How Safe Am I...Really?

Katherina Yavela, Digital Marketing Manager

You've opened your work device and begun your day. You've unlocked your smartphone for a quick social media break. Don't forget your Google search on your personal laptop for Christmas shopping and gift ideas. The countless times we use the Internet daily adds up, and each time, we share more of our information. Whether it’s allowing for our location to be shared, online shopping, or filling out a form, we open ourselves up to potential cyber security attacks (i.e. phishing) and data leakage. So, this begs the question: how safe am I…really?

Good Question, Tough Answer

Prepare yourself, you won’t like the answer. The truth is that we’re never truly 100% safe each time we visit the Internet. Now, does this mean that we shouldn’t be going online as much as we are? Not at all. While you may not necessarily be hacked each time you visit the Internet, it’s highly likely your personal information is stamped in cyberspace. So…what about the promise of online anonymity then? Sadly, this too is more of a myth than fact. According to a study earlier last year, two students at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences discovered just how easy it is to find and exploit people’s information that had previously been leaked or involved in a company data breach.

Another point to be made is algorithms. As secure and calculated as they should be, they’re far from always unbiased. Algorithm bias is exactly as it sounds: systematical mistakes that cause unfair results for groups of people. A recent example of this has been YouTube’s poor recommendations engine, as it failed to block violent and crude content on its children’s channel.

So, truthfully, where do we go from here? The answer is simple: If you don’t already, take cybersecurity seriously. You’ve heard it countless times, but the reality is, if you individually revise your online practices and searches to a more secure level, you’ll already be making the Internet a safer place – for yourself and for the rest of us. From implementing MFA (multi-factor authentication) and creating passphrases in place of complicated passwords you vaguely remember, to enabling automatic software updates and complying with your BYOD policy, these are just some of the small (but huge in effect) best practices all of us must take on. So, as you work through these revisions, hopefully, you won't have to question your Internet safety!

How Can VC3 Help?

If you’d like to learn more about cybersecurity for SMBs or you simply need help in determining what are the optimal protection services for you, VC3 is here to help!