Breach!

 

 

"Some non-governmental experts have said the cyber security in the hacked data bases were so loose, an experienced hacker could have driven a truck trough the firewalls..."

Question: What is the most scary part of any data breach? Answer: Not knowing what you do not know. To clarify, that means not knowing exactly how much you have lost. How long the breach had been there. Or if any malicious viruses or back door codes have been left in the system. In short, a data breach is similar to having your house robbed and not really knowing how much stuff was taken.

The latest news concerning the breach of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Interior Department data systems only gets worse with age. It seems now that this breach could have been there, undetected, for a year. However nobody seems to really know (as yet) the exact time frame. In addition, instead of 4M identities being compromised, the number could be closer to 12M. Again, we don't know for certain as yet. And the amount of information stolen could be a show stopper. Besides SSNs, military records, pay records, addresses, phone numbers, you name it.

This is my opinion only as I am not quoting anyone. What scares me the most is what we don't know. In other words, for the Chinese (or whomever) to hack into this governmental data base, where else have they been? Our utilities? Our financial systems? Our Defense Department? Have hackers from potential advisories been sneaking in layers of destructive code in our electrical grid? Our nuclear plants? I mean, every time I start to think about the possibilities of the damage hackers can do these days, it sends chills up my spine.

Again, what can we as citizens do. Not to sound like Chicken Little, here are some ideas:

• Protect your identity with some kind of data protection or data insurance program such as Life Lock. Look for more and more of these identity protection programs to spring up as the demand increases. They are not a guarantee against disaster, but will help against most hacks. I cannot recommend this strongly enough.
• If the power grid goes down, everything is going to come to a stand still. Hopefully, our power companies have "war gamed" these scenarios and have plans to where the outage would not last indefinitely. However, even if the outage is only for a week, most households would have no water, power or natural gas. Have enough supplies on hand to be self sustaining for at least a week. A month would be better, but start off with a week. WATER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING!
• Have hard copies of all your financial investments and savings. If the financial institutions get hacked and their "mirror" sights are also affected, you will need some proof of what you own. Wiping out (even temporarily) a record of everyone's investments could be devastating.
• Buy a safe and keep some cash in it. Does not have to be much, but enough just in case the banking system becomes disabled and you cannot get cash from the ATMs.
• Finally, don't be afraid to think outside the box. Think of worst case scenarios. What we have seen from this last breach is how poorly our information is protected in some government data bases.

I am afraid this cyber security war is just getting started. It will not be a passing fancy as it will be with us from now on. It will be a cat and mouse game on steroids - played out on a grand scale. We need to always remember that our world today is made up of data. Data concerning just about everything. As much as a game changing tool that most data and data systems have been, they are also juicy targets for the nefarious or mischievous.

Stay alert. Stay prepared. And stay tuned in. This latest attack will probably not be our last.