- There is a hacker attack every 39 seconds https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/87787-hackers-attack-every-39-seconds
- Over 75% of healthcare industry has been infected with malware over last year https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/report-reveals-healthcare-industry-lacking-in-basic-security-awareness-among-staff-putting-entire-medical-infrastructure-at-risk-300352485.html
- 95% of cybersecurity breaches are due to human error https://www.cybintsolutions.com/employee-education-reduces-risk
- In 2018 hackers stole half a billion personal records https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/you-ve-been-breached-hackers-stole-nearly-half-billion-personal-n966496
- Phishing, ransomware and crypto jacking are the 2019 most significant cybersecurity threats – https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/top-cyber-security-threats
Passwords
§ 164.308(a)(5)(ii)(D)
United Services Automobile Association (USAA) sent an email to their clients regarding cyber security and cyber defense tools. In this email USAA identified the importance of passwords by writing: “A password is the first line of defense against cybercriminals.”
USAA provided additional advice in their email in the form of security recommendations to their customers. First, they consider that everyone should be part of their rescue and learn to protect their information. Specific steps to protect individual’s information include:
- Fraudsters pose as credible companies “phishing” for your information. Most companies will never call to ask for your logon information. Verify callers before providing any information.
- Using email and text, fraudsters impersonate companies to get consumers to click links and provide personal information. Report suspicious emails or texts.
- Don’t fall for holiday scams luring you into making extra money or deals that seem too good to be true. Employment scams
The bottomline is that you can defend yourself by having a strong password and limiting access to this password and any of your personal information. Strong passwords have a mixture of letters (uppercase and lowercase), numbers and characters. Avoid using common names or words that could be identified in a dictionary. Lastly, use a minimum of eight (8) characters.