Peace's blog: Have you been pwned?

At a recent parent teacher information session, the Headteacher discussed the importance of online safety and safe guarding procedures that have been put in place for the pupils. I found that the session was not only useful as a reminder for parents to ensure appropriate oversight of what their children are upto online, but also as a means of learning tips from other parents with older children about what they do to ensure that they don't feel anxious every time their son or daughter goes out. Whilst social media has been positive with regards to connecting people and building networks, sadly it also has its pitfalls. Not least because of the social issues from online grooming, to cyber bullying, to personal content and data being exploited without consent.

Regulations that came into force about a year ago have been effective from a forward looking perspective, with the option to opt out of being spammed with unsolicited marketing. However, this may not necessarily help if you've already been 'pwned' – a term I just recently learned a lot more about which means your email address (and perhaps passwords) have been compromised or may even have been sold on to third parties. Interestingly, despite my efforts towards managing and trying to remember the different passwords and log-ins for all my different online applications, to online banking, to even the one-off or ad hoc websites I use, I still somehow got pwned.

Although it is somewhat tedious to regularly update and manage these different passwords for different online accounts, it is a good practice where feasible and much easier than resolving the case of a potential stolen identity that leads to fraudulent activities. A situation that a close friend had to deal with recently, in order to prove his innocence. 

Don't get pwned.  Be vigilant. 

Peace is a proud working mother with a hands on and supportive husband also in the city, together they have "almost achieved" a work-life-work balance with their children all under 9 years old. She has worked in the City for 14 years full time, mostly in investment banking, recently as Head of Operational Risk for a leading Insurer, and now as a Senior Manager in Risk for a leading Investment management firm.

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• Families