More than half (51%) of online consumers experienced a security incident in the past year. It is important to learn how to better protect our identity while so much of our life ends up online. October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
We recently participated in an information technology and security training here in our Phoenix office. The information was very helpful to us so we wanted to share some tips with our readers.
Keep your machine clean
- Stop dismissing those updates! Keeping your software current will give you the best defense against viruses, malware, and other online threats.
- Use automatic updates.
- Don’t forget about your game systems and other web-enabled devices, USBs and other external plug devices.
- When storing sensitive data on your hard drive or on an external storage device, encrypt it. This way it is hard to access, even if a hacker does gain access to your computer and manages to copy data.
Protect your information with strong passwords
- Use the strongest possible password. Make Use Of has some great tips to make the strongest possible passwords. Check out the article; http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/create-strong-password-forget/
- Make your password a full sentence. Use a favorite song lyric!
- Change them often!
Be careful with connections
- Secure your network, set a password for your local Wifi.
- If something looks suspicious, don’t open it, delete it. Only open links from trustworthy sources.
- Stay smart with Wi-Fi hotspots. Turn off file sharing and AirDrop options, turn off Wi-Fi when not in use, use a trusted Virtual Private Network (VPN) provider or bring your own Wi-Fi wherever you go.
- Protect your money, “https://” is secure, whereas “Http://” is not.
Be Web Wise
- Keep up with the latest ways to stay safe online and share with the entire family. Continue to stay web-wise.
- Think before you act. In the long run, it makes sense to take just a moment and think about an offer before clicking on it.
- Back it up! You can protect your files from accidental loss by creating a backup on an external hard drive or online backup service.
Own your online presence. Your personal details are like money, value and protect it. Be in the know about all those that may collect your information. Set and review your privacy settings often. Add it to your to-do list like anything else you do.
If you’re ready to stop reading and take action, visit Stop | Think | Connect and download these tip sheets to hang on your fridge at home or keep them handy at the office; https://www.stopthinkconnect.org/tips-advice
