Protect yourself before you wreck yourself: 5 security resolutions for 2013

On Dec. 31, people around the world will share resolutions to lose weight, become more productive, quit smoking, and read more often. But how many of them will resolve to secure themselves online?

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Timeline: Explore some of the technological advances that led to cyberspace and some examples of notable hacks.

We’ve seen cyber-attacks continue to increase in the last few years, and it’s not just the big guys like Google and Dropbox getting attacked. One of the biggest mistakes a company, or person, can make is to assume that they are too small to be a target.

Individuals are at risk, too: Consider the sad example of Mat Honan, the Wired reporter whose iPad, iPhone, and Mac were wiped because a hacker liked his Twitter handle.

But “securing your digital life” probably sounds like a daunting task, so we’ve put together five ways to get you, personally, on the road to a security-conscious state of being.

Hackers are like groundhogs. They like holes. Once they find a hole (or make a hole), they can crawl through your system, leaving backdoors and other points of entry to get back inside. But in order to do that, the hacker has to get in first.

When companies discover holes, it is their responsibility to patch them up and send out an update to their users. We do hear the stories of attacking companies such as Adobe for taking their time to patch known vulnerabilities, but it’s in a company’s best interest to fix the hole, protect its servers, and protect you.

The only problem is that so many people don’t actually update their software. And I don’t just mean the software on Macs or PCs but on phones as well. When you see that little update button come through, whether it’s on your computer or your smartphone, take the time and go through the process.

You can use tools such as Qualys’ Browser Check to make sure your browser and related plug-ins are up-to-date. Try it right now, you might be surprised to find that some of your plug-ins are old and insecure.

Your Facebook profile is an identity thief’s goldmine. It has your birth date, oftentimes your full name, your family members (their full names), your hometown, your current town, the schools you went to, your job, any groups you’re a part of, your political stance, your sexual orientation, your relationship status, and your photos. Anyone trying to answer a security question to get access to your bank account could likely find the answer on your Facebook profile.

You need to make sure you know exactly what is on there, and get rid of anything you feel could be used against you. If you’ve got 4,000 photos, go through all of them. If your posts were inappropriate when you first opened up Facebook, delete them. But don’t forget that anything you delete off of Facebook stays on its servers for some time, though the social network will eventually delete it completely.

You should also be aware of its privacy policies too. Facebook isn’t necessarily an evil, data-mining, privacy-upending machine. It’s a business that is trying to make money, and your data just so happens to be what it makes money off of. Get acquainted with what the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and the Data Use Policy say, and “like” Facebook’s Site Governance page. Unfortunately, you’re not going to be able to vote on any of the policy changes anymore, but at least you can get to know them and provide constructive feedback to Facebook when you feel violated.