Safer Internet Day: Practice Safe Online Habits
This Tuesday was Safer Internet Day – a day dedicated to honoring safe Internet habits. In the past year, we’ve seen our fair share of data breaches in the news, so it’s important to be aware of your online habits, and what you’re doing to protect yourself and your business.
So what better way to honor this day then to hear from us – the experts in global identity fraud protection – on our tried and true methods for protecting yourself online.
Break poor password habits
Are you guilty of using the same password across multiple sites? Break the habit now. An email or password compromised from one company’s data breach can open up vulnerabilities across a multitude of completely unrelated websites such as banking, financial, online retailers and the like. Creating a strong, alphanumeric password will help reduce the risk of a company data breach. And remember to change your passwords frequently.
Keep your devices clean
It may seem obvious, but many forget to keep the software up-to-date on their laptops, smart phones and tablets, and out-of-date software can increase security risks for these devices. You keep your car engine clean, so why wouldn’t you keep your mobile devices clean? Set up automatic updates, if applicable.
Don’t click that link
Be wary of clicking links on unsecured or unknown websites that can be malicious, or through email phishing scams – where you receive an email from what appears to be a legitimate merchant, but is, in fact, misspelled or “too good to be true.” Hackers are also able to embed malicious links or ads into legitimate sites (drive-by malware), so always make transactions across secure web pages where the link uses an HTTPS address.
Surf Wi-Fi safely
Traveling for business and need to access a Wi-Fi hotspot? Think again. Airport Wi-Fi is a goldmine for cybercriminals. Never send classified documents or valuable information across a public Wi-Fi network. Try a using a virtual private network (VPN) if it is a must.
What’s your number one tip for securing yourself on the Internet? Have any more tips you’d like to share? Feel free to tell us below in the comments section or on Twitter and Facebook.