why learning cybersecurity is important

I believe it’s important to try to understand the technology you use every day.

I credit my experience as a Girl Scout to providing me the tools to go out and learn about new things. I’m excited to see that there will soon be a cybersecurity girl scout badge. I honestly don’t recall the specifics of what was required for me to earn any of my badges, but I do remember I needed to research the key topics for each badge (and spent many hours at the library searching the card catalog!). I look forward to this effort to help girls learn the skills they need to succeed.

Why is an understanding of cybersecurity important?

Beyond the news headlines of hacking that we read every day, knowing about how your information might be abused can help you think twice about what personal information you provide in any given situation.

Two links came across my desk today:
Before You Hit ‘Submit,’ This Company Has Already Logged Your Personal Data. How was this done? Javascript captured the text and submitted it to a server as the site visitor filled out the form long before approaching the submit button. Is this always obvious? No! Few sites have privacy policies that are upfront about explaining this before you begin to fill out the form. Do I have a good answer or advice today? Unfortunately no. Please think before you browse and enter any text!

New York State Senate Bill S1104A – Relates to the timeliness of disclosure of a breach of the security of a system which contains private information. While this bill is still on the Senate calendar at the time I write this, why is it important? Businesses need to be transparent and disclose security breaches. While it’s something no company wishes to have occur, it is something all modern businesses need to think about, understand to the best of their ability, hire experts if necessary, work hard to prevent, and be upfront about if it happens.