Sometimes explaining digital risk and cybersecurity takes imagination. For me, metaphors and analogies abound. Here's another one; think of advanced cybersecurity systems as gates operated by really smart, super-informed gatekeepers that never complain, take a day off or ask for a raise.
With smart-gates, when you are on the internet, the gatekeeper determines who and what is legit and gets in or is turned away. It's the job of the gatekeeper to examine all your internet traffic and email to keep you and your stuff safe.
Cybercrime is a $6 trillion problem, and it's why we say:
The internet's democratizing effect is driving cyber risk to every last individual and device connected to the network. All the way to the last capillary of the internet, in the Digital Age, change and risk reside in our own hands.
Advanced cybersecurity technology works like a smart-gate between the outside and your devices and networks. The gates are continually informed to adapt, evolve, and work 24/7/365 to face the future ready for the massive changes ahead.
The smart-gate technology does it all in real-time, seamlessly for the user, and as our customers know; it works exceedingly well.
So, speaking of gates, did you know your browser is like an open "barn door" to the outside? Well, it is, and cybercriminal barbarians around the world just love a leaky browser.
An unprotected browser lets them saunter their way in unnoticed, do as they please, and perpetrate their exploits with minimal fuss.
We use and recommend Firefox as the default browser.
Be sure to scroll below for Firefox's:
And, as an added bonus and consistent with our best-in-class providers, Firefox has a partnership with ExpressVPN - our top-recommendation for VPNs. See tiles below for more on the planet's best VPN.
Finally, it's also hard to resist piling on the Marriott story - the one about the half-billion personal records stolen under management's apathetic eyes for over four years.
After all, the Marriott breach is the biggest ever since Yahoo's 3.5 billion users were hacked in 2016 and 2017.
Here's the chart using the companies' own data:
And, as long as my resistance level is low as I write this today, if you are still using Yahoo email you are either:
For some clarity in the face of massive incompetence at Marriott, we go to our guru Krebs for the real skinny:
"... anytime we see such a colossal intrusion go undetected for so long, the ultimate cause is usually a failure to adopt the most important principle in cybersecurity defense that applies to both corporations and consumers: Assume you are compromised." Krebs on Security, December 1st, 2018, read more.
In a nutshell, Krebs says, assume you are compromised and are, or will be, a target.
The Marriott breach is the headline of the day. But the revelation demonstrates with a bang, again:
And this, folks, is the only sane way to approach the coming years and the first innings for civilization in the new Digital Age.
PS - The 2018 hot season has been coined the "Summer of Scam" by notables ranging from the New Yorker to Marie Claire magazine. Read more here.