No Hype Around Hyperconnectivity Threats
Do you immediately change your password if a consumer organization contacts you about a data breach?
That is a top, basic security recommendation from Maurice Dawson, assistant professor in Illinois Institute of Technology’s School of Applied Technology and director of the university's Center for Cyber Security and Forensics Education. It is one of several recommendations he makes in “Data Breaches in the Age of Hyperconnectivity,” an article that appears on the website Enterprise Security.
Other personal security tips include:
- Use strong passwords
- Set up two-factor authentication
- For cloud service use, encrypt files before uploading them
Dawson notes that organizations need more properly trained and educated talent to carry out the best-laid security plans. He says that at minimum, organizations should consult National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines and Security Technical Implementation Guides to help develop baselines and carry out the safe distribution of equipment within an enterprise.
But a new challenge is hyperconnectivity—the ability to share information across a variety of platforms, from person to person, person to machine, and machine to machine—in industries ranging from energy to transportation and logistics to health care. Dawson says that as organizations use such emerging concepts as embedded systems, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence to increase efficiency and share data, the future of having appropriate cybersecurity measures in place is now.
