Cybersecurity Tips For Business Professionals In Baltimore/Washington
10 Tips To Keep Your Personal and Business Information Secure
Cybercrime is one of the most lucrative illegal businesses of our time, and with such a high return and low risk, there’s no chance cybercrime will slow down anytime soon. McAfee recently released a report on the economic impact of cybercrime – showing the global cost is nearly $600 billion dollars – up from $45 billion in 2014. The risk is so high that it’s more important than ever before to be safe online. So what steps can you take to protect your personal and business assets?
Here are 10 ways to be safer online…
- Watch what you’re posting: Don’t overshare on social media and don’t post anything you wouldn’t want to tell a stranger. This includes announcements about out-of-town trips, large purchases or anything involving your location.
- Be careful with public wi-fi: Although public wi-fi is incredibly convenient, it’s not secure. Free wi-fi at airports, shopping centers, and other public locations doesn’t keep your information private. If needed, use a VPN to ensure a secure connection.
- Pay attention to your downloads: Cybercriminals can easily trick you into downloading malware as they create fake applications containing viruses, trojans, and other threats. Download files and/or applications from trusted sources only.
- Use complex, hard-to-guess passwords: Weak passwords are the primary way cybercriminals get into your accounts. Don’t use the same password everywhere and make sure your passwords are complex and hard-to-guess.
- Turn on privacy settings: Cybercriminals love to know all about you and they can gather whatever they need from your browsing and/or social media usage. Change your privacy settings on your browser and online accounts to stay safe.
- Enable two-factor authentication: Wherever possible, make sure two-factor authentication is enabled. This is especially important for online banking. This way, you’ll need a code sent to your mobile phone in addition to a password.
- Don’t visit websites that aren’t secure: You can tell if a website is secure by looking for a padlock next to the address or checking that it’s HTTPS instead of HTTP (the “s” stands for secure).
- Be careful who you meet online: Cybercriminals can create fake accounts on popular websites and/or social media platforms to lure you into providing information they can use to crack your passwords. Be careful who you meet online.
- Be careful clicking on links: Be aware of the risk of phishing – a form of cybercrime wherein the hacker convinces you to click a link that takes you to a malicious website. Don’t click links, go to the source instead.
- Keep your programs up-to-date at all times: Make sure you’re applying the latest patches and/or bug fixes on your system and install the latest, most secure version of your browser.
Speak With Your Baltimore/Washington Cybersecurity Professionals
We highly recommend you watch the full video for more details on each particular point. If you have any questions, contact us. We’d be happy to discuss online safety with you.
