Nathan Meets His Monsters, Kropp Joseph P.

In just the next 24 hours:

• Scammers will target the public with 94 billion emails
• Hackers will seize and hold 88,000 computers for ransom
• Identity thieves will impersonate 35,000 people

How we handle our online security is critical to protecting our personal and professional lives. But guidance for staying safe has been fragmented and confusing--until now.

Hack-Proof Your Life Now demystifies the topic and introduces you to the New Cybersecurity Rules--clear, sensible, and do-able actions that will quickly improve your security.

Can anyone really be safe and secure online? Yes, there is a way to quickly shut down hackers, thieves, and identity scammers and enjoy good online security, say authors Sean M. Bailey and Devin Kropp. They contend that anyone can dramatically boost their online security by taking a handful of inexpensive and easy-to-accomplish actions.

Their book begins by asking the reader to measure his or her online security with a 10-question cybersecurity quiz. Nearly everyone scores poorly. But that changes quickly as the authors introduce the New Cybersecurity Rules, a set of 15 principles organized around three mindsets that must be cultivated in order to achieve higher security:

Secrecy. Email addresses, passwords, credit files, Social Security numbers, and other personal information need greater levels of protection. Governments and private companies have done a miserable job guarding personal data. Only individual actions can limit exposure to hackers' data breaches. The authors offer eight secrecy-boosting rules, including this one: Stop using a personal email address for online banking and credit accounts. It's too easily stolen. Instead, create a financial-only email account to use exclusively for finances. That limits exposure to just a few secure places on the Internet where the financial-only email resides, making it harder for hackers to scoop up and exploit.

Omniscience. Just like the financial services industry, consumers must use technology to become "financially all-knowing" and monitor--in real time-- personal banking and credit matters. By placing one's self at the center of online security (a key theme of the book), everyone can rest assured that identity thieves aren't quietly stealing their money or ruining their credit. One recommended omniscience rule: Set up notifications on banking and credit cards to instantly become aware whenever cash leaves any accounts or when credit is charged. It's a way to instantly spot fraud or identity theft, a solid protection to have at no extra cost.

Mindfulness. Enacting the New Cybersecurity Rules instills a stronger security mindset, the authors tell us. But how can it be maintained? Safety degrades without permanent changes to computer behaviors and security awareness. But the hackers never sleep. Even the best protected inbox will still receive a few dangerous emails. What to do? The authors suggest their 10-Second EMAIL Rule, an easy to remember mnemonic for staying mindful of avoiding malicious links. EMAIL stands for "Examine Message and Inspect Links" and shows how to spot and unmask dangerous blackmail spam and identity theft malware. It's a Zen-like practice that can benefit everyone every time they check their email.