What is Cybersecurity? Most refer Cybersecurity as technology security or in other words protecting your computers or data from unauthorized access, change or destruction.
Most of us at one point in our lives have been a victim or know someone who has been violated by a “hacker” trying to use our personal and confidential information for their own profit or use. If you turn on the news or read periodicals on any given day you will hear or read about financial institutions, retail institutions, government departments, hospitals, schools and airlines that are being compromised. It is uncomfortable to think that on a daily basis thousands of people across the globe sit at their computers trying to hack into our private data. In 2015 the number of mobile users and data networks is increasing everyday which also increase the opportunities for exploitation. The risk for being cyber attacked will continue to rise as the technology age is evolving rapidly.
Some tips to protect you:
- Be aware that hackers are out there and never take for granted you will not be affected.
- Educate yourself on Cybersecurity.
- Never click on links to emails if you do not know who it is from. Always be suspicious of links attached to emails.
- Never open attachments from emails that you are not expecting. Turn off the option to automatically download attachments on your email.
- Do not give out personal information over the phone, email or text messaging. i.e. social security number, addresses, driver’s license numbers, account numbers.
- Set secure passwords on computers, mobile devices, iPads/Tablets. Change your password frequently and use a combination characters, numbers and symbols that are not common.
- Use anti-virus software on your computers and keep that software updated.
- Pay attention to your received emails. Hackers will usually change one letter to an email you are familiar with, making you think it is someone you know. If you are not sure, delete the email anyway. Better safe than sorry!
Resource: Cybersecurity/Homeland Security