A story was recently shared with us about a college student and her experience in finding a job.  The student is in graphic design and has a portfolio. When she came across a well-known company that creates sports-branded gear that was hiring, it was something she decided to pursue.  She sent the company her portfolio electronically, and they set up an interview using a chat forum.  They asked a few questions and then asked her to fill out forms that were going to put her in the queue to begin receiving work from them.  She completed each one and recommended this to friends, who were all excited about this opportunity. Everything seemed normal until one of her friends paused when he was asked to give his social security number, address, date of birth, and banking information for payments rendered.

It's that alert on your desktop—the "upgrades available" indicator when you check your computer. Or when your smartphone tells you that it's going to update later while you're sleeping, and you defer it to another time. What if you miss an email or a text? You think to yourself; you don't need to do that update; your phone is working fine. Well, unfortunately, that thought is incorrect. You very much need that update.

It is October, and we have something other than a pumpkin spice latte to get excited about. October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Since there are thirty-one days in October, let’s take a look at thirty-one cybersecurity tips.

It is so easy to get comfortable when we’re not in the office. We often lose track of how to keep our data and that of our company’s safeguarded. Whether you are back in the office or still working from home, we all can benefit from a refresher course on safely working remotely. Let’s take a quick look at the “Do’s and Don’ts” of remote work.

This past week, Howard University had to cancel classes due to “unusual activity on the University’s network.” As a result, their Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) team shut down the school’s classes for the day to investigate the situation, which they identified as a ransomware attack. This ransomware attack brought to light the consideration of how deep and wide the net can be cast on any one entity. An incident like this forces us to pause and consider the range of data that could be compromised. A university or college is like a mini-city.

Recently, President Biden met with leaders in the private sector as well as those in education to discuss the need to address cybersecurity threats to the nation and efforts needed across the board. The increase in incidents and the ongoing threat of attack transcends all invisible borders that we put on humans or businesses. In other words, cybercriminals don’t care about your race, religion, income, or the industry that you work within. Data is valuable to them, and they will obtain it however is necessary. This meeting was held to unify efforts so that collectively we are fighting the battle against hackers with the hope of having a more significant impact. The outcome of the meeting was as follows…

We recently saw the mobile phone carrier T-Mobile fall victim to cybercriminal activity when a hacker accessed the personal data of their users. T-Mobile learned of the breach via claims that were made on an online forum. This breach led to an investigation and the hiring of cybersecurity experts to help with the situation. As a result of this breach, experts were hired at expert-level salaries to write press releases and create web pages with all the information users would need. Additionally, new customer service channels needed to be established to answer questions, and help with identity monitoring for all individuals affected, as well as much more.