7 Biggest Cyber Security Myths

We all know patrolling our house fences one night with flash lights and fire arms doesn’t ensure our house safety for the whole year. A trespasser in the real world as well as in the cyber world is somebody who either has no respect for personal space or is inordinately driven by a sense of malice or financial gains; to break open our best lock and key systems as even the best of them are meant to be just deterrents. In cyber world too staying alert, keeping up with the latest developments, staying updated, informed and on our toes is what it takes to have a semblance of peace of mind that our critical personal and corporate data shall stay secure. However, just like any other industry cyber security has its myths that need to be clarified so that people will not get misguided. Now is the time to reveal the truth and divulge the myth that we have believed since many years.

#Setting up sentinels is a one off measure

From an end user to a corporate house, if you’ve been told by any software seller or a site, or a security solutions organization’s sales rep that installing such and such hardware and software is going to take care of all your security needs, you are being taken for a ride. You must stay on your toes, because, script kiddies and hackers always stay on theirs. End users must always keep their anti-viruses updated and scan their systems periodically with other anti-viruses as well to gauge the efficiency of their current anti viruses. Corporate houses must look for continued support and training of their own employees because security can never be totally delegated to outer entities.

#Once deleted the data is gone

Before selling off your old security hardware, you made sure you deleted everything, but settings data, more often than not, is still there, only the data indexes are deleted so data doesn’t get listed. Before getting rid of your old security hardware, format everything.

#A super secure password

There is no such thing as a password that’s going to stay secure till eternity, you must keep changing your passwords periodically, monthly, bi-monthly, whenever there new change/addition etc. in the configuration or as prescribed by your security gear manuals.

#My Wifi is behind a firewall, has a password on it so it is secure

Ever heard of what piggy backing is? You would be surprised to know how not so hard it is to enter your Wifi services and misuse them. If you are making use of a Wifi for highly critical data transfers, it is always advisable to use directional antennas to limit the range of your Wifi router to where it is needed and not beyond.

#Bluetooth can’t be used to send malicious data

Bluetooth networks are the most unsecure kind of networks and are a major threat to mobile security devices. Never receive any files from a phone that’s known to have been behaving oddly, even if the possessor of the phone is your mom.

#My company’s network is secure because an expert is taking care of it

That’s the worst mistake ever, must learn security measures yourself, and train your employees, by organizing training sessions for them and encouraging them to learn and handle the security issues in house themselves.

#Mobile phones and tablet anti-viruses are not an essentiality

All applications on devices, weather an email client or a browser, are a smaller footprint versions of their full fledged originals. Foot print is kept smaller by omitting many features including security measures, on assumptions that mobile phones or tablets are used as secondary devices. However, recent surveys have shown a marked increase in the use of devices to access social network sites, emails etc. Almost all banks and financial organizations too have their mobile apps available in the market, and the fact that the data through these apps travels on secure conduits and is encrypted before it is sent over, notwithstanding, you need to always be sure that your mobile doesn’t have a back door pen that’s sending your keystrokes over on the net. Heavy users of the net through devices must use updated mobile anti-viruses.

Author Bio: Samaira Rogers is a technology enthusiast and a highly professional technical writer and blogger with more than 5 yrs of experience. She loves to check out latest software and other web services. She is a frequent contributor for various technology blogs and websites.