Every business has its own set of confidential information
that needs to be protected. The nature of the information is organisation
specific. If this information were to be accessed by unauthorized personnel,
the business may lose its trade secrets and therefore money, business may
physically lose money from their bank accounts, client information may be
exposed to competitors leading to loss of clients, and employees could be
blackmailed with the information obtained. This will not only have devastating
effects on the business but also on the lives of employees and clients.
Identity theft is also common when confidential information is
revealed to the wrong. Your identity may be used in compromising situations
such as committing fraud and other types of crimes. This will affect your
integrity in the society and may lead to loss of credibility. Your credit score
may be affected limiting your opportunities to access capital or loans in
future. This can be avoided with good cyber security practices.
Protecting client information
In some professions such as law and medicine, the
information obtained from the client is confidential and exposing such
information may lead to legal trouble. Therefore, lawyers and practitioners in
the medical field need to ensure that information is protected from hackers and
phishers. In other professions, although it may not be stipulated by law, you still
owe your clients a duty of care but the illegality of such actions will depend
on the specific contract with clients as well as the consequences of the loss
of data.
Passwords
The first step is to ensure that all your passwords are
complex and very hard to compromise. This can be done through mixing letters,
numbers and symbols. Avoid using the same password for all your accounts as
this means that anyone who knows one of your passwords can easily get access to
all your other accounts. You should not share your passwords with anyone and
whenever you suspect that your password has been compromised, promptly change
it. To prevent access to your accounts, ensure that you log out every time
especially when using public computers.
Avoid suspicious links
Sometimes, hackers may lure your attention through emails
and other sites. As such, you are required to avoid following links that you
may not be sure about. Always inspect links before you open them to ensure that
they are legitimate. Avoid links sent to you by suspicious individuals or email
accounts that have been flagged.
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