Tuesday, November 30th, is National Computer Security Day.  Although this special day has been around since 1988, many people are not only unaware of it, but are still also unaware of some of the basic security required for protecting their computing devices.

The rise of remote work has stretched the security perimeters of all corporations, and fortunately, there are products, such as Tripwire Enterprise that can help them to protect the organization, from the full computing systems, to data storage.  With features such as configuration management, compliance enforcement, as well as file integrity monitoring, Tripwire has a full range of products to protect an organization. 

Protecting your home computing environment is as important to you as protecting a corporate setting.  While some of the standard protections are obvious, such as having a good malware detection and prevention system, and a personal firewall, some others may not be as obvious.

Keep Your Backups Offline

One key piece of advice for corporations is to keep backups offline.   Since most ransomware will search all connected devices for files to encrypt, keeping the data separated will ensure that those backups are protected, ensuring easy restoration without having to pay the ransom.    Ransomware doesn’t discriminate.  While there are targeted attacks against large organizations in order to demand larger sums of money, attacks against individuals still occur. 

If you are using a cloud-based backup solution, disconnect from that backup, and activate it only when you need it.  If you are “old-school”, preferring to back up your files to an external storage unit, disconnect that device when you are not using it.  This simple step can protect you from being fully victimized if you suffer a ransomware attack.

Shut Down Unused Computers

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