By and large, the media tells pretty lies to you to create ideas (called tropes) they can use to sell stories. For example, hacking is a superpower and computers are magic. Turn on earlier seasons of NCIS and you’ll see Penelope do things with a computer network with ease that hackers generally can’t do. Crack open a Stieg Larsson book (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and follow as a hacker collective infiltrates into the back end of a government organization like it’s any other website. You’d think that cybersecurity was a lost cause.
The reality is different.
Hackers are mostly socially-awkward basement-dwelling bottom feeders scavenging for low-hanging fruit. There’s no magic involved—just some knowledge of coding language and a zen to be the smartest guy in the room—for the least possible effort.
Unfortunately, that involves fleecing the uninformed like any other two-bit con artist.
Sadly, cybersecurity threats are increasing, too, as 43% of cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses due to the lack of security infrastructure. The damages cyber-crimes create for a business have no end, and it is estimated businesses will incur more than $6 Trillion annually by 2021. The best way a business can combat being another statistic is through employee education and security protocols.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that people lost $30 million to phishing schemes in one year.
The best defense for online scams and frauds is to be skeptical and use your brain:
- You should only open email from trusted senders and use spam filters or anti-spam software (some anti-spam software is available online free of charge, such as Spamfence).
- Verify any request for your personal information online before responding. For example, no reputable financial institution will ever ask you for highly personal information via email: to find out if a request is legitimate, call your bank or navigate to their website (do not follow links in an email claiming to be from a bank or credit card company).
- Don’t give out personally identifiable information (your full name, your age, your address, your social insurance number, etc.) without a good reason.
- Turn any device that uses the Internet to offline mode when they are not in use (most mobile devices have an “Airplane mode” that turns off their Internet functions).
- You can also help to minimize your risk by visiting only trusted sites.
The legal profession represents another potential target for opportunistic hackers.
“Confidential data in computers and information systems, including those used by attorneys and law firms, faces greater security threats today than ever before-and they continue to grow! Security breaches are becoming so prevalent that there is a new mantra in cybersecurity today: “It’s when not if,” a law firm or other entity will suffer a breach,” according to David Ries, a well-known lawyer and cybersecurity author.
And that’s why Identillect Technologies (ID.C) was selected by the Maricopa County Bar Association (MCBA) as the preferred solution provider for bar members to help meet regulatory requirements and protect sensitive communications. Maricopa joins 13 other State and bar associations across the United States.
Identillect Technologies uses their Delivery Trust e-mail encryption service to protect their client’s critical information against cyber-security attacks. The Delivery Trust service is a multi-platform plug-in, which offers users complete control of their e-mails.
Delivery Trust leverages blockchain technology to provide administrative controls, single sign on capabilities (SSO) multi-factor authentication. Multi-factory reduces the ability and the probability that a user’s identity will be compromised, and provides advanced protections for both the sender and receiver of e-mails.
“Our goal is to continually advance education for our members while providing the latest technologies. The bar has partnered with Identillect to provide cyber-security products and education to advance the technology available to our members,” said Paul McIlroy, Director of Development for the MCBA.
For the average netizen, though, the song remains the same. Be smart and be aware, and don’t click on any bad links.
—Joseph Morton