Many shoppers look for holiday bargains on Cyber Monday, but sometimes this hunt can become dangerous.
Wichita native Steve Watkins, the CEO of a locally based cybersecurity startup called iGuardPro, said he wants to stop "the bad guys."
"I started with a strong passion for network security and a drive to genuinely assist companies," Watkins said. "I wanted to close a critical vulnerability that hackers exploit incessantly."
Watkins said this vulnerability affects 97% of current big tech companies.
"This major vulnerability lies in the realm of analytics, clickable link redirection, and customer tracking," he said.
Watkins says clicking unknown links is the No. 1 most-exploited reason hackers can get into devices, both with businesses and individuals. To help prevent accessing bad links, Watkins suggests having good antivirus and firewall protection from a reputable company.
"Because by default, internet connections are wide open, allowing anything to pass through with most of the equipment that they get from their internet service provider," he said. "Only buy from known, reputable sites."
Watkins, who has been working in cybersecurity for 28 years, started his business 8 years ago.
"I decided I could help a lot of other people, and they need a guy like me to come and help guide them in the right directions," he said.
iGuardPro aims to help individuals and businesses with firewall protection. Watkins first goes in and "cleans" the computer of viruses, then he installs the proper protection, including firewalls.
In addition to having the proper protection, Watkins suggests cleaning out cookies and temporary files each morning, or at least on a regular basis.
On the iGuardPro website, the company lists more than 340,000 blacklisted networks, with the number changing daily. These are sites iGuardPro's system is currently blocking. Of course, nothing is foolproof, and scams are always at play.
"If the deal (on the internet) is too good to be true, it probably is," Watkins said. "More than likely it's a scam."
10 ways to stay safe from hackers from both your home computer or work computer
- Frequently update your browser, phones and computers: Enable automatic updates or manually check for updates.
- Avoid clicking on suspicious links or downloading files from unfamiliar sources, including scanning emailed QR codes.
- Be cautious when opening email attachments, especially from unknown senders. This is the No. 1 way companies are compromised.
- Utilize trusted antivirus software to protect against malware and phishing attacks.
- Follow secure browsing practices, and avoid public Wi-Fi for sensitive transactions.
- Instruct business offices to never make changes to employee payroll accounts without first calling the employee or company main number.
- Instruct all staff to never disclose any internal company system details to cold calling "vendors" as it may actually be hackers.
- Companies should stop sending direct attachments via email to customers, as email is unencrypted and intercepted easily. Instead, use encrypted cloud attachments with email self-destruct password protected method.
- Most home workers do not have fancy firewalls and devices sent home with them are subject to full compromise while remote, compromising the company.
- If unsure about any email, if you are on a home computer, stop, think and analyze. If you are on a work computer, forward it to your IT security provider for verification before interacting with it at all.
