You will get hacked!

In How Hacks Happen and how to protect yourself, you learn how hackers think, work, and exploit. The author presents fake web pages, shares where your passwords spread and explains how social media sites monetize personal information. How Hacks Happen is for anybody who feels technology is “too much to handle.” Let somebody else become the victim. You read How Hacks Happen.

Buy Digital (PDF) Workbook ($19.95)

This hack happens every day

Do not fall into this trap.

You go to work. You arrive late, of course, because traffic moved slower than it should. You’re frantic. You barely pay attention as you sit down at your desk and open your email. You see one that warns your Gmail password will expire within 24 hours. ‘“Click here” to reset the password and acquire your email within 24 hours or your account will be exterminated’ it says. You click. Never mind that you have not had your morning coffee yet and you’re still fuming about the slow commute.

“Email is my lifeblood,” you mutter. “I better renew my account now because I cannot lose access.” You type your email address, daphneprancer@gmail.com and click Next. The trick is on you. It only looks like Gmail…

Buy Digital Workbook ($19.95)

Table of Contents

  1. White Hats and Black Hats
  2. Email Hack
  3. You are Pwned
  4. Passwords
  5. Multi Factor Authentication
  6. Convenience vs. Security
  7. Attractive Targets
  8. How I Hack
  9. Hacking WordPress
  10. Surrender Media (Social Media)
  11. Fake Social Media Connections
  12. Facebook, Google and Yahoo Track
  13. How to Protect Yourself

Some people you may meet on social media

Social media request from Cassandra

Cassandra

Single mom. Receptionist for a federal government agency's Los Angeles office. Helps establish neighborhood watches throughout Los Angeles County. Tells her kids and neighbors you have to be street smart when you live in the big city.

Too bad this picture and persona are not real. Read How Hacks Happen to learn how someone would create this fake persona to exploit you.

Next time you peruse friend requests, ask how you know that persona is a genuine person, and not a hacker's tool.

Social media request from Tom

Tom

Single. Medical student. Works part time at a coffee shop in Palo Alto. Plays computer games in his precious free time. Promises to cure dementia, which has stricken his grandmother. Tells friends the country will be screwed up until we elect Bernie Sanders President and he cancels student loan debt.

Too bad this picture and persona are not real. Read How Hacks Happen to learn how someone would create this fake persona to exploit you.

Next time you peruse friend requests, ask how you know that persona is a genuine person, and not a hacker's tool.

Social media request from Lynne

Lynne

Happily married to a professional athlete. Real estate agent in San Francisco. Runs three marathons a year. Promised her mom she would visit all seven continents before turning 50. Laughs and walks away when you try talking politics.

Too bad this picture and persona are not real. Read How Hacks Happen to learn how someone would create this fake persona to exploit you.

Next time you peruse friend requests, ask how you know that persona is a genuine person, and not a hacker's tool.

Mark Anthony Germanos

Your security is as strong as its weakest link, you.

How Hacks Happen and how to protect yourself is my fourth book. I help 7-figure and 8-figure businesses grow their business, increase profits and protect secrets. I believe protecting PHI (Protected Health Information) and PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is something you have to do, and does not have to cost an arm and a leg. In the security business, the bar keeps rising because hackers keep getting better.

I am a cybersecurity trainer. I present the CompTIA Security+ curriculum to students in multiple states and countries. The world needs more good guys who know how to protect us, because the world has too many bad guys who know how to steal from us.

I am an ethical hacker. “What does that mean,” you may ask. It means I use the skills, tools and tactics hackers use to exploit their victims, but I have a different agenda. I find your vulnerabilities and help you remediate them before the bad guys find them. It’s like asking the fire department to find ways a fire may start in your office before a fire happens.

I also believe Benjamin Franklin’s “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” applies to security. You can invest to proactively protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your network, your assets and your secrets.

You can take the opposite approach and deny your vulnerabilities exist.  If auditors catch you, they fine you for your negligence. If a hacker finds and exploits your business, you incur a crippling cost to recover. Your reputation is damaged beyond repair.

This is your managerial decision. I do technology decisions. I refer this to your wisdom.

A Workbook (because life is not a spectator sport)

Passwords

Learn how hackers trick you into disclosing passwords, and how stolen passwords are available on the dark web. Stealing passwords, credit card numbers and social security numbers is not a crime, according to some hackers. Learn why...

Facebook

Learn how Facebook and other social media services record and use personal information you surrender (share). Too much sharing jeopardizes your identity, your physical security and your career. Learn why...

Solutions

Learn how to protect yourself, your secrets and your reputation. This may be a bitter pill to swallow, but we're talking about protecting you and your money from highly motivated hackers. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Learn how...

Contact the Author

+1 (844) 580-1200
mark at cybersafetynet dot net
3450 Palmer Drive #4-286
Cameron Park, CA 95682