Cybersecurity Awareness: Essential Tips to Stay Safe

A big part of financial security is taking the time to review and reinforce basic online safety practices. With digital threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, it’s crucial to stay vigilant and follow simple steps to keep your information and accounts secure.

Here are some essential do’s and don’ts to help you protect yourself, your family, and your workplace from potential cyber threats. These practical tips can make a big difference in safeguarding your personal data and devices.

Freeze Your Credit

If you are hacked, your first steps should include freezing your credit. Why? Because neither you nor the bad guy can obtain a credit card or a loan if your credit is frozen.

Freezing credit is a simple, online process that takes less than 10 minutes. There are four credit agencies where you can freeze your credit: Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, and Innovis. In the event of a hacking, you should submit a credit freeze for each spouse, and consider doing a freeze for each child.

Should you need to take out a loan, refinance, buy a car, etc., you can lift the freeze at each agency for a time of your choosing. This allows the banker or broker access to your reports for a short period of time, and then the freeze is automatically put back in place. For example, you can lift the freeze for one day only, and once the day lapses, your credit automatically freezes.

In the event of an account hacking, credit freezes are a good step toward financial protection.

 

Ditch the Post-Its

DON'T

• Save your passwords in a text file on your computer or on a post-it near your workspace.

DO

• Use a secure password vault or password manager to store your passwords. These tools encrypt your data and are much safer than keeping passwords in unprotected places.
• Use an automatic screensaver with password protection that activates after 5-10 minutes if your computer is in a shared space – and don’t walk away without locking it.

Get Ready for Holiday Roaming

DON'T

• Neglect basic security when away from your office or home.

DO

• Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) when on public Wi-Fi on any device.
• Enable multifactor authentication (MFA) on all your devices and online accounts. MFA adds an extra layer of protection by requiring more than just a password to log in.

Run Those System Updates

DON'T

• Ignore those pesky system update notifications.

DO

• Run updates as soon as they are available. They often include critical security patches that help protect against new vulnerabilities – and can improve system performance.

Be Savvy – the Bad Guys Are

DON'T

• Fall for phishing scams. Cybercriminals are becoming more convincing and clever in their tactics.

DO

• Keep your cybersecurity instincts sharp. Be cautious with suspicious emails or texts.
• Mouse over links to check their legitimacy, and if you’re unsure about the source of an email, especially from a financial institution, contact them directly rather than responding.

Know What to Do Just In Case

DON'T

• Ignore any suspicious activity while online.

DO

• Report incidents immediately.
• Use the US-CERT portal to report phishing, malware, and vulnerabilities, and the FTC portal to report phishing scams and other fraud-related issues. Prompt reporting can prevent larger security breaches and protect others from fraud.

In a world where cyberattacks are constantly evolving, understanding the basics of cybersecurity can help reduce your risk.