There are plenty of sensitive files hiding in your email and social media accounts that hackers would just love to get their hands on.
How much is this information actually worth? It’s not as much as you may think.
Here’s a breakdown, according to a recent study from Dell:
- Gmail, Facebook or personal Outlook: $129
- Work email: $500
That’s right—for less than $1,000, someone can hire a hacker through an underground marketplace and instruct him or her to break into your private accounts and lift whatever information they can get their hands on.
“They [the hackers] promise fast results, total confidentiality, and even after-sales support,” blogger Lee Matthews succinctly put it in a recent Geek.com article.
How do you protect yourself? While there is no completely bulletproof strategy, one thing you can do is to take an inventory of all of your personal private online accounts. Figure out what each account contains, and consider taking really important files and storing them offline in a private storage drive. It's also vital to make sure your work accounts are being stored on servers that are up to date with the latest security provisions.
You should also update your passwords, and make sure they are strong—meaning they use a variety of complex characters. It’s also worth looking into adding multifactor security features like voice or fingerprint identification, if you have the ability to do so.
Of course, these are just preliminary measures that you can take to stay safe. To learn more about what you need to do to keep prying eyes out of your business, contact a representative from Apex Technology Services, New York City and Fairfield County’s premier computer consulting firm, today.