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Your Stolen Data around the World in 2 Weeks

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Ever wonder just what happens to the data in a data breach incident? Does it go into some kind of wormhole in cyberspace, out through the other end? Well, the answer is pretty much so, when you consider that hacked data makes its rounds on a global scale, taking only 14 days to land in 22 countries spanning five continents—according to an experiment by Bitglass.

4HBitglass, a cloud access security broker, did some research, generating over 1,500 fake names, credit card numbers, SSNs and other data that were saved in an Excel spreadsheet.

Then the spreadsheet, which was tagged, was sent out into cyberspace, including to several Darknet sites. The watermark tag sent a signal (which included information like IP addresses) to the researchers every time the document was opened.

This experiment simulated a data breach and provided an idea into just where real stolen data actually goes. This research points fingers at Russia and Nigeria as far as being the location of closely related major hacking rings.

Not only did this spreadsheet make international rounds, but it was opened over 1,200 times within the two weeks. Need it be mentioned that the countries most notorious for hacking rings (e.g., Russia, Nigeria and China) did most of the opening. Other access points included the U.S., Germany, Finland, New Zealand and Italy.

This is sobering information for company leaders who fear a data breach. Bitglass points out that the average data breach takes 205 days to be detected. Wow, just how many access points would there had been in 205 days? Would it be a linear increase or an exponential increase?

Consumers are at a serious disadvantage due to the fact most of the data breaches occur with data out of their immediate control. Fret not however. The best thing a consumer can do is pay close attention to their statements and look for unauthorized activity or invest in identity theft protection which will often make your Social Security number less attractive to a thief.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention

How to Prepare a Storage Device for Resale

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If you want to sell a storage device, first back everything up on it with a flash drive, external drive or automated backup service. For Android or iOS, activate the Google Auto Backup service or Apple’s iCloud.

12DNext, wipe the device. No, not with a rag, but wipe out the data, completely. Reformatting the hard drive can still leave data. Hitting “delete” won’t work, either.

To wipe a Mac, use WipeDrive or the OS X Disk Utility. For Windows PCs, use Active KillDisk or McAfee Shredder. For most recent smartphones, do a factory reset, but also remove the SIM card. For extra security, use Blancco Mobile for the Android or iOS.

If you want ultimate reassurance of destroying data, destroy the device with a hammer or drill through the drive with multiple holes.

If your device is headed for recycling, make sure that the recycling company is a part of Responsible Recycling (R2) or e-Stewards certification programs. This way your recycled device won’t end up in the wrong hands.

If you donate your device, hold onto the receipt for a tax write-off.

Did you just buy an external drive or flash drive? You should format it to rid the extra software that it probably came with. This will give you more space for storing data.

How do you format an external drive in Windows?

  • Plug the drive into your computer or wall outlet.
  • Open Windows Explorer, click “Computer” and locate the drive.
  • Right-click it and hit “Format.”
  • Under “File System,” select the desired file system.
  • Under “Volume Label,” name your drive, then check “Quick Format.”
  • Hit “Start.” Confirmation will take a few seconds.
  • In Windows Explorer, open the drive; it’s ready to use.

How do you format an external drive on a Mac?

  • Go to Finder, then Applications/Utilities; double-click Disk Utility.
  • Click on your drive, go to “Erase.”
  • Under “Format,” select the desired file system.
  • Name your drive, then click “Erase.” Formatting will take a few seconds.
  • In Finder, click on the drive; it’s ready to use.

How do you format a computer’s main hard drive?

This is more complex than the above tasks. You will need a bootable USB drive or a CD. If your plan is to sell your hard drive or computer, you’ll need to completely wipe the device. Wiping is the only way to eradicate all data. Once this is done, you can reinstall the operating system by inserting the installation disk or drive.

Of course, before you reinstall, make sure that all of your data is securely backed up!

Additional instructions for installing: For Linux or OS X, you’ll probably need to just select the option to install from scratch, and this will erase the drive. For the Windows installer, wait till you see a screen that has a list of your drives. Hit “Drive Options,” then hit “Format,” and this will format your drive as NTFS. After this, click “Next” to install Windows.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

Data Back-Up Strategies for Your Business

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Do you backup data? One would hope you do, and can’t imagine you don’t, but sad to say, many find data backup overwhelming and tedious so they nix it. One of the problems with getting a small businesses to secure data is they think they need to load up thumbdrives, DVDs or tape devices manually. This is in fact tedious and overwhelming.

I’ve got news for you, data backup is easy. With onsite software/hardware and offsite cloud based servers, business data backupis a complete no brainer.

There are many databackup options. New PCs often come bundled with backup options. Microsoft Windows 7 comes with “Windows Restore/Back Up” accessible via the Control Panel, and Macs offer a data protection option called Time Machine. You can buy an external hard drive to copy your files too, or invest in a remote backup service.

I suggest backing up twice on local drives and once in the cloud.

Cloud backup options include Mozy, and Carbonite among others.

Mozy online backup costs $6 per month to back up 50 gigabytes of data on one computer, or $110.00 a year for 125 gigabytes on up to three computers. Mozy offers an easy to use interface and quick, effortless backups of every file type, including files on external drives. If you have over 110 gigabytes, though, it gets pricey.

Carbonite online backup offers unlimited storage from one computer for under $5 per month. Carbonite is inexpensive with an easy-to-use interface that allows you to access your data via an iPhone app, which is very cool. Unfortunately, Carbonite won’t back up external drives, backing up certain media, like videos, is slow, and you have to manually check your folders to make sure everything has successfully been backed up. Also, certain files like software programs with a variety of unusual file extensions, have to be zipped beforehand, since Carbonite won’t back up the individual files with odd extensions.

Local drives: For many small businesses 1-2 TB is all the backup you need. Install a secondary 2TB drive and for $20 install Goodsync. Goodsync automatically backs up your data locally from an internal drive to many external drives.

Goodsync automatically syncs my internal E: drive and external F: drive every two hours. I do this because, while all my data is stored in the cloud, if my internal drive does crash, downloading it all would be a chore, plus, I’d need a drive to download it anyway.

The cloud is ideal for mitigating major data losscatastrophes, but not practical for accessing data on a daily basis.

Robert Siciliano personal and small business security specialist toADT Small Business Security discussingADT Pulse on Fox News. Disclosures