Robert Siciliano explains how to protect yourself online using password managers, VPNs, and antivirus software. He covers creating unique strong passwords, keeping your system updated, and why you need a VPN when using public Wi-Fi.
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Via Skype from Boston is Robert Siciliano. He's an identity theft expert with Hotspot Shield. He joins us via Skype. Did I pronounce your name correctly?
Excellent job.
Thank you so much. So, um, give us an idea for protecting yourself online, and if these breaches are going to be coming more common, what can you do when you have all these different passwords you can't remember? What, what's the easiest thing for people to do to eliminate the threat?
Yeah, well, first and foremost, you need to have a password manager. That is a download of software that ends up as a toolbar in browser, and it stores and enters all of your passwords into each website you visit. And the good thing about password managers is that you can have lots of different passwords opposed to the same password for every site, which is never a good idea. Lots of different passwords that are strong, uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and characters, and you can change them really easily every 6 months or so with the password manager.
It seems like it'd be dangerous having that stored in your toolbar though, right? All your passwords right there in your toolbar?
Well, it's also encrypted too. So the, um, toolbar, uh, the password manager is an encrypted form of software on your device that stores the passwords locally encrypted, like on your computer, and in the cloud as well. So they're stored on a backup, and then it also works across different browsers and across different operating systems. I use a password manager and I have over 650 passwords.
Wow.
I know maybe 10 or 12 of them, which are my most critical accounts, but the rest of them are easily stored in the encrypted password manager.
What do you think about antivirus programs? It seems like a lot of them are for sale. We get hit with a lot of advertisements for them. Do you think it's a good investment?
We absolutely have to have antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, and a firewall on your device. Keep your device updated with the latest critical security patches. The latest operating system is essential, the latest browser. So you have to have a vested interest in your device's security. Again, with updated antivirus, operating system, password manager, and be aware that these things are going on. Don't just sit idly back and think somebody else is gonna protect you. Ultimately, you are responsible for your personal security.
So none of those are scams, some of those antivirus things, or I mean, how do you know which ones are legitimate there? Because it seems like you'd, like Dan says, you see ads everywhere. I don't know which one, if you actually need that.
Well, I mean, you've heard of McAfee. You know McAfee's a legitimate antivirus provider. You go online to McAfee.com and bang, you're going to a legitimate site for a legitimate company. You download their full suite of products and now you have a product that you know is going to watch your back, it's going to update automatically, opposed to simply just responding to a pop-up ad that is more than likely scareware designed to scare you into downloading a program. So always go to legitimate websites that you know, like, and trust.
So a lot of people have a lot of social media accounts here, Instagram and Facebook and Twitter, and a lot of us are guilty of using perhaps the same password for those social media sites. So do you obviously recommend perhaps a different password for each site?
Yeah, one of the biggest problems that people face is that they use the same password for all of their different sites, and the fact that you have the same username, like your email address, plus the same password means that if the bad guys in Russia got your username and password for any of your sites, right, they can go ahead and try that on your Facebook, they can try it on your Gmail, they can try it on your Hotmail, your Yahoo, and once they're in, they're in. And if the bad guy owns your email, he owns you. So you wanna make sure to have a different password for every site, and again, a password manager can help you do that efficiently.
Yeah, I just keep wondering if someone hacks into my, you know, Twitter account, what are they gonna do, post selfies of themselves. I mean, what's the danger of having someone have your Twitter account, you know?
Well, that's where the spam comes in. You know, they had said previously that, you know, this particular breach is as a result of trying to spam people. And if they have your Twitter account, they could spam you, they could spam your followers. It makes you look bad. Plus they can infect your device and other devices. You also have to make sure to have a VPN, a wireless VPN, when you log in to what free Wi-Fi, you have to make sure that your wireless is encrypted. So out and about in hotels and airports, free wireless is very vulnerable. That's where something like Hotspot Shield comes in and encrypts your wireless connections.
Oh, I never thought about that.
Yeah, it's good advice. Robert Siciliano, identity theft expert with Hotspot Shield. Thank you for your time this morning.
Thank you so much.
Paul, does it surprise you that he had information that I wasn't aware of?
