online shopping and freight forwarders.
4. Pirated Software can be a doorway to malware and ransomeware so for other than obvious reasons, it’s not a good idea to install
5. Email Phishing attacks are on the rise and extremely sophisticated so take extra caution when acting on some emails. Don’t change passwords from links sent via email, instead, login to the site directly and update your info there.
6. Backup and test restore strategy. Cloud backups are good but keep an offline backup of your most important files ie not always connected to the internet so an external drive which you can unplug. Ransomeware can and will find everything connected and encrypt it all.
7. CyberSafety awareness is a must for both home and workplace. CyberSafeTT can assist here.
At some point, you or your organization may become the victim of a cyber attack, be it ransomeware or otherwise. The most you can do is try to minimize the impact and reduce your time to recovery.
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