Christmas won’t be Christmas without a quiz

Christmas won’t be Christmas without
any presents according to Jo March in Louisa May
Alcott’s Little Women.

Which traditions are sacrosanct to
your Christmas?  Delicious food,
excellent company, carol concerts or perhaps a seasonal quiz?

If you are looking for some
stimulation for your “little grey cells” to quote Hercule Poirot, look no
further.  As Computer Troubleshooters is
all about IT support, here’s a little test of your Cyber Security
knowledge.

Are you a cyber guru?

Tot up your scores to find out.  Answers at the end – no peeking!

1               
What is *phishing*?

A: an email sent by hackers aiming
to *hook* personal data

B: an email seeking compliments

C: angling for posh people

2               
What does MFA stand
for?

A: Most Fatal Aberration

B: Mixed Failure Alerts

C: Multi Factor Authentication

3               
Which of the
following is the strongest password?

A: CT$75amGrSkmn8T& – used for 1
application only

B : Fido123

C: password

4               
Your CEO emails
you from a personal address asking you to send them your mobile number
urgently.  Do you:

A: reply promptly with your number.  Your CEO is an impatient person.

B: Contact CEO directly by phone to
check this is a valid email.

C: reply to the email to ask if this
is a valid email.

5               
You see an
unidentified person in your offices. 
Should you:

A: Send out a company-wide email
asking who they are.

B: Hope that someone else deals with
them.

C: Find out who they are and if they
need help.

6               
What is the best way
to back up your data?

A: Keep a copy of your files on your
own computer.

B: Implement an automated backup
including cloud and off-site storage.

C: Buy a backup drive and make a
file copy when you remember.

7               
You get an
undeliverable message for emails you don’t recall sending. What does this mean?

A: Known as *backscatter*, it
indicates that your email address has been *spoofed* (that is, someone else is
sending emails which look as if they come from your email account although they
don’t) but the targeted recipient address does not exist.

B: You probably did send the email –
you are too busy to remember – and you misspelt the recipient address.

C: It’s just Outlook playing up
again.

8               
You are called
away from your desk, leaving your laptop unattended.  Do you:

A: Leave your laptop unlocked. You
trust your colleagues not to meddle with it.

B: Lock it. 

C: Leave your laptop unlocked and attach
a post-it note with your passwords in case someone needs to access the bank
account.

9               
You receive an
email from a supplier informing you of a change of bank account.  The address and signature look authentic.  Do you:

A: Update the bank details straight
away on your billing system.

B: Email back to the supplier to
check that they have sent the email.

C: Phone the supplier to check if
this is real or have they been hacked.

10           
What is the point
of Security Awareness Training?

A: It lets your company tick the
boxes that it is dealing with Cyber Security so you don’t have to worry about
it.

B: It gives you a few hours off work;
makes a nice change.

C: It encourages you to think about
the security implications of all the actions you take when handling company
data.

Here are the answers.  Give yourself a point for each correct one.

1 Phishing: A: an email sent
by hackers aiming to *hook* personal data

2 MFA C: Multi Factor
Authentication – an extra layer of protection so that the password is not enough
in itself to crack your account.

3 Strongest Password: A: CT$75amGrSkmn8T&
– used for 1 application only.  Better
still if you use a password manager to generate and remember unique passwords
for you.

4 CEO personal email: B:
Contact CEO directly by phone to check this is a valid email.

5 Unidentified visitor: C:
Find out who they are and if they need help.

6 Backups: B: Implement an
automated backup including cloud and off-site storage.

7 Undeliverable emails: A:
Known as *backscatter*, it indicates that your email address has been *spoofed*
but the targeted recipient address does not exist.

8 Unattended laptop: B: Lock
it. 

9 Supplier bank account change: C:
Phone the supplier to check if this is real or have they been hacked.

10: Security Awareness Training: C:
It encourages you to think about the security implications of all the actions
you take when handling company data.

How did you do?

Scored 10 out of 10 – you are a cyber security superhero!  Don’t rest on your laurels though as the
cyber criminals are relentless and will keep evolving their strategies.

Scored 3 to 9 – pretty good but you need to brush up on your daily
practices.

Scored 2 or fewer – you need to be protected from yourself!  Time to get some security awareness training
and some good cyber security protection.

NOTE: Questions 4 + 9: the reason it is better to call than to
reply to a suspect email is that the hacker may be controlling the email
account.  If you send an email to ask if
it is legit, the hacker will reply to you to confirm that it is!  Think of the hacker as the Big Bad Wolf
hiding in granny’s clothes – this
blog explains all.

A good New Year’s Resolution
for your business would be to bolster your cyber security.  Your Computer Troubleshooters are here to
help.

Have a safe and brilliant Christmas!