October is Cyber Security Awareness Month

Spending on cyber security will exceed $1 trillion by 2021. That’s because cyber crime damage is expected to be $6 trillion by then.

No wonder an entire month has been designated to bring awareness to this issue. October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), and this is it’s 15th year running.

This designated month was created as a joint effort between government and industry. It’s intended to ensure that every American has the resources needed to stay safer and more secure online.

The National Cyber Security Alliance has put together a website called Stay Safe Online that is a great resource for ways to protect yourself. We’ve outlined a few easy steps they suggest below on how to boost your family’s protection against malicious acts.

What We Need to Watch For

One of the biggest things to watch out for is malicious email.

Cyber criminals have become very good at luring people in with their emails. A malicious email can often look like it is coming directly from a financial institution or government agency, for instance.

It often tells you false information such as saying that your account has been comprised or there is some other pressing matter to address.

The idea is to get you to provide important information back to them. That helps them then access your account.

In cases like this, the best thing to do is contact the company itself directly. But not with the information provided in the email. Search for the company online.

Securing Your Home Network

It’s also important to take preventative measures to protect your home network, so that you family can use the internet more safely and securely.

Most households these days have networks of devices that link up to the internet, including TVs, tablets, phones, computers, and even gaming systems.

The first step is to make sure you keep all of your internet-enabled devices up to date with the latest operating system, web browsers, and security software.

This includes any phones you have that also access your wireless network.

Securing Your Wireless Router

Many people use a wireless router because of the convenience and ease of connecting multiple devices to the internet from different areas within the house.

However, there are steps that you must take to prevent being vulnerable to people having access to information on your computer. And even potentially using your network to commit cybercrime.

2 simple things you can do to help are to update the name of your router to something unique and to change over your wifi password to a stronger password.

We’ve put some helpful password advice below to make sure your password is strong enough to give you the protection you’re after.

Put Some Muscle in Your Passwords

One of the best ways to avoid having any of your accounts hacked is to have strong passwords.

The strongest passwords include a random collection of uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as several numbers and symbols. They should be at least eight characters in length. The longer the better.

One idea for a strong password is to make it be an actual sentence. It’s good to think about positive sentences or phrases that are easy to remember, such as “I love to read”. Many sites even allow you to use spaces!

You also should not use the same passwords on any sites you visit. That way, if a hacker figures out the password for one of your accounts, he won’t be able to access any of your other accounts.

Your Home Computer Password

One of your most important passwords is to your home computer. Your computer often holds a variety of extremely important data.

You can protect your home computer through the use of a strong password as detailed above. However, changing your passwords often is just as critical to increasing your security.

One more note on this is to never use the same password for your work computer that you use on your home computer. This can represent a security risk for both you and your organization.

And it also vital to keep your virus protection software up to date. On your computer as well as other devices.

If You Do Become a Victim…

If you are one of the unfortunate victims of cyber-crime, there are steps that you need to take right away.

You should:

• Report it to the appropriate companies, plus network administrators.
• Contact your financial institutions as quickly as possible.
• Monitor your account for anything you did not authorize.
• Think about reporting the attack to your local police department. Also, the Federal Trade Commission or the Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Staying safe and secure online is a year-long responsibility. But it’s a good idea to place an extra emphasis on it every October.