Recently I had the privilege to attend an eye-opening presentation by Mike Foster on data protection and empowering Executives to be IT security savvy. An expert in IT Security, Mr. Foster and his team can pinpoint and secure vulnerabilities in your network. While most of us are vaguely aware of the dark side of the Internet/hacking world, many pay no mind to it … until it’s too late and we are attacked or our data has been compromised. In today’s Wi-Fi world, it may be near impossible to be completely secure. Your network may seem secure, but what about every firm or entity that you connect to/connects to you? Target and its consumers learned this lesson the hard way last year.

Oftentimes ease of use trumps security; sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to jump through hurdles to keep things secure. Mr. Foster agrees in choosing ease of use, however, he outlined simple things that each of us (or your friendly IT person) can do to plug some vulnerability and decrease your chances of being attacked:

— Keep OSX up to date and fully patched — Run critical security patches on apps such as Java, Adobe, MS Office products — App Whitelisting – approving only certain applications for use on your network — Classifying user accounts as Local Users instead of Local Admins — Using passphrases in lieu of passwords – the longer the better – sentences are good

While none of the above will prevent you from being attacked, it may discourage a slacker hacker looking for a quick bite.

Source: Mr. Foster is head of The Foster Institute, he is a Certified Ethical Hacker, Certified IS Auditor, Certified IT Pro and the author of The Secure CEO – How To Protect Your Computer Systems, Your Company, and Your Job. More information on Mike Foster and his expertise can be found at http://www.FosterInstitute.com

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