Your personal and professional cybersecurity matters more than ever before

Dr. ir Johannes Drooghaag
3 min readMar 10, 2022

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The information coming from Ukraine is overwhelming to say the least. There seems to be no end in sight and the humanitarian disaster is developing faster and more devastating than anyone of us could have imagined.

I welcome every initiative to support the population of Ukraine during these hard times, and am doing my own share within my capabilities. I stand with Ukraine!

Cyberwarfare knows no rules or borders

The cyberwar is all around us, and the involved actors simply do not care about who they harm, as long as they cause harm. In some cases, that will be a disruption of a service as revenge for someone else doing the same to “their side”. In other cases, it it will be direct attacks on our devices or accounts.

What we have to be aware of is that cybercriminals and state-sponsored actors are very keen on taking control over devices and accounts of innocent bystanders, so they can abuse them for their malicious actions. Here are 3 simple steps you can (and should) undertake to prevent becoming a collateral damage:

1) Make sure your devices, operating systems, and apps have the latest updates installed. TIP: activate automatic updates to make this easier for you.

2) Use multi-factor-authentication on all your accounts. TIP: when a service does not offer MFA, you should consider to stop using it.

3) Keep an eyes on your accounts and devices, so you can respond/react in case they are under attack or even worse, when you lost control over them.

Stay safe!

Related information

Statement by Dr. ir Johannes Drooghaag on the war against Ukrainejohannesdrooghaag.com
Statement by Dr. ir Johannes Drooghaag on the war against Ukraine

Rules of war: Why they matter? | ICRCwww.icrc.org
ICRC’s series of explainer videos on the rules of war and how they are fought, which can have significant effect on saving lives and reduce suffering.

LEADERSHIP — Kindness is still seen as weakness by too many.leadership-circle.net
Kind leaders tend to gain loyalty, something those who lack kindness will hardly experience. The loyalty they receive is only valid until the next one comes around who is even tougher. Kind leaders tend to gain trust, and create an atmosphere in which everyone is able to grow and develop. The alpha focused tough ones will not only never experience this — they will also feel very insecure in such setting.

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Dr. ir Johannes Drooghaag

Dad, consultant, coach, speaker, author. Mainly Cyber Security, leadership, responsible tech and organizational change. https://johannesdrooghaag.com