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The Importance of Cybersecurity: Protecting Yourself in a World of Hacks and Breaches
Hey guys, this is Austin. I was literally in the middle of working on a video about hacking when my credit card got hacked. So, I think this is a great time to talk a little bit about cybersecurity.
A huge shoutout to LastPass for sponsoring this video. Great timing, guys. I've been keeping all of my information safe in LastPass for years, way before they ever reached out and wanted to sponsor a video. I used to use a couple of passwords across all of my sites, whether that was for Twitter or for my bank account. However, with LastPass, you can easily create completely custom and random passwords for each and every individual site and keep them all locked up behind a single password in the LastPass Vault.
So, even if one site gets hacked, none of the rest of your logins are going to be vulnerable, which is available on the free plan. Step up to LastPass Premium, which I've had for like four years now, and you get better two-factor authentication options, the ability to easily share out your logins, and it's only like two bucks a month.
Best of all, it works basically across all of your different devices, whether it be phone, tablet, computer, whatever. LastPass is legitimately something that I use every single day, so if you guys wanna give it a try and help support the channel, the link to check it out will be in the description of this video.
When it comes to getting hacked, there are a lot of ways that it can happen. Maybe it's something simple like you open a fishy email attachment, or you're visiting a site that you probably shouldn't be looking at. However, these hacks have become much more ambitious recently.
Take for example Equifax, the credit agency that recently had 143 million people's information leaked. This isn't small stuff like your phone number or address; this is really important information like your Social Security number, which makes it very, very easy for identity theft to happen.
The biggest and most significant yet. Possibly putting 143 million Americans at risk. So, back in March, a major vulnerability was found in Equifax's backend and it wasn't fixed until the end of July, meaning that for months about one-third of the US population's information was wide open for the taking.
This is hardly an isolated incident. Only a few weeks after the Equifax hack, CCleaner had their own issues. CCleaner is a very popular utility to allow you to clean your computer; however, for a short time, the legitimate version was replaced with a version that you downloaded from their site with malware.
The scary part of this is that there was actually no real way of telling that what you were downloading was actual malware and not the proper program. You're going to the official site, you're downloading it, installing it, everything looks completely legit and the program even works; however, in the background was a serious virus.
The popular DVD ripping tool HandBrake had similar issues. Threats like this are never going to go away; but as long as you're smart and keep an eye on things, then you should be fine.
Have you actually ever gotten hacked yourself? Let me know in the comments below, and I will catch you in the next one.
WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin.I was literally in themiddle of working on a videoon hacking when my credit card got hacked.So, I think this is a great timeto talk a little bit about cybersecurity.And a huge shoutout to LastPassfor sponsoring this video.Great timing, guys.So, I've been keeping allof my information safein LastPass for years, waybefore they ever reached outand wanted to sponsor a video.I think, like a lot of people,I used to use a couple ofpasswords across all of my sites,whether that would be forTwitter or for my bank account.However, with LastPass,you can easily createcompletely custom and random passwordsfor each and every individual siteand keep them all lockedup behind a single passwordin the LastPass Vault.So, even if one site gets hacked,none of the rest of your loginsare going to be vulnerable,and that's available on the free plan.Step up to LastPass Premium,which I've had for like four years now,and you get better two-factorauthentication options,the ability to easilyshare out your logins,and it's only like two bucks a month.Best of all, it works basically acrossall of your different devices,whether it be phone,tablet, computer, whatever.So, LastPass is legitimately somethingthat I use every single day,so if you guys wanna give it a tryand help support the channel,the link to check it outwill be in the description of this video.When it comes to getting hacked,there are a lot of waysthat it can happen.So, maybe it's something simplelike you open a fishy email attachment,you're visiting a sitethat you probably shouldn't be looking at.Recently though, these hacks have becomemuch, much more ambitious.So, take for example Equifax.This is the credit agencythat recently had 143 millionpeople's information leaked.And this isn't small stufflike your phone number or address,this is really important informationlike your Social Security number,which makes it very, very easyfor identity theft to happen.- With growing fallout this morningover its massive data breach.- The biggest and most significant yet.- Possibly putting 143million Americans at risk.- So, back in March, a major vulnerabilitywas found in Equifax's backendand it wasn't fixed until the end of July,meaning that for monthsabout one-third of the USpopulation's informationwas wide open for the taking.This is hardly an isolated incident.So, only a few weeksafter the Equifax hack,CCleaner had their own issues.So, CCleaner is a very popular utilityto allow you to clean your computer.However, for a short time,the legitimate version was replacedthat you downloaded from their sitewith a version that wasloaded with malware.The scary part of this isis that there was actuallyno real way of tellingthat what you were downloadingwas actually malwareand not the proper program.You're going to the officialsite, you're downloading it,installing it, everythinglooks completely legitand the program even works.However, in the backgroundwas a serious virus.So, the popular DVD ripping tool HandBrakehad a very similar thing happen.For a period of four days,the legitimate downloadwas replaced with a versionthat had a Mac-specific versionof malware inside of it.Even worse is that hacksare no longer confined to just software;they're hitting close to home, literally.With products like AmazonEcho and Google Homebeing brought into moreand more households,these companies aregetting closer and closerto our personal lives than ever before.Now, this can be a good thing.So, it's nice to be ableto walk into your houseand tell Alexa to turn the lights on.Maybe if you forget to lookyour door when you leave,you can just do itstraight from your phonewith a smart lock.And stuff like Nest security cameraswill give you a muchbetter sense of securitywhen you can see exactly what'sgoing on inside your house.But like all good things in life,it doesn't exactly work all the time.And like a lot of people fearwhen stuff like the AmazonEcho first came out,there is a way to now hack this.If you peel back the little rubber padon the bottom of an Amazon Echo,you'll see a series of contacts.So, using these,if you have a little bitof technical knowledgeand about 10 minutes, you canactually turn an Amazon Echointo a listening device.The upside is,as long as you don't havea super-nerd as an enemy,this is not an easy hack to pull off.Not only do you needthat technical knowledgebut you also need to have actualaccess to the Echo in-hand.And to Amazon's credit,they actually haveremoved this vulnerabilityfrom the most recent model.The real issue hereis when there's an Echo in a public place.So, take for example theWynn hotel in Las Vegas.They have an Echo in every single room,and all it takes is forsomeone to hack it onceand they can listen into the conversationsin that room pretty much forever.All right, so what can youactually do about this?Well, the first thing to understandis that there's no way of keeping youand your data completely safe.If you applied for acredit card five years agoand the credit agencygets hacked, too bad.I'm probably never going to knowhow my credit card got compromised.It could've been something simplelike being skimmed atan ATM or gas stationor maybe some site that Iused the card on was hackedand I just didn't know it.But there are some things you can doto help protect yourself.The easiest thing is tojust check your credit.So, if you live in theUS, federal law guaranteesthat you can get one free credit reportfrom each of the threemajor agencies per year.On the digital front,it makes sense to havesome kind of antivirus andkeep your devices up-to-date.So, that includes those Windows updatesthat you've been saying noto for the last six monthsor you keep your browserup to date, your phone;all of these things are constantlygetting security updatesand they can really save youwhen these things come up.Threats like this arenever going to go away.But as long as you're smartand keep an eye on things,then you should be fine.So, have you actually evergotten hacked yourself?Let me know in the comments below,and I will catch you in the next one.
