WELCOME TO CYBER SECURITY AWARENESS MONTH!

Welcome to Cyber Security Awareness Month!  Ok, so we’re already more than half way through the month, but how many of you knew that each year October is (Inter)national Cyber Security Month?

And what better way to start than by taking a moment to reconsider the basics of IT Security?  The following cartoon has been around for a while (original source unknown, but obtained from here), but is as much true today as it ever was.

The most advanced technologies can be brought into play, huge amounts of money can be spent protecting technology from every conceivable threat, but as soon as fallible humanity comes into the equation, all bets are off.  It doesn’t matter whether you are the lowliest peon in your workplace, or the CEO of a major multinational, we are all susceptible for, “to err is human”.

Although we all make mistakes, if we put good methods and practices in place, we will need to work much harder in order to truly mess things up.  The below infographic (edited from the version at staysafeonline.org) gives some good practical tips for home and business users alike, but we have to remember that security doesn’t belong only to the “professionals”, but starts with each and every one of us.

Cyber Security Starts at Home – with everyone online, even down to the youngest of infants, we need to make sure that all users learn to use the internet safely.

Keep Devices Up-to-Date – one of the best methods of protecting against malware is to keep your system up-to-date, whether that be the operating system, software or drivers.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – Passwords can be broken, so it is better to use additional methods to secure important data such as bank accounts and email.

Be Careful with Social Media – “Once online, always online”.  Think about what you put online today, because it may come back to haunt you.

Backup Your Important Data – Data loss, corruption, ransomware – these are all common ways to lose information, so backup your important data, and frequently.

Your Personal Information is Valuable – Be careful what you reveal, because everything you share about yourself online is worth something to someone.

Create Strong Passwords – This is true for all passwords, but especially home WiFi.  Once someone is in your home network, who knows what personal information they have access to?

Links: 
https://www.alienvault.com/blogs/security-essentials/i-am-dave
https://staysafeonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NCSAM-2018-Week1.pdf