Linda is a busy executive. She is always on the go, and it seems like she’s always connected both to work and to her loved ones, whether by the smartphone in her hand, the laptop that’s always in her bag, or the computers she has on her desks at the office and at home. She often works at home early in the morning or late at night. She also travels a lot for business, so she connects to the network at the home office while she’s on the road so she can get work done over the hotel WiFi, at an airport hotspot, or even in the back of a cab.
Linda prides herself on being productive and always available to her clients, her colleagues, and her kids. But, after an incident last month she began rethinking whether all this “always on” connectivity was without risk. Linda accidentally left her smartphone on the table at a restaurant, and a thief was able to access all of Linda’s passwords and accounts, and even get information off her company’s network before she discovered the problem.
Linda learned that, even though she thought she was being careful, she still wasn’t doing enough to protect her professional and personal information. Linda password protected everything, but she tended to use the same password over and over so she could remember it more easily. Plus, it was a password that could be guessed--the name of her dog and her oldest son’s birthday.
