Patch Tuesday saw a couple really nasty holes in Windows being plugged today. And then there is the news of the passwords for many DropBox accounts being leaked as well (apparently not DropBox’s fault though).
It seems almost impossible to cover all bases and prevent the bad guys from stealing your information. But there is no cause for panic when following some basic good practices:
- Keep the operating system on your computer (Windows, OS X, Linux) up to date.
- Get good anti-virus software, even for your Apple computer. Don’t be cheep: stay away from the free stuff and invest in a reputable product such as Norton Antivirus, McAfee or Eset (just to mention a few).
- Host your website with a hosting company that keeps their server software up to date. Good news all Anno clients: this is already the case!
- Keep your web applications (Joomla, WordPress, etc) up to date. Talk to us if you do not know how to do this or if you want to have this automated.
- Be wise with your passwords. Don’t use the same login for multiple web services. If you do, it’s not a question of if but when your accounts will be compromised. Learn from the eBay hack earlier this year and today’s news on DropBox.
- Use strong passwords that are not obvious.
- To help you remember your passwords, use a password manager. An example of a pretty good free password manager is KeePass; give it a try if you have not yet.
- Stop clicking on those links in your email that say your bank or email provider needs confirmation of your password. It is just fine to naive, but not certainly okay to do something stupid.