No matter how hard you or your company try to reduce the likelihood of threats to your system you will never be able to fully prevent human error. Here are some mistakes that people make that could lead to trouble.
1. Sending Email to the Wrong Address – It can be as simple as transposing a couple characters or using “.com” instead of “.org” but if your email isn’t encrypted or includes sensitive information you could be headed for trouble. According to Ponemon Institute 62% of respondents have accidentally sent emails to the wrong people.
2. Lost or Stolen Devices – If you cell phone or tablet contains sensitive info and you lose it, lets hope you can remote into it and erase it. Since hours can go by before you realize you lost it encrypting and protecting this information is also a good idea.
3. Different Passwords – I know having separate and different passwords in a pain but its totally worth it. Once a hacker gets your password for one account it’s so easy for them to use it for all your accounts. Not only should you use different passwords but making them strong is also key.
4. Sharing Devices – We were all taught to share but this is one time you may want to be selfish. Letting grandma or little Johnny play with your use your devices may not be the smartest idea if they aren’t aware of threats, making them susceptible to scammers or downloading malware.
5. Using Consumer-Grade Services – If you can’t send a file through your email, using a free cloud service isn’t the way to go, but tons of people do. These services usually aren’t equipped to protect data.