“What do I do now?”
Many people are asking themselves this question because they’ve opened their favorite news sites, or received emails, just to find that the companies that they use for personal and/or work-related services have been the victim of cyberattacks. Banks, cell service providers, and the most recent high-profile attack, educational services are constant targets of cyber criminals looking to either make money or disrupt services. Because these attacks target your money and the services that you use, you will likely be asking the question, “What do I do now?” at some point.
Responding to a third-party provider cyber-attack usually breaks down into two rapid responses. Living without the services that have been disrupted and dealing with the data that has been compromised. Unfortunately, the best time to address these issues is before you are attacked. To make yourself more resilient, you need to do three things.
Back up your data. If you lose your cell phone, or cell service is down, would you be able to contact your friends, family and coworkers? If your email provider is unreachable, do you have the email addresses that you use frequently for business and personal usage? Do you have your important account numbers, such as bank account and tax accounts or services that you have signed up for electronic billing or automatic payments? Do you have copies of your prescriptions and medical requirements?
Use unique passwords. Make sure that every website that you enroll with, you use a unique password. This way when one service is compromised, it doesn’t put the other services at risk. Referring to the previous paragraph, you probably want to have your passwords backed up too. Common methods are using a password service, a secure encrypted local copy, and/or a secured physical document. This helps keep a bad day from getting much worse.
Have a response plan. To quote Mark Twain, “The secret to getting ahead is getting started.” Most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what to do when things go wrong. Having a plan helps clear up the confusion and chaos when things do go wrong. Because emergency planning can be hard, here are three sources to help you create personal response plans to ensure the basics are handled and that you can still communicate when times get rough.
Ready.gov https://www.ready.gov/plan
US Department of State https://www.state.gov/global-community-liaison-office/crisis-management/personal-preparedness-planning
The American Red Cross https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/make-a-plan.html
