Step one: Stop counting on others to protect you
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Cybersecurity people like to say that there are two types of organizations—those that have been hit and those that do not know it yet. Recent headlines should prove that this joke is largely true. Cybercriminals stole the credit-card information and personal data of millions of people from companies that included Target, Home Depot and JPMorgan Chase. Security researchers discovered fundamental flaws in Internet building blocks, such as the so-called Heartbleed vulnerability in the popular OpenSSL cryptographic software library. A massive data-destruction attack sent Sony Pictures Entertainment back to using pen and paper. Criminals accessed the data of more than 80 million customers of health insurance giant Anthem. And these are just the incidents we know about.
In the coming years, cyberattacks will almost certainly intensify, and that is a problem for all of us. Now that everyone is connected in some way to cyberspace—through our phones, our laptops, our corporate networks—we are all vulnerable. Hacked networks, servers, personal computers and online accounts are a basic resource for cybercriminals and government snoops alike. Your corporate network or personal gaming PC can easily become another tool in the arsenal of criminals—or taxpayer-sponsored cyberspies. Compromised computers can be used as stepping-stones for the next attack or become part of a “botnet,” a malicious network of controlled zombie devices rented out by the hour to launch denial-of-service attacks or distribute spam.
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