While nothing is fail safe or foolproof against cyber crime there are steps that can be taken to minimize damage. Not just professionally, but personally. I have met many people who say they are not tech savvy, yet can navigate and manipulate Facebook like a ninja! If you understand the intricacies of FB – you can handle anything!
It may help to visualise your online identity/email address as a physical location, just like your physical home. When you go out there is no way you would leave it unlocked. Some of us have several doors with several different keys, some have one master key or digital locks, some of us have patio locks and window locks, house alarms and never leave doors unlocked even when at home, whereas some of us are far more chill and relaxed with security.
Anyone who has been burgled will know that when our security is breached it leaves us feeling violated and insecure.
Risk factors:
- Ignorance / resistance to change
- Lack of motivation to learn
- Poor digital footprint awareness
- Password compromise
- Malware/spyware/scams (phishing/whaling etc.)
- Identity theft
- Device loss/theft
Possible Solutions:
Change your attitude and your outlook will follow!
Use a password protocol
Never use the same password twice. Wait, WHAT!!?
To mitigate forgetting multiple passwords try this – think of a sentence that is easy to remember (it may be a truism or wishful thinking), for example,
“they always say that ignorance is bliss.”
Now take the first letter of each word, substitute any letter that can be substituted with a ‘number’ or ‘special’ character ie. ‘to’ = 2, i = ! and turn it into a ‘password phrase’. (Now your password will always pass the test that many sites have of having capitals and special characters)
“they @lways say that !gnorance is bliss” = t@st!ib. This is your ‘foundation’ phrase for your passwords.
For each website visited use this phrase but wrap it around with the capitalised first and last letter of each website’s name eg. when logging into Google, your new password would be Gt@st!ibE for Amazon your password might be At@st!ibN etc. It changes for each site, but stays the same! Damage is minimised, even if someone hacks one password they will never be able to use it anywhere else.
Use a password manager
Use a secure password manager like Lastpass (free) – DO NOT allow built in google or browsers to ‘remember’ your passwords. Convenient? Yes. Safe? No.
Consider Two Factor Authentication (2FA) on your Google/Microsoft account and others like XERO – download the Google Authenticator and/or the Microsoft Authenticator app. Note – your Google account must be set-up for 2FA. If you’re not sure, navigate to your google account (top right profile pic) – follow the onscreen instructions …
Always Logout of internet sessions – clicking the “X” just closes the tab, in most cases your session is still “live”.
Always use a lock code or password for your device(s) and make sure “Find my phone” and/or other software features are turned on. Prey is an incredibly useful app, it takes a photo of anyone who fails 3 login attempts on any device you have Prey installed on and emails you the photo.
Use your own instance of Chrome – check history on a semi regular basis
Always check who an email is from, especially if the syntax and grammar, or anything else, seems ‘off’… especially if the email address is not displayed as part of the text and involves requests for information or payment demands …
Check who has access to your account in Gmail (found bottom right corner)
Taking 5-10 minutes of setting up protocols can save hours of heartache, worry and time!
To catch a thief – true story bro!!!
#Cybermumfightsback #youmessedwiththewrongmumma #yougoingdownpunk!
We have been burgled twice during our marriage. The first time was before children – 19 or so years ago, the second in 2016. The below table shows the differences between the two …
| Burglary #1 2000 | Burglary #2 2016 |
| House was entered through high laundry window left open to vent the dryer from backyard The house was trashed, it was a rush job, drawers upended and contents strewn everywhere. I entered the house as they ran out another door. Taken: Food from the fridge Condoms and cash. The only portable device – our “ghetto blaster” a double tape deck. Limited jewellery and other personal items There wasn’t much the Police could do – they fingerprinted everywhere, but … I think we had to change bank cards etc … Insurance was a nightmare as we didn’t have receipts or many photos of objects for proof of ownership or serial numbers … Once insurance paid out we replaced everything, kept our receipts & recorded serial numbers (or at least took photos of possessions) | House entered through the back door that the teenagers had kindly left a key in! It was a stealth job. We didn’t notice anyone had been inside for several hours, the first sign was when our sons friend couldn’t find his bike, he stashed it at ours to ‘keep it safe’ during school hours – we thought that was all that had been taken … then we looked properly … Taken: PS3 + games 2 Laptops 1 tablet 2 phones 1 very expensive bike Husband’s recording headphones (professional musician)Jewellery and possibly some cash Cardboard box to stash everything in. The Police were great to deal with but very slow and again not very hopeful … We had to get the locks changed I spent every night of the week trying to remember online accounts and changing passwords for everything. It was onerous and very time consuming – not to mention worrying Insurance was much easier to deal with as we had learnt from our first experience. We had receipts, photos and serial numbers – they can’t argue with that! Once insurance paid out we replaced everything, kept our receipts & recorded serial numbers (or at least took photos of them). Again. |
The outcome:
Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for our burglar, we had our Netflix account logged in on the PS3. He was stupid enough to use it. When looking at all of our internet history through Google etc I thought to check our Netflix history. I discovered that not only does Netflix record all viewing history, it also records which IP address accessed the account. Boom! I had an IP address to give to the Police. We still had to wait 6 weeks while they got a search warrant and physical address from the IP provider. But they got him. But not our stuff …
… it had been sold on Facebook Marketplace (where there isn’t any accountability for buyers and sellers, just sayin’). Well, at least there was some justice, we caught him and had our insurance payout. But it was small comfort for the invasion, loss of property and inconvenience!