Cyber Identity Essentials – How Can You Protect Yourself?

Featured article by Sally Writes, Independent Technology Author

The world wide web opens countless doors but brings with it specific threats. Few consumer security threats are quite as prevalent right now as identity theft, affecting 16.7m in 2017 alone. Much of this is owed to the ever expanding scope of open communications like the IoT, cloud and preference of cloud hosting like AWS. Clearly, the stats show identity theft is a big issue.

The Federal authorities are starting to take note and the landmark GDPR legislation should improve security. Whilst businesses are rightly starting to take note as security becomes the word on consumers’ lips, there are plenty of measures you can take yourself.

Authentication Factors

The oldest and easiest trick in the book when it comes to cybersecurity breaches is the loss of personal credentials. If someone has your password, they have access. As the Uber authentication breach has shown, security concerning user credentials is big business – and the industry have reacted aggressively to ensure that two factor authentication, and better, is the gold standard. The best control for your account is to increase the amount of complex, encrypted authentication barriers whilst balancing the amount of flexibility you want with your account. Services that protect passwords and other credentials have seen a swelling in usage, and as a result there now exist multiple identity protection and security services that can offer an extra layer of protection through end-to-end encryption.

Detection and Response

With the ingenuity of cyberattacks and attempts to steal identity ever expanding, it is becoming more cost effective to look for attacks and stop them as they’re coming through as opposed to trying to prevent every possible threat. Through tech trends like account monitoring services, threats are monitored and identified against regular account activity. This is starting to make headway with other disruptive tech like AI and could be the key in the future; stop the threats as they come, rather than trying to preempt everything.

Blockchain

No security discussion in 2018 is complete without mentioning blockchain. Whilst the bedrock of bitcoin and many other cryptocurrency technologies, blockchain is making headwaves in other industries with its uses being mooted in environments that are regulated as needing to be super secure, like defense and medical. With the ability to provide very secure, single user codes at every stage of a transaction, it will help to definitively shut out intruders.

Identity theft is serious and a big drain on the national economy. With ever increasing integration with the world wide web and open information encouraged, it may only continue. Stay safe by following these trends.