Experts agree. It is not a question of if you will be hacked; it’s a question of when you will be hacked. Technology is advancing more quickly than safeguards can be put in place.
Prepare.
First the bad news. As this article from The Economist outlines, AI generated texts, pictures, videos, and recordings will soon be indistinguishable from real (non-machine generated) media. AI detection software, watermarking, and other countermeasures are not effective.
The fakers have the upper hand; they also have a lot of your information. Most of it you gave them. Here’s just one example. Ever use a chat (bot) online? If so, you gave away a great deal of personal data without realizing it. As this linked article from Wired explains, chatbots can be designed to unearth information by making a string of innocuous-seeming inquiries. So-called large language models can then be programmed to scour social media posts to dig up sensitive personal details.
I’ll not tell you how to avoid getting hacked. The internet is awash with such guidance. Do your best. Be circumspect online. And recognize that, eventually, you will be hacked.
Prepare for that eventuality by taking these steps:
Compartmentalize
Make sure that hackers don’t get control of everything at once.
Use dedicated emails and (VOIP) phone numbers (see below).
Use one email and/or phone for personal communications, one for online purchases, one for financial transactions.
Use virtual credit cards.
Consider using one of these cards. Place daily spending limits. Create spending and balance alerts.
Limit approved devices.
Limit approved devices and automatic syncing.
Create Anonymous Emails and Phone Numbers
Your email choices are not limited to Gmail, Apple Mail, and Outlook. There are phone service providers not named Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile.
Add these apps to your tool kit: Proton Mail; and MySodu. Both can be set up anonymously. No SSN or other personal information required. Similar choices, as yet untested by me, include: Blur; and 2ndNumber.
Take these small steps now. They will serve you well when it happens to you.
Peter has spent the past twenty-plus years as an acting/consulting CFO for a number of small businesses in a wide range of industries. Peter’s prior experience is that of a serial entrepreneur, managing various start-up and turnaround projects. He is a co-founder of Keurig.
