It’s the spookiest time of the year… Cybersecurity Awareness Month! October can seem downright spine-chilling with all the warnings of dangerous threat actors and ghastly security vulnerabilities that seem poised to possess your sensitive accounts and haunt your online presence. Here’s some tricks to help keep your time online a pleasant treat:
- Avoid being tempted by mysterious links. While mysteries may make for good stories, they can also spell trouble online. Beware of unsolicited emails or texts asking for sensitive information, especially credentials or financial details. Scammers will often try to scare you into action by making these messages sound urgent. Remember that managers will never request financial information over the phone.
- Keep bugs at bay with timely updates. While unknown links are a hair-raising threat, known software bugs can lead to ghoulish compromises of sensitive systems. Fortunately software developers often release security updates designed to squash those same bugs to help keep you secure. Turn on automatic updates for devices and software when possible or set reminders for routine checks in cases when automatic updates aren’t available.
- Ward off impersonators with MFA. While you should always use strong passwords and avoid password reuse, sometimes scammers end up snatching credentials through data leaks or phishing attempts. MFA (multifactor authentication) adds another layer of security to your online accounts, so that a stolen password alone won’t lead to compromise. You should turn on MFA for accounts whenever possible, but especially for important accounts such as email and financial.
By shining a light on common risks and conjuring up best practices, you can take the fright out of Cybersecurity Awareness Month and stay better protected year-round.