Data hacks are on the rise. Here is how to protect yourself against breaches and cyber attacks

Louis Vuitton customers are the latest to be plunged into a data breach nightmare, but as cyber attackers become smarter and bolder, here’s how you can keep yourself safe.

Many Australian businesses are underprepared to combat digital attacks, a cybercrime expert has told the Herald Sun.

Luis Vuitton customers in Australia are the latest to be plunged into an online nightmare, with personal information including name, gender, country, phone number, email address, postal address, date of birth and passport number all leaked in an international cyber breach.

Cyber security senior lecturer at UniMelb Dr Shaanan Cohney said online hacking had unfortunately become an “everyday affair”.

“Many Australian businesses are underprepared but there is also a lot of education work that needs to be done,” he said.

Why are data breaches on the rise?

He attributed the rise mostly to an increase in companies storing personal data on the internet.

“As businesses move to secure their data on the cloud, the systems to secure that data become complicated,” he said.

Companies have not yet developed strong enough systems to prevent these kinds of attacks, with a complete defence system near-impossible.

“It’s always easier to find one hole in the armour that someone has set up than to ensure that the armour protects everything entirely.”

Luis Vuitton customers in Australia are the latest to be plunged into an online nightmare. Picture: Damian Shaw

What do we know about the hackers?

Attribution of hackers is extremely difficult, according to Dr Cohney, with multiple attackers often working together at once.

”For the large part, many of these organisations operate under regimes where it’s very difficult — even if you track them down — to actually convict the crimes.”

Many hackers are based in Russia, North Korea and along the Thailand-Myanmar border — all places that are “very hard to access”.

It has been suggested online the perpetrators of the recent Louis Vuitton attack were the Shiny Hunters, a prominent criminal group named after a Pokemon video game.

However, Dr Cohney said it is “unclear to what extent these rumours are true.”

“One thing that is common among these groups is their attempts at extortion.

“They are no longer hacking for pleasure and they tend to be a part of either organised crime, or, in some cases even state sanctioned crime and the general modus operandi is to break in and ransom the data back to the company”, he said.

My data was stolen, what threats do I face?

“On its own, each of these pieces of (data) aren’t that valuable — but when put together and even potentially linked together with other hacks, it can be devastating”, Dr Cohney said.

Hackers use individual bits of information and data and piece it all together like a puzzle, sometimes from previous hacks.

“It’s the combination between the date of birth, name, address and email that is at most risk,” he said.

With such a combination of identifying information, hackers could be able to convince a company they own that identity.

Passports are “less useful”, because “generating and actually using false travel documents is quite hard.”

Hackers use individual bits of information and data and piece it all together like a puzzle, sometimes from previous hacks. Picture: Supplied

What can you do now your data has been stolen?

In reality, you probably won’t be hacked after a data breach.

Dr Cohney said: “In practice, if I were an individual and not someone who worked at Louis Vuitton, I would carry on going about my life as normal but just remember to pay attention to things like my bank account and my credit file”.

He suggested checking your online banking and any other online assets regularly to look for anything abnormal or inconsistent.

If your phone number was compromised, it is wise to change two-factor authentication settings away from SMS verifications.

Changing passwords can never hurt.

To go one step further, parties can hire an identity monitoring service – which alerts individuals to suspicious behaviour after a hack.

Fragmenting your true data can be effective in protecting yourself against unnecessary hacks. Picture: iStock

How can I be more careful with my data?

One of the most preventive actions available is lying — where it is not legally required, you should not give away all of your personal data.

“In many instances, you don’t actually need to be truthful about the details you provide when signing up to an online service,” he said.

“If you are opening up an account at your local salad store, you don’t need to give them your true details.”

Fragmenting your true data can be effective in protecting yourself against unnecessary hacks.

Another action Dr Cohney suggested was to always use biometric sign-ins when you have the option – things like FaceID and TouchID as it makes hacks far more difficult.

Try to have different passwords for all accounts — Dr Cohney suggested using password manager which is available on most browsers.

The software generates random passwords for each account and automatically signs you in. Therefore, if you lose one, you don’t lose them all.

Originally published as Data hacks are on the rise. Here is how to protect yourself against breaches and cyber attacks