Defending Your Online Communications

Of this year’s top ten threats to information security announced by Japan’s Information Technology Promotion Agency, number one in terms of crime against individuals was online hacking and abuse of credit card or other key financial information. The runner-up was ransomware attacks (the hijacking of vital data or functions while demanding a “ransom” in exchange for restoring them). In reality, the threat with which those who use the Internet for personal purposes are most familiar is likely the leakage of personal information. In October 2018 it was revealed that the names and contact details of 29 million Facebook users had been compromised by hackers. Google also announced that the personal information of as many as 500,000 users of its Google Plus platform had been compromised.

“Leaks of personal information will always happen,” admits Sugiura. “The moment you enter your personal details onto a website, you’re entrusting your personal data to that site, and therefore creating a risk that it will be leaked. If anything, you should assume that it will be.”

Featuring heavily in recent attacks against individuals are fake emails that claim to be from companies like Apple, Amazon, Rakuten, or a major bank. “These emails aim to steal IDs and passwords by having the victim click on links or attachments. Other messages encourage prospective victims to sign up on websites. The emails might appear authentic, but the real Apple doesn’t use official email accounts to ask for IDs or passwords,” Sugiura warns.

“Those who use the same combination of email address and password on multiple sites are also vulnerable to being hacked. Many readers are probably in this situation! If hacked, this means you’ll be compromised on multiple sites.”

Many net users, of course, rely on the same password for everything, due to the bother of keeping track of multiple passwords. “That’s a risky practice,” Sugiura warns. “If you’re using the same passwords and IDs for your online banking and credit cards as well, a thief could withdraw money from your account or use your credit card. Your backup data and the data in your Keychain—a digital repository for your IDs and passwords—may be stolen. Some criminals even hack into Amazon accounts with the sole purpose of writing product reviews: improving the reviews of specific products is big business.”

Most importantly, cautions Sugiura, people must never let their email accounts be hijacked. “A hacker who gains access to your email account is free to reset the passwords for the websites where you use that address, and thereby free to access those websites as you.

“That said, if your email account is hijacked, you shouldn’t panic and delete it either, as you will then have the additional hassle of not being able to use your own email. Rather, you should immediately change your password and the passwords you have registered on the sites you’re signed up on.”

(Originally published in Japanese on January 22, 2019. Reporting and text by Shibui Tetsuya; editing by Power News. Banner photo © Graphs/Pixta.)