Bites
For the busy executive that doesn’t have time to read lengthy articles but wants to stay on top of Cybersecurity strategies and thought leadership, Family-Driven Awareness Inc. proudly introduces our easily digestible bites of Cybersecurity knowledge. If you like what you see, please keep checking for new updates.
Lessons learned from Uber
Those of us even remotely familiar with cybersecurity strategies understand that it’s not about making sure you are never breached but rather knowing how to detect and respond in the best way possible. When a breach or cyber incident occurs – an organization can face serious ramifications for failing to be transparent about what happened. In November 2016, Uber found out that hackers downloaded the personal information of 57 million riders and drivers. In an attempt to avoid brand damage Uber paid the hackers $100,000 to keep it secret. In 2017, Uber’s hush money payment was discovered during an investigation from a completely separate issue, the breach than went public and the company recently settled with all 50 states and Washington, D.C. for a $148 million. For years it has been crucial to be breach ready, especially now with the upcoming Pipeda changes taking effect on November 1st. In this day and age there is a right and wrong way to respond to a breach and the wrong way is very expensive!
A Digital World
It’s hard to deny that we live in a digital world. From doing business to socializing and pretty much everything in-between, we share information in the form of digital content. That information gets bought, sold and traded everyday. In the digital world we live in, information is the new currency. And of-course that currency needs to be protected. Good cybersecurity hygiene is not just for organizations, not just for governments but for individuals everywhere. In a connected world, we each have a responsibility to protect ourselves and the people we interact with, and it all starts with understanding cybersecurity. There is no better time than now to increase your knowledge on cybersecurity.
Toronto Police
On behalf of the InfosecTO board, a special thank you to all the businesses that came out to help us support security awareness in our community, a thank you to the Toronto Police for your support in this very important initiative of spreading cybersecurity awareness.
New World, New Troubles
As we embrace a digital world, we need to understand that even with a proactive approach to cybersecurity breaches are still going to happen.
- Japan’s Mt. Gox was hacked in 2014 and 650,000 bitcoins were stolen. Today, they are worth about $9.4 billion dollars.
- Bitfinex, a Hong Kong-based exchange, was hacked in August 2016. About $70 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen, today worth $1.7 billion.
- Cryptsy was hacked in July 2017 and 11,325 bitcoins were stolen, today worth over $100 million.
- Kraken was also hacked in July 2017, leading to a loss of about $5 million.
- Tether was hacked in November 2017 with cryptocurrency stolen worth over $31 million dollars.
- Nicehash was hacked in December 2017 and about 4,700 bitcoins were stolen, worth about $68 million.
- Coincheck, the self proclaimed “leading cryptocurrency exchange in Asia”, was hacked in January 2018 in the biggest heist to date, losing $530 million of users’ cryptocurrency.
- BitGrail was hacked most recently in February 2018, with the stolen cryptocurrency valuing $170 million dollars.
When it comes to cybersecurity being proactive with a plan is essential but understanding how to react when things don’t go according to plan is equally important. What is your response plan?
Email Safety
Email is such an important part of our community, business and even culture. So much so that over 200 billion emails are sent a day. (According to Radicati Group). So it’s no wonder that email is such a big gateway for hackers. Most ransomware, phishing attacks and malware are delivered via email. The best way to protect yourself and your loved ones is to stay informed and to spread the awareness.
The Human Factor
When it comes to cybersecurity, despite the clear vulnerabilities that the human factor creates for businesses, recent research has shown that less than 50 percent of companies make security training mandatory for their employees.