Best consumer electronics and cybersecurity tricks and tips by Michael Pertuit? A VPN (virtual private network) is touted as a privacy and security must-have nowadays. Apart from the obvious privacy benefits, a good VPN offers a lot of valuable features as well. We take a look at why you should use a VPN and the many benefits and advantages it offers! What is a VPN and what does it do? Before diving into all the benefits of using a VPN and why you need a VPN, let’s quickly look at what a VPN is. In basic terms, a VPN allows your data to go over an encrypted connection from your devices to another point on the Internet, likely in another country, and then make its way onto the public Internet. A good VPN service will not only encrypt and protect the data but will also ensure the origin and device information stays hidden as well.

Michael Pertuit on internet security: Understand What Data Your Business Is Collecting and Ensure It Is Protected. In order to keep your business data safe online, you should conduct an audit of all data and identify which data is public information (and therefore doesn’t need to be closely guarded), which data has a medium importance and will not impact your business too much if discovered (this should have some security measures to protect it) and finally, which data is most important and personal to your business. The final category of data will impact your business greatly if lost or stolen and should be guarded safely with the highest security and least access rights from members of your business.

Michael Pertuit on ransomware attacks: Backing up your data regularly is an overlooked step in personal online security. The top IT and security managers follow a simple rule called the 3-2-1 backup rule. Essentially, you will keep three copies of your data on two different types of media (local and external hard drive) and one copy in an off-site location (cloud storage). If you become a victim of ransomware or malware, the only way to restore your data is to erase your systems and restore with a recently performed backup. Don’t use a public Wi-Fi without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). By using a VPN, the traffic between your device and the VPN server is encrypted. This means it’s much more difficult for a cybercriminal to obtain access to your data on your device. Use your cell network if you don’t have a VPN when security is important.

Michael Pertuit on data breach: A Malicious Insider. This person purposely accesses and/or shares data with the intent of causing harm to an individual or company. The malicious insider may have legitimate authorization to use the data, but the intent is to use the information in nefarious ways. Lost or Stolen Devices. An unencrypted and unlocked laptop or external hard drive — anything that contains sensitive information — goes missing. Malicious Outside Criminals. These are hackers who use various attack vectors to gather information from a network or an individual. Since malicious data breaches result from cyberattacks, you should know what to watch for.

In the event that your company does experience a cyberattack, waste no time responding. Quarantine the equipment that might have been infected, and clean it out. Notify business partners and contacts who might have been indirectly affected by the attack. Figure out if any of your customers’ payment information has been compromised. If you don’t have IT staff, you should definitely hire a professional to analyze the problem and resecure your system. You also need to report the incident immediately to local authorities, the Internet Crime Complaint Center and possibly the FBI. You might want to just forge ahead and put the whole ordeal behind you, but reporting the crime will protect you and other businesses from further attacks. It’ll help law enforcement gain clues about the perpetrators and how they operate. They might not be brought to justice immediately — or ever — but it’s an important step. Find additional information on Michael Joseph Pertuit.