Attorney General Jim Hood announced Thursday during a news conference at his Jackson office that the guide can be found online at www.agjimhood.com.
Hood cited doctors’ offices and attorneys’ offices as prime targets for cyber attacks. With larger companies taking more steps to guard against efforts to steal personal information off their computer systems, Hood said small companies will become even more inviting targets.
But he also said big companies are still targets, citing the announcement earlier Thursday that a server had been breached for cell phone provider T-Mobile USA affecting potentially 15 million customers nationwide and at least 89,000 Mississippians.
“Any entity, whether big or small, can be the victim of a cybercrime,” Hood said in a news release. “It has become second nature for most of us to lock our front doors when we leave the house.
“Companies and agencies must take basic precautions to lock their computer systems and electronic data from cyber thieves.”
The majority of data breaches occur not because of “sophisticated technology, but because of employee error.”
“It is very important to train employees and not just assume they know computer security basics,” Hood said.
While the brochure deals with multiple issues, Hood said the most basic and most effective security is to “harden passwords” by using numbers and symbols as well as letters and to change passwords frequently.
The brochure also will be helpful to small government entities, Hood said.
The brochure included some key warnings of what not to do, including:
- Don’t install unknown software and do not neglect software updates.
- Do not open email attachments from unfamiliar sources and do not respond to suspicious emails.
- Do not leave personal data unencrypted.
©2015 the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, Miss.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
