Hackers and your online privacy
When you think of your privacy, you’re probably thinking that you don’t want your private Facebook messages floating around the web, and you don’t want your credit card information given away, but are you really aware of how sophisticated hackers have become? Sure, the 1995 flick, Hackers glorified the genius of hacking, but 20 years later, people voluntarily offer their private information without being aware, so what is an individual or business to do?
We sat down with PwnedList President and Co-Founder, Steve Thomas to ask what is new in the hacking world, because let’s be honest, he is one of the few people that is consistently tapped into the community and is extremely well versed in modern tactics. His company was recently acquired by identity protection company, InfoArmor, and they’re constantly monitoring for stolen credentials and helping people to protect themselves from identity theft.
It isn’t as uncommon as you may think – almost every single person on staff here at The American Genius has had their identity stolen at some point.
So what’s new in the hacker world?
In the video above, Steve tells us about a newer attack called the watering hole attack, website defacement, data leaks, ransomware, malware, and more.
What we learned, besides the fact that we should be scared, is that we can all take action to better protect our passwords, and not by simply making them more complex with characters, but by not reusing them, and by actually implementing a password manager that generates extremely complex passwords, remembers them for you, and changes them frequently. Steve mentioned LastPass, and others asserted that they are using 1Password, but no matter the tool, he urges to immediately safeguard yourself.
Remember, 123456789 is not an appropriate password. Here are the worst passwords of the last year:
