As a trainer, one of my main goals is to make sure that Commonwealth’s home office staff and our network of financial advisors are aware of (though not paranoid about) information security threats.

And there certainly have been a lot of threats recently. As the year comes to a close, I’d like to take a look back on the biggest information security incidents of 2017 and show that for every bad thing that happened, an invaluable lesson was learned. The bad guys are getting smarter, but so are the good guys.

Would you believe that the iPhone is only 10 years old? If you're like me, you might have a hard time remembering life before smartphones and tablets. After all, most of us rely on our mobile devices for everything from completing daily tasks to connecting with friends.

With recent events like the Equifax breach affecting millions of people, there's no doubt that cybersecurity is more important than ever before. And for professionals in the financial planning industry, security awareness is imperative. Your responsibility extends beyond your own finances, identity, and privacy. You are also charged with helping to protect your clients' sensitive information. So, where can you start?

The first time I heard the phrase “physical security,” I immediately thought of Raiders of the Lost Ark, with its booby-trap boulders, moving spike walls, and light beams that trigger darts. Fortunately, it didn’t take me long to figure out that the physical side of information security is (almost) never as wild as an Indiana Jones movie!

If you follow the news, you’ve likely heard of the WannaCry ransomware attack, one of the most widespread cyber attacks to date. Once infected with this ransomware, all information on the user’s computer is encrypted (i.e., locked away) unless a ransom of $300 to $600 is paid to the attackers in Bitcoin.