It is simply no longer safe to put the security of your systems down to chance. This week. The National Lottery was the latest victim of cyber-thieves. Up 26,500 lottery players were emailed by the Lotto firm to inform them that their accounts had been compromised. It is believed that rather than directly hacking the National Lottery system, hackers used player login details that had been stolen elsewhere – where users had reused the same login details and passwords on multiple sites.
Protecting Customer Data is Your Responsibility
The Information Commissioner’s Office has opened an investigation, saying: “Camelot submitted a breach report to us last night which we have reviewed. The Data Protection Act requires organisations to do all they can to keep personal data secure – that includes protecting it from cyber-attacks. Where we find this has not happened, we can take action. Organisations should be reminded that cyber-security is a matter for the boardroom, not just the IT department.”
Why You Should Not Reuse Passwords
This hack acts as a reminder that you should always follow some basic password security advice. When passwords are shared between sites, or work and home computers then it increases the risk of a hacker obtaining security details, and trying them on other sites. This could put data at risk and cost you in terms of money, reputation and even potentially a fine from the Information Commissioner.
Password Security Best Practice
You must make sure to use a different password on every site and computer, and to change them all on a regular basis. You should not reuse the same password for multiple websites or computers, as if any one of them is compromised then it will could put all the rest of your data at significant risk. You also should not write down your passwords where someone else could see them.
Security experts recommend that you use a password manager program to store randomised passwords that are unique for each site, so you can use a single password within your web browser but the program generates a random one that is sent to the website itself. This combines ease of remembering passwords with higher security.
Do not use passwords that can easily be guessed – such as names, dates of birth or place names
Avoid words that are in the dictionary, try using pneumonics (e.g. the first letters of a phrase) or replacing letters with numbers
Never share your password with anyone -for any reason
Make sure your passwords are at least ten characters in length
Use at least one uppercase character and a symbol in each password
Digitalquill – Information Security Experts
Digitalquill are experts in information security. We can help you to use hardware, software and policy in harmony, to keep your systems safe. Most data breaches are down to human error, so we will work alongside you to ensure that your IT policies are right and that they are being strictly followed.
Low cost Security Businesses
As well as helping your business with physical security and policy, we are authorised resellers of AVG Antivirus, which is one of the leading antivirus programs. AVG’s always-on protection helps keep your system free from viruses, spyware, ransomware, rootkits, Trojans, and malware – such as the keyloggers that hackers might use to steal login details from users.
Low cost Virus Protection for Businesses
Our fully managed cloud based virus protection service starts at just £0.95 per month per user (when you buy 50 or more 2 year contracts). If you have already been hit by a ransomware attack then we can clean your system, and make sure that a backup regime is in place to protect your data.
If you need advice on how to keep your business data safe from hackers then call Digitalquill today on 01482 424402, email support@digitalquill.co.uk or visit www.digitalquill.co.uk for more information.
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