Every week, it appears that people in different parts of the world experience getting hacked in one way or another. While you think that this could never happen to you, it is completely possible as hackers have become even better at stealing information.
Robert Herjavec, founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Herjavec Group, and star of ABC’s “Shark Tank” told CNBC that most people assume that they’re safe from being hacked.
“People assume that they’re exempt from the risks of cybersecurity,” said Herjavec. “Similarly, businesses assume it will never happen to them.”
Herjavec says that in today’s uncertain times, all of us can be potentially targeted by hackers as they use identity information, passwords, corporate IP secrets, and payment information for political and financial gain.
“No matter what it is, they’re either putting it up for sale on the deep dark web, holding files for ransom, or leveraging the data to influence markets, politics, and business,” added the 54-year-old.
However, there are ways that you can decrease the chance of a hacker stealing your information. Herjavec said that one way to do this is to avoid using public wi-fi. The entrepreneur said that one should never do personal banking in a public place. Moreover, financial transactions shouldn’t be done at all on public wi-fi.
The “Shark Tank” star also notes that we should all look for the "https://" when doing anything financial as that connection meets the basic “SSL certification” level of encrypted security.
Herjavec also said that people shouldn’t open emails or attachments from strangers. This means that if you get an email from “the prince of Nigeria” who wants to give you money, be educated and skeptical.
“Hackers are also evolving phishing emails to make it seem like they are coming from someone you know,” he said. “Don’t input any personal information on links from emails you’re not sure about.”
Apart from Herjavec’s tips, another way to avoid getting hacked is to change your passwords. Don’t be lazy and use “123456” or “password” as your password, and never use your birthday as a password. To protect yourself, ensure that your password has more than eight characters, has a combination of letters and numbers, and never use one password for all of your accounts. You can also use an easily remembered sentence as a password rather than a single word.
For more, check out Jobs & Hire’s report on the toy company that leaked personal information of over half a million customers.
