Let’s speak Chinese, let’s talk Security in Technology
Everyone can agree in the past few years, technology is growing very fast, one would say almost as fast as bullet train! But how secure are we? I guess not too many people even think about this for a second when they go to buy a new smartphone (what to me is a dumb phone, but that is for another time…), a smart TV or even a PC (one of the ancient gadgets in today’s modern history).
Let’s face the reality, this is what every normal person would say, why bother asking about security when we don’t know where to start or even what is security and why should I bother asking myself these questions.
Every other day we hear about a service provider (email providers, forums …etc.) getting hacked although they invest a lot of money, time and have the expertise to try and ensure their systems are secure, no matter what we do their will be always a window for someone to try and sneak in to have a look at your personal data or even steal your data to abuse it, let me tell you about a very simple yet dangerous way of abusing your data, your email address book.
If a hacker gets hold of your email address book they can make a fortune selling it to spammers, who could for example send false emails using your email identity to people you know making them think it was you who sent this email, I’m sure each and everyone of our dear friends received an email from an email address they probably knew with a simple link and they decided to click on it, only to be redirected to an unwanted website.
To make a long story short, we should start thinking more and more about security, but you don’t have to get a degree to secure your information, start learning about basic security and things to be aware of, let’s start with a simple rule:
Never use the same password for EVERY website, try to create different passwords simple to remember but hard to guess, why should I use different passwords or what do you mean by simple to remember but hard to guess in plain simple English.
If a website gets hacked and your passwords have been compromised then all your accounts are accessible by the person who got hold of your password for a very simple reason: we tend to use the same user name and password for every account we create, this makes it easier for hacker to get access to all your accounts.
Now about the second part, simple password but hard to guess, lets say your name is Jack and you live in NYC your zip code is 123, you can combine these information to create a complicated password lets try “Nyc123J@ck” or “Nyc!2#J@cK” can you see how easy these two passwords are, you don’t have to use password generators to create complex passwords, think of simple stuff that you can remember yet hard for anyone to guess how did you write it down, never use your name or one of your siblings or any next of kin, these are the first one anyone would try to access your account.