Month: January 2020

I know it seems like just one more thing to add to your plate, but you really should be doing an annual privacy/data security checkup. Now is as good of time as any to start. The more things you check on the better, but here are a few ideas of places to start:

• Facebook privacy checkup
• Google privacy checkup
• haveibeenpwned.com – check all of your email accounts and passwords and update any that are exposed
• Get your free annual credit report
• Next time you long into any accounts, especially financial accounts, make sure you have turned on Two Factor Authentication/2FA.

There are other things you can do too, but this will give you a good start on making sure your data is protected.

Cybersecurity is a broad topic that conveys different meanings to different people, but generally deals with security and privacy on computer systems. If you are curious about some of the basic principles of cybersecurity, check out this Cybersecurity Lab from PBS’ Nova. While you may think you can’t learn much from an online game, this actually does a good job of introducing some concepts that you should be thinking about in terms of passwords, code, and defending yourself against hackers.

Part of planning for cybersecurity incidents and breach response is identifying your digital assets. Whether it be photos, documents, or other data, digital assets are something valuable that you own and have rights in. While we often focus on protecting those assets from a breach, more and more people are starting to realize that they need to think about what happens to those assets in death. Perhaps you have stuff that you never want to be seen by others; maybe you would rather not have your loved ones sifting through you email account; or maybe you’re an open book and don’t mind what happens. Either way, you should consider addressing your digital assets in an estate plan. If you were to die, would those you leave behind be able to access your accounts and carry out your wishes? Would your cryptocurrency fortune be forever lost in your hard wallet? There are many different aspects of this to consider and which have been addressed in a new guide published by one of my law school classmates, Megan Yip. Go check out her free guide here and consider implementing some of her tips. And at the very least, follow the advice she gives and which I have suggested before–use a password manager!

A lot of planning goes into what to do in the event of a data breach. One aspect that is, unfortunately, sometimes neglected is disclosure of the breach. While there are laws that require disclosure, they are not uniform across the world. It is important that you have a plan for dealing with disclosure of a breach. Head over to Troy Hunt’s blog to learn about some of the difficulties of ethical disclosure and make sure you have a plan for handling the situation when you are notified of a breach.

Today is the 11th anniversary of the mining of the Bitcoin genesis block. It is also a day which some have designated as proof of keys day. If you don’t know what that is you can read about it in detail at this Yahoo Finance article, but basically it is a reminder that cybersecurity is an issue for cryptocurrency too. If you own Bitcoin or any of the other cryptocurrencies out there, it is a good practice to make sure your keys are secure. While hardware wallets are not completely foolproof, nor unhackable, they provide you with a way to make sure that your crypto-assets are really there. Proof of keys days is as good a day as any to make sure that (1) you have your keys, (2) they work, and (3) your crypto actually exists. Good crypto cybersecurity practices is one way to help you have a prosperous New Year!