Dear Sir/Madam,

Welcome to your June Savvy Cybersecurity newsletter. Read on to learn more about:

• Congress is now taking medical cybersecurity seriously
• Email breach cost a city $1.4 million
• Texas could be a target as national security threats continue to grow
• And more 

Cybersecurity Checkup: Social Media Accounts 

In order to ensure that you are fully protected online, it is smart to periodically check on some of your cybersecurity settings. It is a good idea to review your social media privacy settings once a year. Often, new features are released or security settings change on these websites. Since they contain so much information about your life, you want to be sure you have the most up-to-date protection for these accounts. 

Here are some quick actions to take on your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to keep yourself safe. 

All of your social media profiles should be protected with two-factor authentication. This extra layer of security requires a one-time code that is sent to your phone before you can log into your account. This protects your account because even if your password is compromised, a hacker will not be able to access your account without the code.

Since social media accounts leave such a large digital footprint of our personal lives, it is critical that we enable this security feature everywhere. It is available on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Go to your settings on each of the apps or websites to enable the extra layer of security. 

It is a good idea to review the friends/followers on all of your social media accounts each year. There may be people that you no longer want to share so much information with. You may also notice duplicates of certain friends. This can indicate that one of the accounts is fraudulent. If you can easily tell which account is not truly your friend, report the account and delete it.

Hackers create fake profiles that appear to be real users and request friends and followers to initiate scams. For example, after you approve a fraudulent friend request, they may message you pretending they are in trouble and pushing you to send money.   Or they may send malicious links. By combing through your friends list on a regular basis, you can eliminate the vulnerability of fake accounts… 

Do you play any games on Facebook or have you linked other websites to your Facebook profile? Those are called third-party apps and they often have access to all or some of our Facebook data. If these app companies experience a breach, your Facebook account and data can be at risk. For this reason, it is important to review the apps and websites connected to your Facebook account and remove those you no longer use.

You can find your third-party apps by going to your Facebook settings and clicking the Apps button. 

This social media checkup should only take you a few minutes but can help save you the hours of work and stress you will experience if you are hacked. So, schedule a social media checkup on your calendar every June! 

Cybersecurity shorts

Congress is now taking medical cybersecurity seriously

After years of cybersecurity experts talking about the vulnerabilities of medical devices, they are finally being heard by Congress. Recently, senators proposed a new bill that would require the FDA to issue cybersecurity guidelines more regularly and share information about vulnerable devices on its website. You can read more about the proposal here.  

Consumer Reports to launch experimental 'nutritional label'

Consumer Reports just obtained a $5 million grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies. Because of this grant, Consumer Reports announced that it is going to expand its advocacy work which will allow them to help people protect themselves from cyberattacks. In addition to providing free tools, this expansion will include an experimental 'nutritional label' to help shoppers understand various products' data and data collection practices.

Email breach costs a city in Oregon $1.4 million

Portland, Oregon officials announced that the city recently lost $1.4 million to fraudulent activity when a malicious actor gained access to a government email account. The "fraudulent financial transaction" occurred in late April but was only detected May 17^th when the same account attempted another transfer of funds.

Building your brand trust in a world filled with cyberthreats

 Security rarely shows up as a key element of a brand. But today’s increased demand for data, increased cybercrime and privacy concerns challenge companies more than ever before, and make security a more important issue than ever. If you are curious on how to continue to build brand trust in a world of cyber-threats, you can read more about it here.

US military learning about secure communications amongst the Ukraine-Russia war

The ongoing war in Ukraine is teaching the U.S. Army a lesson about the need for secure battlefield communication and the potential for soldiers to undermine it. It's been reported that Russian troops have been using unencrypted devices, including their personal cell phones, to talk to other units and people back home. That makes them vulnerable to Ukrainian forces who can eavesdrop on what they're saying and determine their locations.

Texas could be a target as national security threats continue to grow

Cybersecurity threats have become a common tool for our political adversaries.  There has recently been a rising focus on the energy sector. Experts are saying that Texas could potentially be a target for foreign interference due to its history of power grid vulnerabilities, including the tragic power losses of the February 2021 winter storm. You can read more about Texas' vulnerability here.  

 

Software updates

Microsoft: Microsoft released an update that fixes an issue in which Microsoft Access Database Engine stops responding when it is used as a Data Access Objects (DAO) provider. You can read more about the update in their statement here.

Google Chrome: Google Chrome released a Dev Channel update this month for Windows, Mac, and Linux. 

Firefox: Firefox also had an update this month that fixed a clearing clipboard issue when closing on MacOS amongst a few other issues. You can read more about them here.