Our online world needs to be protected. There are easy things we can
do to ensure our information is safe from those wishing to steal it.
Recognize & report phishing
Most successful online intrusions result from a recipient of a “phishing”
message accidentally downloading malware or giving their personal
information to a spammer. Do not click or engage with these phishing
attempts. Instead, recognize them by their use of alarming language
or offers that are too good to be true.
Report the phish and delete phishing messages.
Use strong passwords
Simple passwords can be guessed. Make passwords at least
16 characters long, random and unique for each account.
Use a password manager, a secure program that maintains
and creates passwords. This easy-to-use program will store
passwords and fill them in automatically on the web.
Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA)
Use MFA on any site that offers it. MFA provides an extra
layer of security in addition to a password when logging into
accounts and apps, like a face scan or a code sent by text.
Using MFA will make you much less likely to get hacked.
Update software
When devices, apps or software programs (especially antivirus software) notify us that updates are available, we should install them as soon as possible. Updates close security code bugs to better protect our data. Turn on automatic updates to make it even easier.
