Safeguarding
Your Personal Data
You probably remember that in October 2016,
hackers stole the personal data of 57 million customers and drivers from Uber.
To make matters worse, the massive breach was
concealed by the company for more than a year.
However, the ride-sharing company ousted their
chief security officer and one of his deputies for their roles in keeping the
hack under wraps.
The compromised data from the cyber attack
included names, email addresses and phone numbers of 50 million Uber riders
around the world.
In addition, the personal information of about
7 million drivers was accessed as well, including some 600,000 U.S. driver’s
license numbers.
The way the cyber-attack worked was, two
attackers accessed a private GitHub coding site used by Uber software engineers
and then used login credentials they obtained to access data stored on an
Amazon Web Services account.
From there, the hackers discovered an archive
of rider and driver information. Later, they emailed Uber asking for money.
At the time of the incident, Uber was negotiating
with U.S. regulators investigating separate claims of privacy violations.
The problem is, after the cyber-attack, the
company paid the hackers to delete the data and keep the breach quiet.
In fact, the company paid the hackers $100,000
and had them sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep the hack under wraps.
According to current Uber CEO Dara
Khosrowshahi, “None of this should have happened, and I will not make
excuses for it.”
The fact is, Uber was hacked by cyber
criminals and the company turned around and paid the criminals to stay quiet
and delete the stolen records.
To make that clear, Uber leadership thought
they could trust two criminals who hacked into the company.
Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and say the
same criminals who hacked into the Uber database probably didn’t really delete
the records, but used a secure way to back up the data.
My point is, if these hackers are smart enough
to hack Uber, they are smart enough to keep the records secure.
Now hopefully, you’re not a hacker and you
don’t need to backup anything illegal.
But, you and I still need to protect ourselves
by backing up our data in case hackers try to hold it hostage via something
like Ransomware.
With that being said, here are the best ways
to back up your data since this is something you should be doing on a regular
basis. (Monthly at least, but more often, hopefully.)
USB stick. Using a USB drive is going to be your
cheapest and most convenient option. USB sticks are everywhere, and their
portability means that they’re easy to store and take wherever you need to use
them.
The only drawback is that they are easily lost
and they are limited on the about of data they can store. If you do use a USB
drive, make sure that it is encrypted.
External hard drive. External hard drives are portable, easy
to use, and can provide a large amount of storage.
In other words, most external hard drives
provide a larger amount of storage compared to USB drives.
Another advantage of using an external drive
is that you can move them from computer to computer, making them great for
sharing large files.
Because of their large storage capacities,
external hard drives are often used to store backed up files.
With that being said, external hard drives can
fail, so if using them for a back up you may want to save critical documents on
two different external hard drives.
I would check out the My Passport hard drive.
Network Attached Storage. These days, most businesses tend to
backup their files to network attached storage, but with more and more homes
having multiple computers, this trend is growing for homeowners.
Basically, anyone using the same internet
network can access the attached network storage to back up their files.
The best part is it can be set up to
automatically back up, so you don’t risk losing information if you forget to
back up the system.
The network attached storage is going to be
the most expensive option. I would look into storage devices made by Asustor,
which start around $350.
Cloud storage. While network attached storage is
essentially your own Cloud Server, there are plenty of third-party cloud
storage options around. Many are free, paid, or free with paid extras.
When it comes to cloud storage iCloud,
Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive are big names, but others are available.
The best part of cloud storage is that you can
access your data anywhere as long as you have internet access.
In addition, you can usually pay for as little
or as much storage as you need, since pricing is usually tiered.
The only drawback to cloud storage is that you
are trusting a third-party to keep your information secure.
The reality is, it makes sense to back up your
data in case your laptop is stolen or your hard drive fails...
But, it also means that you have more options
for recovery should your computer become infected with a virus or hijacked by
cyber criminals.
The world’s economy
has stalled due to the global pandemic and the government putting everyone on
lockdown.
History
proves that when that happens, criminal masterminds will invent new ways to
profit off of a disaster, harming the very people that need help the most.
That’s
why you need to hear about this brand new cybersecurity threat.
SIDEBAR:
DIY Hand
Sanitizer Recipe
Hand sanitizer
is just 60-70% ethanol with moisturizers — so it’s not hard to make your own.
Ingredients Ethanol: The ethanol you want to use is
95% non-denatured ethanol (this has toxic additives to prevent drinking and
will have a health hazard logo on the container). or Isopropanol: You can
substitute 99-100% isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) for ethanol as it is just as
effective as a disinfectant — it simply takes longer to evaporate. plus Aloe
vera gel: This is an ideal moisturizer and many home recipes suggest it (but it
can be hard to find). or Glycerol: This also works as a moisturizer and is a
common ingredient in makeup.
Lin Lab
Recipe -Mix two parts 95%
non-denatured ethanol or 99-100% isopropanol with 1 part 90-100% glycerol or
Aloe vera gel.
With the
massive 2 trillion relief package added to our national debt, it’s time to
consider shrinking government costs by eliminating such departments as the ATF,
Education Dept [no need for 51 such agencies] & others.
The
dollar store has great bargains on these purchases.
In
this podcast we talk about how to know when the market has bottomed, how to
spend your coronavirus check and how to make extra money from home.
Federal and State Agencies Advise
You Get Emergency Radio!
Staying
informed could be a matter of life and death
Yours in Freedom,
Bruce ‘the PoorMan’
PARTING THOUGHTS, Resources
Violating stay-home orders can mean jail, fines in newly locked-down America
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your FREE Bonus Preparedness Plan Guidebook Collection:
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2 comments:
It's a never-ending battle as thieves saturate our world; keep up the good advice!
Always useful goodies; hope you're staying safe!
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