Would you leave your client files on public transport? 

Or place your company’s proprietary Data on the open conference room table?

Or even leave your office unlocked for the weekend?

Well, when you aren’t diligent with your passwords or their security – you are doing all the above and worse – putting your company’s or organization’s revenue and reputation at risk.  It is time for all of us to treat the virtual online world and work and we do the physical world. It is all down to each of us to do the basics to prevent online crime, fraud and disruption.

While having cybersecurity systems in place can help to safeguard your private data or company data, there's one simple, free technique that goes a long way towards securing every one of your accounts:

Never reusing passwords.

The Dangers Of Reusing Passwords

Most people know that reusing the same passwords is risky, but they still do it anyway. The 2016 LastPass Psychology of Passwords survey of 2,000 adults from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe found that 61% of respondents reused passwords between accounts.

If you use the same login details on multiple sites and apps, you're putting all those accounts at risk. If any of those sites gets hacked, the hackers now have your details. This makes it a lot easier for them to access your data elsewhere, rather than having to go through more complicated routes.

The most common reason for changing a password given in the survey was that the old password had been forgotten, with security being less of a concern. Respondents were more likely to be protective of their financial accounts (69%), ecommerce accounts (43%) and social media profiles (31%) than other accounts.

Has Your Account Been Hacked?

There's a good chance that you've been involved in a serious data breach even if you're not aware of it. From social media to hotel booking websites, hackers operate across all channels, and it's easier for them to get your data from smaller websites with weaker security than going straight for banks.

You can quickly check whether a website you use has been hacked using the Have I Been Pwned? site. Entering your email addresses will list the prominent data breaches on domains where that email address is listed, making it clear why you need to use different passwords for different platforms.

The Best Ways To Protect Your Password

Changing your passwords to make each one unique is the first step to improving your online security. To create a strong password, experts recommend that you:

use at least 15 characters
use a combination of lower-case and upper-case letters, numbers and symbols
avoid common letter substitutions
avoid common keyword paths such as 'qwerty' and diagonal lines

You should also change all of your passwords on a regular basis. If having to remember so many new passwords is daunting, a secure password manager app can remember them for you. These apps can also tell you if you've duplicated a password you've already used, to help you make sure each one is unique.

It's also important to run regular security scans to check your devices for keyloggers and malware that could steal your passwords and to install reliable security software to protect your data.

WhiteHawk Limited (ASX: WHK) a Barclay Pearce Capital client is at the forefront of this industry and is receiving a lot of interest at the moment. 

WhiteHawk is focused on next-generation approaches that leverage publicly available data sets, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based analytics, online risk platforms that scale to identify, prioritise and mitigate a breadth of digital age risks in near real-time.  Their methods have been tested and evolved with government departments and fortune 500 companies. 

Using machine learning and cyber know any business can access their online and virtual service, to help you discover, learn, receive immediate online matches to top solutions, find insights, affordable vendor products and services, or chat with smart cyber advisors in real-time, so you can own your cyber risk and success story.

On Tuesday 28 July, 2020 Whitehawk announced it had won a five-year US government contract. The company has been contracted to implement its cyber risk monitoring software within the US federal government.

The market reacted positively to the news with the stock jumping as much as 65 per cent and traded positively, with shares hitting a high of 16 cents and closing at +70.2% up.

Read about this and other company highlights in their latest Quarterly Report

Terry Roberts is available for an interview. Call Donna Warner, Barclay Pearce’s Chief Marketing Officer: 0433 362389, donna@barclaypearce.com.au

To keep up to date with what's happening with WhiteHawk and the cybersecurity industry as a whole, subscribe to the Whitehawk Chairman’s List.