Security

HOW DO YOU MANAGE PASSWORDS?
As a freelancer and owner of Evolving Media & Design  for a quarter century, and being in the design industry for almost thirty years. You can imagine that you’re going to learn something new along the way, the experience is funny that way. During this time I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, talking too, and working with some fantastic people.

With each client, each team, I strive to teach during a project, explaining every step of the way what I’m doing and why. Graphic or Communication Design represents only one aspect of our business. At Evolvingmedia.com we also provide professional e-mail and web hosting services.

In a previous article, we centred on security, the need to having an SSL Certificate, and the need of assigning someone to be a backup in case disaster strikes.

Why do I mention this? In an article, published in HuffPost Canada in December 2018: “Canadian CEO Gerald Cotten died with the only passwords to unlock Cryptocurrency Exchange Quadriga Clients’ worth roughly One Hundred and Ninety Million dollars.

The Vancouver-based exchange filed an application for creditor protection on January 31, 2019, and the Nova Scotia Supreme Court will be asked on February 5th, to appoint a monitor to oversee the proceedings, according to a post on its website, which has been otherwise shut down. Quadriga owes $70 million in currency and an additional amount of cryptocurrency valued at approximately $180 million, based on market prices in December, to roughly 115,000 users, it said in its application.

Some of their clients have very large balances, with the largest affected user claim reportedly valued at approximately $70 million, court filings show. Users have very little recourse to recover those funds, said Christine Duhaime, a lawyer and founder of the Digital Finance Institute.

As mentioned earlier, I can’t make this stuff up. This incident is one of those “slap behind the head moments,” which brings me to the purpose of this article.

• What procedures do you, as a business, have in place to safeguard your data?
• How many people in your business, or even your family have a copy of your password or passwords?
• Do you have a copy of your data in a safe deposit box?
• Do you have an open conversation about data security within your organization?

Do you ensure that your devices are using the latest versions of the operating system and software to minimize threats from malware, ransomware and hacking?

At Evolving Media we can not emphasize enough the importance of security. Just as you need insurance for your business and your vehicle, securing your data and ensuring someone else within your organization has access to it is vital.