How are YOU preparing for cyber attack?

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 08:42:33 -0500

The Iranians are at it again, probing and exploring cyber vulnerabilities. As if Stuxnet was not enough for them:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102234825

Do you have a plan of action in case you become a victim? What do you observe in cyber community that you consider the cause for alarm?

Response by SGT Kyle Taylor made Dec 8 at 2014 9:11 AM

SGT Kyle Taylor — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 09:11:44 -0500

Getting rid of old accounts on sites I dont use any longer. No need to leave that info out there.

Response by PV2 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 8 at 2014 9:15 AM

PV2 Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 09:15:35 -0500

I suggest regularly changing passwords on frequently used sites. Don't use PII as passwords. The lack of folks securing privacy settings in social media I find alarming.
Iranians aside with all of the bad people out there, you need to be careful.

Response by SSG Tim Everett made Dec 8 at 2014 9:23 AM

SSG Tim Everett — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 09:23:01 -0500

All of my passwords are at least 16 digits long and they are randomly-generated strings of nonsense. I also am very careful as to what I browse online.

Response by SGT Kyle Taylor made Dec 8 at 2014 9:19 AM

SGT Kyle Taylor — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 09:19:53 -0500

On my home comp we use AVAST. I am not a real big comp kind of guy but its what I was told to use that it was pretty good. Also PV2 Lisa Wilcox I need to work on that cause I do use PW for to long.

Response by SGT Kyle Taylor made Dec 8 at 2014 9:26 AM

SGT Kyle Taylor — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 09:26:16 -0500

I should work on that 16 character password. I have a few of them i use also. What about the standard on a 16 character password? Does it need to be changed as often?

Response by LTJG Robert M. made Dec 8 at 2014 9:51 AM

LTJG Robert M. — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 09:51:40 -0500

Employing Holistic security, considering all of the entry points, not just Passwords, full defense in depth, two factor secondary authentication, encryption, backup, data loss prevention. Takes more than anti-virus folks!!

Never use information you have posted to social media accounts as password information!!

Average time a hacker is in your system before detection by a 3rd party is 243 days. Do you have a 90 Day password policy?? Hows that working for you??

Response by TSgt Joshua Copeland made Dec 8 at 2014 10:00 AM

TSgt Joshua Copeland — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 10:00:51 -0500

it should be a passphrase (with special char, numbers, etc) not a password.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 31 at 2014 6:22 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 06:22:41 -0500

I've backed all my porn up to CD.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 31 at 2014 6:30 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 06:30:10 -0500

Besides the basics (updated firewall and antivirus software) and hiding the SSID for my wireless, I use encrypted communications when I can (there are great free voice and messaging apps for iOS and Android that encrypt the communication when it is transferred) and use an offline password generator that creates truly random passwords and does NOT store them anywhere except an encrypted file on your hard drive (1Password).

For the personal documents I maintain on my hard-drive, I use VeraCrypt to encrypt a partition of my hard-drive. Inside that partition, I have documents sorted into a main encrypted folder and several hidden partitions, each with a separate password and 1024-bit AES encryption. I also wipe the free-space on my hard drive weekly with a 35-pass system that prints random data over the memory addresses no longer referenced (standard hard drives only delete the references to data when you use the recycling bin, the data is still on the hard drive until it is actually over-written). The program for that is called Eraser and is free-ware.

And finally for physical security, cross-cut shredding for all the documents I wish to keep safe (e.g. bank statements). Shred a couple useless papers for every one document you want to keep from prying eyes.