Cybersecurity: These simple steps can close the digital door on hackers

Photo courtesy DepositPhotos

Personal accounts can be a gateway for business cyberhackers. Forward-thinking businesses, however, will not leave the door open for them.

The number of small business data breaches continues to grow and highlights the way cybercriminals can use LinkedIn and other social media profiles as a gateway into businesses, gaining unauthorized access to megabytes of sensitive data. To minimize the risk, business owners should work with their Cyber Security services provider to secure business and personal accounts from hackers.

Mark Zuckerberg found this out the hard way a few years back when a reported LinkedIn hack led to the exposure of a slew of accounts belonging to the Facebook (Meta) CEO. Despite his presumed savvy — after all, he is the world’s No. 1 social media magnate — Zuckerberg reportedly committed a series of fatal errors, including using an easy-to-crack password (dadada) on multiple accounts.

 

Easily guessed passwords can be dangerous

Otherwise-knowledgeable users often do not want to memorize lengthy sign-in codes, and instead seek shortcuts, like using common words, or the same password for more than one account. But hackers are getting more sophisticated —the NSA, FBI, and other security agencies have noted that the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate’s Russian (GRU’s) Main Center for Special Technologies released new malware targeting Americans and other users — so that is a dangerous practice.

But securing accounts does not have to be complicated. One basic, yet effective measure is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). MFA requires at least two independent factors to log into an account. One factor may be a (secure) password, and the second could be a one-time passcode sent to the user’s mobile phone. This way, the account will be safe even if one factor is stolen.

Increasing the length of the initial password or PIN (Personal Identification Number) is another move. Shockingly, 7777 is one of the most common and easily guessed PINs. Since all devices support PINs longer than four digits, adding a few more numbers can make a big difference because of the math involved in guessing them. While…