Leading tech expert advises to take internet security precautions
Posted Apr 10, 2014 11:07:28 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A leading high-tech analyst says most Canadian businesses and consumers do not take internet security seriously enough.
Carmi Levy told 570 News not enough IT professionals are being deployed to protect against computer viruses like the ‘Heartbleed bug.’ “We’re essentially asking for a major catastrophe because we aren’t buying that online insurance that we should be and at some point we’re going to have to pay the piper.”
Levy says we have no one but ourselves to blame if our security is breached by a computer bug like ‘Heartbleed.’ “It isn’t up to the government to keep us safe. It isn’t up to the websites that we subscribe to. It isn’t up to the banks that do our online banking. It’s up to us. We shouldn’t be using the same passwords for every service, but we do.”
Levy says all a hacker needs is your name, social insurance number and address to “ruin your life.” He adds “they can open up credit accounts in your name, run them up, ruin your credit rating, prevent your ability to get a job. We are all worth gold to these people and they will take us to the cleaners if given the opportunity.”
He says we can protect ourselves by changing all of our computer passwords on a regular basis.
