Cyber Security: Five Steps to Secure Your Home & Office During the Holidays

Cybercriminals think of vacations and breaks as working holidays -  long weekends where the office empties out, personal security may be weaker than usual, and data can be compromised.

If you want to avoid problems (or deal with them quicklyy), SPYSCAPE can help secure your online data. 


Beware of cybercriminals who steal your data

1. Malicious software and ransomware

Malicious software - ‘malware’ for short - is any software or program designed to damage or hack a target including viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, and ransomware. It can disrupt IT and computer systems and, in more extreme cases, delete your personal data or hold it hostage until a ransom is paid. Read the SPYSCAPE guide to malware and find out why you might be a target.

You can take steps to protect your data before cyber gangs strike but don’t be complacent. The WannaCry ransomware attack infected 230,000 computers in 150 companies in one day. If you are worried you’ve already been hacked, SPYSCAPE Online Security Tips can help you figure out your next steps.

Cyber Security: Five Steps to Secure Your Data

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Cybercriminals think of vacations and breaks as working holidays -  long weekends where the office empties out, personal security may be weaker than usual, and data can be compromised.

If you want to avoid problems (or deal with them quicklyy), SPYSCAPE can help secure your online data. 


Beware of cybercriminals who steal your data

1. Malicious software and ransomware

Malicious software - ‘malware’ for short - is any software or program designed to damage or hack a target including viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, and ransomware. It can disrupt IT and computer systems and, in more extreme cases, delete your personal data or hold it hostage until a ransom is paid. Read the SPYSCAPE guide to malware and find out why you might be a target.

You can take steps to protect your data before cyber gangs strike but don’t be complacent. The WannaCry ransomware attack infected 230,000 computers in 150 companies in one day. If you are worried you’ve already been hacked, SPYSCAPE Online Security Tips can help you figure out your next steps.



A foggy train station



2. Protect your electronics while in transit

Are you bringing office laptops, cell phones or other equipment on a ‘working holiday’? Then you’ll need to protect your professional as well as personal data on the road because you’re being followed. Your mobile phone is tracking your location minute-by-minute while network providers, phone manufacturers, apps, hackers, and the government devour your data. SPYSCAPE asked three CIA experts how they protect their privacy and data in a world of invasive 24-7 surveillance. If you want to be safe, act like a pro.

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne


3. Travel like a spy

It’s not enough to protect your data. You also need to protect your electronics from theft. If you’re a savvy intelligence officer, that means bringing your own doorstop to hotels, asking for a room on the hotel’s middle floors, and going to great lengths to protect your equipment and data. SPYSCAPE also asked international security experts for their top tips - and these recommendations aren’t just for spies. Here’s how you too can travel incognito and protect yourself and your equipment.

Apps can track your movement even when you sleep


4. Apps are spying on you

Remain vigilant even when you’re in holiday mode and relaxing with a glass of wine. Living in the 21st century means you’re constantly monitored by half a dozen apps every waking hour of the day - and, if you use a sleep tracker app, it doesn’t stop even when you call it a night. Here are three ways your favorite apps are spying on you, and you don’t even know it. You may want to think twice before downloading an app you don’t know much about. 


5. The world’s biggest companies are under attack; you may be too

If you still have questions, you may want to read up on some of the world’s biggest hacks to find out how hackers strike and what the fallout might be. Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Visa, Sony, and many other large, tech-savvy companies have been hacked. ‍

Sony Pictures was attacked with a variant of the Shamoon malware in 2014 which can erase a computer’s infrastructure. Hackers leaked personal information about staff, employee emails, executive salary info, film scripts, then-unreleased Sony films, and plans for future movies. Hackers also demanded Sony withdraw The Interview, a comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and threatened terrorist attacks. 

Still think you’re not vulnerable? Consider SPYSCAPE'S rule of thumb: Question Everything.

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