I get asked all the time for a quick answer to the question:
“how can I protect myself from getting attacked online”?
Although the thorough answer is lengthy, simply put everyone can make their digital lives and experiences more secure and private by following these two fundamental concepts: 1. Don't be an easy target and 2. Protect your valuables
The basics are hugely important in cybersecurity
Follow these 10 good security practices to greatly reduce your overall risk:
- Keep your systems updated and patched.
- Use professional anti-malware software, firewalls, and spam filters when possible.
- Use strong and unique passwords (no sharing across sites) and keep them secret.
- Don't CLICK on any link or attachment sent via email or text!
- Don't install untrustworthy software or go to websites with insecure reputations.
- Don't share too much personal information and don't be lured into social engineering scams.
- Only do business online with reputable parties that you trust.
- Monitor activities to detect signals of an attack (ex. watch your credit report, pay attention to malware alerts, someone being a bit too friendly in social media, etc.) then act quickly to reduce the potential impact.
- Expect something bad to happen and have a response plan (ex. backup your critical data beforehand, have a recovery plan, be ready to cancel a compromised credit card, know how to change/reset your passwords, etc.).
- Know what is valuable to you in your digital life and be extra paranoid about keeping those things secure and private. (Ex. Use multi-factor-authentication on your bank accounts, don’t give out your birth date or social-security/national-insurance numbers, avoid exposing the private data of your children, etc.)
Effective security is about applying good practices relative to the risk and being consistent.
Consider this your monthly Cybersecurity Public Service Announcement.
Hope it helps.
Matthew
