Ever wonder what steps the people who work in the IT security industry take to protect their computer networks? I did, so I asked a few for their favorite tips or nuggets of advice.
From Roger Thompson, chief research officer at AVG Technologies:
- Have multiple passwords, write them down, and store them in your wallet or in a password manager. At least if you lose your wallet, you know you have to cancel all your credit cards, and change your passwords.
- “Think before you link.” In other words, think about it before you click that link.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it is probably not true. No one wants to send you $5 million. You are not the millionth visitor to the website. You are not a winner (I have to tell my kids that all the time, which might make me a bad parent.) And the Pretty Russian Girl who wants to be your friend is probably not pretty and not even a girl. She doesn’t want to be your friend … she wants your money.
From Phil Lieberman, president and CEO of Lieberman Software:
- Enterprises should ask the right questions of their cloud providers before taking the leap into cloud and blindly assuming that their data is safe there.
From Victor DeMarines, vice president of products, V.i. Labs:
- Software piracy is a global issue that has a direct impact on the bottom lines for ISVs. Companies all over the world are using unlicensed software for their own financial gain, much to the detriment of software vendors, who lose out on millions in stolen software and licenses each year. Software vendors need to know that there are ways for them to recover the lost revenue and protect their software intellectual property.
From Novell:
- Encryption of data. Though it is important for companies to protect their data from outsiders, it is also important to protect it inside the network.
- Controlling who has access to what. It is extremely important for companies to have the ability to control what employees have access to, verify it, and make changes in real time.
- Reporting. Once companies have implemented technologies to help meet compliance regulations, they will need to prove it. Technology that allows you to create specific and cutomized reports will be an easy way for businesses to maintain compliance.
- Protecting end points. According to a recent Ponemon study, 50 percent of recent data breaches were due to lost or stolen equipment. Businesses need to protect all sources of data, including laptops, smartphones, USB drives and mp3 players.
