I would like to say that do follow good digital security practices. I update my virus scanner. I create hard passwords no one else should know. I back up files I find very important to me. I don’t open suspicious attachments or use my email address on questionable websites. Even though I follow these practices diligently, I noticed that there are some more things I can do to make my digital information more secure than it is now.
To start, though I think I do make difficult-to-guess passwords (even I sometimes forget them!), I noticed that many of them are short and don’t contain other variables to make them hard to crack. I may try to create longer passwords and include capitals and numbers (and if possible symbols) to not make them easy to crack. I should also try not to make my passwords similar to one another (i.e. cobra164 and cobra316) so they will not be predictable.
Next, though I do not keep important or personal files (photos, art, writings) on my laptop hard drive (in case it gets stolen or catches a virus… crashes) and place them in my 200 GB external hard drive, I actually do not back up my school work. Now that I think about it, it would be devastating for me to rewrite all my papers if my laptop crashed and it simply would be because I didn’t make a back up copy. I can easily back up my school work on my external drive or send a copy to my email address. I should also consider purchasing another external hard drive to back up the one I have now.
One more thing I can do to better secure my digital information is to acquire (somehow!) a new antivirus program. Though I am able to update the definition list on my current program (Symantec AntiVirus 2006), I really should try to get a newer program to increase my protection against viruses and the like.
Reading the articles for this week really made me think about my own digital security practices and what I can do to change my ways. Creating stronger passwords, backing up all important files (and that includes school work), and making sure my computer is up to date (though I should probably save for a new computer now!) will make my experiences on the net more secure.