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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

25 Tips to Prevent Data Breaches

By Sharon D. Nelson & John W. Simek
The Wisconsin Lawyer
Volume 85, No. 11, November 2012

Another day, another data breach. Data breaches have proliferated with amazing speed. Here is the roundup of some of the largest victims in 2011 alone: Tricare, Nemours, Epsilon, WordPress, Sony, HB Gary, TripAdvisor, Citigroup, NASA, Lockheed Martin, and RSA Security. Some mighty big names on that list.

Don't be lulled into thinking that law firms (large and small) aren't suffering data breaches just because they don't have millions of clients affected. On Nov. 1, 2009, the FBI issued an advisory, warning law firms that they were specifically being targeted by hackers. Rob Lee, an information security specialist who investigates data breaches for the security company Mandiant, estimated that 10 percent of his time in 2010 was spent investigating law firm data breaches.

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Top Practical Security Tips

1. Have a strong password – at least 12 characters. No matter how strong an eight-character password is, it can now be cracked in about two hours. A strong 12-character password takes roughly 17 years to crack. Much easier to hack someone else. Use a passphrase so you can remember the password: "Love ABATECHSHOW 2013!" is a perfect example.

2. Don't use the same password everywhere. If they crack you once, they've got you in other places, too.

3. Change your passwords regularly. This will foil anyone who has gotten your password.

The entire story is here.

Thanks to Ken Pope for this article.