Security lessons from RSA

Stay safe online with these recommendations from IT and Crypto professionals at RSA, the premier security conference.

The RSA Conference, the flagship meetup for cryptography, information security, and IT experts from around the world, just wrapped on Feb. 28. I attended panels, talked to professionals about security, and learned a couple of new lessons about personal protection in the age of big data.

There were a lot of lessons from RSA, most of them concerning IT Professionals. Some were about enterprise-level security, and a few were on the relationship of government and big data. But what can the average consumer cull from these discussions? Read on, and take control of your online security and digital privacy.

Hackers are no more evil than the average netizens, nor are they loners. Hackers have their own social communities around their illicit activities. Whether they're trying to make money off stolen data (cyber-criminal), taking a stance (hacktivist), or just keeping tabs (surveillance), hackers have turned hacking into a business, and data is their sole interest. Most hackers work together to pull off sophisticated attacks, mostly on organizations, companies, government sites, or other hacking groups.

If your info is out there for the taking, then be ready to call your credit card company at a moment's notice. But present them with a little difficulty, and they might just go after another, softer target. It is a numbers game after all. So create tougher passwords (Longer is always better!), get a two-step authentication system, edit out personal info from your Facebook/Google+ pages, and don't tweet things that can be used to phish data.

Keep your passwords safe with these apps:

Unlike proprietary software, open-source software has the benefit of letting users customize their own security privileges and allows anyone to look into the source code and report any vulnerabilities or flaws.

Always try to get the latest updates for any programs you may have, even the ones you don't often use (even Flash). Patches are designed to cover security flaws and remove abuse potential. Introduce a little open-source software to your life, and find open alternatives to your favorite programs. A good way to start is by checking out these trusted open-source apps.

Additional open-source apps:

Remove apps that you no longer use but never bothered to delete. Uninstallers like Revo or IObit can make cleanup easier. Do you really need 20 Chrome Extensions or ten different MP3 converters?

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Security lessons from RSA