Bringing Awareness to CyberSecurity

LOMA LINDA>> A student-led presentation was held at the Loma Linda Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting that educated its attendees on cybersecurity and the common threats one comes across online. The presentation was led by California State University, San Bernardino Cyber Squad Member Dora Baldwin who interned over the summer with the Department of Homeland Security. Her presentation focused on exposing the community to basic cybersecurity and cyber hygiene. “Forty percent of small businesses reported being the victim of a cyber-attack with an average cost of approximately $9000 per attack," Baldwin said. “Sixty percent don’t have a security program in place to say ‘Hey, what would happen if this happened or this occurred? What should we do to prevent this from happening?’ Unfortunately, as a result of that, a lot of these businesses go out of business after 6 months.” Businesses are not the only ones who face these issues. Baldwin said anyone can fall victim to online threats through email, using public Wi-Fi and creating weak passwords. “Two-thirds of Americans, which is 65 percent of people who use the internet have received at last one online scam offer during 2013,” Baldwin said. As a preventive measure, Baldwin suggests being cautious with emails that have hyperlinks. To check where the hyperlink leads to, scrolling over the hyperlink and checking the link in the bottom left corner of the computer screen will reveal its destination. Baldwin warns that a deceiving hyperlink can take one's personal information or redirect them to a completely different website if clicked on. With the popularity and temptation of public Wi-Fi come threats as well. The insecurity of public Wi-Fi allows people to watch what people are doing and steal their personal information as well. Baldwin advocates that people always use a private network or do not connect to the public Wi-Fi. "Wait until you can get a secure connection,” she said. When touching on the topic of password security, Baldwin said, “one of the security questions that people always ask, or banks always ask, is what is your mother’s maiden name, and we think that no one knows what our mother’s maiden name is.” However, Baldwin explains that if someone were born in California, anyone can type their first and last name into the California Birth Index and find out their mother’s maiden name. “All this stuff is public information, so the information that we’re using for our security questions is available for everyone to use,” Baldwin said. With this in mind, is there a way to answer that specific security question securely? Baldwin advised to pick a fake last name that you can remember as the answer. When coming up with passwords, Baldwin said each account should be a different password, especially if it’s something that is business related. To keep track of numerous passwords, Baldwin recommends getting "a password manager" that can be found in an app store. Baldwin elaborates on the goal of exposing people to cybersecurity through the Department of Homeland Security’s "STOP. THINK. CONNECT." campaign which began in 2009 under Former President Barack Obama’s presidency. The campaign stood in alignment with CyberSecurity Awareness Month, which is held in October. Baldwin notes that CyberSecurity Awareness Month’s purpose is to engage small businesses, the city, the state and federal levels, and expose cybersecurity as much as possible. Baldwin stresses the importance of looking at cybersecurity as a shared responsibility in which we come together to ensure safety. She shares that awareness can be brought to cybersecurity through sharing with others what we have learned from past experiences and finding resources. "(Resources such as) software tools and applications are free, but we still don’t use them," Baldwin said. “Security does not cost a lot of money if you’re proactive about it. What happens is when you take the reactive measurements and you have to pay, you get lawsuits, you lose businesses, and that’s where the financial costs really hit businesses.” Baldwin encourages everyone to invest in cybersecurity wisely. "If you take a proactive approach to security, it saves you in the long run," Baldwin said.