Broadlinc Tips: Cyber Safety

It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month! What does that mean for you?

It’s a great reminder to protect your personal data and mobile devices from serious threats online. Serious cyber threats to personal data are on the rise across the nation. According to data gathered by Anomali and The Harris Poll, 1 in 5 Americans fall victim to ransomeware attacks.

Practicing cyber safety is key, which is why we came up with 5 tips for you to start protecting yourself today!

When creating new passwords for your accounts, be aware of the strength of your passwords.  The stronger the password, the harder it is to hack your personal information. You can make your password much harder to guess by doing the following:

• Try to aim for more than 8 characters.
• Use a mixture of numbers and characters ($,@).
• Mix it up with upper and lower case letters.
• Avoid using common words, phrases, and personal information.
• Change your passwords often.

A single careless click can expose your sensitive information within seconds, which is why it’s important to think before you click. Hackers are constantly coming up with new scams to steal your information such as pop-ups, phishing emails, and look-a-like links. You can avoid their traps with these key practices:

• Be aware of suspicious emails and avoid clicking on links. Verify their authenticity by researching the company or visiting their website directly.
• Be aware of opening email attachments from unknown sources.
• Avoid visiting unfamiliar websites or clicking on look-a-like links. These are infected links and will have a similar spelling or use .net versus .com.
• Turn on your pop-up blocker to avoid being bombarded with scammy pop-ups. If you still receive pop-ups, do not click on them.
• Ask about how our Whole Home Wifi can keep you safe!

A goal of hackers is tricking you into downloading programs and apps that carry malware. Some malware can be disguised as a popular game or an app that checks the local traffic. You can protect your devices and personal information by doing the following:

• Avoid downloading apps and programs from suspicious websites.
• Avoid opening and downloading email attachments from unknown sources.
• Make sure you’re visiting the correct website when downloading and updating softwares.

​Hackers love one thing and that’s security flaws. They are weaknesses found in the software program or operating system that hackers easily take advantage of by targeting it. However, software updates are the key to patching up these flaws, removing computer bugs, and protecting your personal information. If you’re unsure about your devices being up to date, try the following:

• Go to your general settings and check your software
• If there is an available software update, download it.
• You can easily setup automatic updates on all of your devices, so you never have to miss an update.

Simply backing up your personal data on all of your devices gives you the advantage over any cyber threats that result in data loss. However, data loss isn’t always the result of cyber threats. It can also be the result of your devices wearing out overtime. Therefore, regularly backing up your personal data will prevent you from losing potentially years worth of information, photos, etc. Here are some ways you can start backing up your data today:

• Use an external hard drive.
• Copy everything to a USB drive.
• Use cloud storage such as iCloud or Google Drive.
• Subscribe to a backup service such as Acronis or Backblaze.
• You can print out physical copies and file them at home.

Practicing cyber safety habits are essential to protecting you and your personal information. Start off by evaluating your current habits, and then make the necessary changes. Applying any of the 5 tips today will help protect you from bigger cyber threats in the future.