Did you know that on this date, November 16
th, several events happened that changed the course of history. For example, in 1959 the Sound of Music premiered on Broadway, and in 2001 the first Harry Potter film opened in the United States. So much for the good news.
Now for the bad news. Many individuals (hackers) are taking things that don’t belong to them including your identity. There are many ways to do this now that we are part of the digital age. One way is to infect your computer and these infections have matured and gotten worse every day.
Ransomware is the worst, as this is where the virus attacks computers and demands that a ransom be paid. 2016 was the year that the Cryptolocker 2 virus attacked hundreds of thousands of computers world-wide. 2017 started quiet, but at the end of May, another ransomware virus began attacking the world. The WannaCry virus spread and affected hundreds of thousands of computers. This affected banks, hospitals, universities, and businesses in the financial industries.
Since WannaCry, there have been more than 6 new virus attacks, affecting over 1 million people and businesses. The latest infection affects something different from computers or mobile devices. This infection, known as KRACK, affects wireless modems and wireless access points. Millions of devices have been affected from this new virus.
KRACK affects the WPA2 security protocol of the wireless router, modem, or access point. It is the WPA security protocol that creates the unique password for accessing the nearby wireless network. The infection is passed to the wireless device from a nearby computer or mobile device. So your data that travels through the infected wireless device, can send the infection to your computer.
So, what can you do to better protect yourself?
- Avoid public Wi-Fi, at places such as Starbucks, Target, and various restaurants. If you choose to use Public Wi-Fi, don’t send any secure information. Make sure applications like QuickBooks and bank websites are not used when you are using public Wi-Fi.
- If you are planning to use the wireless connection, use a password to connect to the secure network.
- Update your computer on a regular basis. Some of the wireless network devices will need upgrades. Best to check as often as possible.
- Be sure to have strong security software installed on all devices. Any device that can access the internet should have some type of security software.
- If you need to use a public Wi-Fi hotspot—even one that’s password protected—stick to websites that use HTTPS encryption. Secure websites are still secure even with Wi-Fi security broken. The URLs of encrypted websites will start with “HTTPS,” while unsecured websites are prefaced by “HTTP.”
Elite Networking & Consulting offers their clients a cloud-based software product that backs up your data in real-time. We can verify that your data is actually being backed up without visiting your office. This is the benefit of working with an IT Professional.
If you would like additional information on the data backup solution products offered by Elite Networking & Consulting, please either call us at 855-767-9685, ext. 700 or send an email to service1@elite-nac.com.