For the third time this year, Talk Talk has had a major hacking incident warning all customers to change any passwords to its website and any other sites which share the password. Again bringing the subject of online security to the fore.
With so much of our life online and so many different websites now having access to our personal details and bank details it is getting easier to lose track of your online security.
Talk Talk released a video after the event came to light where they informed the public that the incident wasn’t as bad as they first thought, however it is hard to find this comforting knowing that this is the third hacking of Talk Talk this year.
While I appreciate that it is not the company’s fault that they get hacked, just as if a house is burgled it’s not the owners fault because there shouldn’t be burglary in the first place. This leads me ask what is being done about all this. You cannot see police men on patrol or call an emergency number for this sort of crime. It is about time that it was made more public how to tackle this and make convictions.
I want to see more of how to fight this sort of crime not just do a few preventive measures which as recent events prove are often not good enough when you leave your details in the hands of big companies with no control over them yourself often without the option to not do so if you want or need there services.
I think there is a call for more public knowledge of how these issues are tackled. If your online data is stolen in many cases you may not know it has even happened let along how to fight it. It should be made clearer more quickly what has happened and there needs to be a more offensive tact taken to hackers.
In the meantime it seems we must resign to taking all the precautions we can until some more solid ways to stop this can be enacted. Some helpful recommendations would be to change your passwords frequently and try to use different password for everything (frustrating but can be the saviour; if one account is hacked; for all your other accounts). Deleting any e-mails from unknown or unexpected sources can also be a helpful way of keeping the hackers at bay. Perhaps the simplest and most effective measure is to download some form of antivirus protection. There are many which offer free services and can make all the difference.
So whilst we wait for a more solid solution to the problem, stay safe online and if in doubt always question, better to be safe than sorry.
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