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National Cyber Security Awareness Month
What steps are you taking to stay safe online? More than ever before, we are spending more time online and in possibly insecure, home networks .
We all must be continuously cyber aware to lead a safe, online existence.This is a continuous process, but the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) has designated October as Cyber Security Awareness Month.
This year, we're sharing tips to help you increase your awareness around common, online activities.
5 Cyber Security Tips That Bear Repeating
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Be careful clicking on links in email
If you receive an email appearing to be from a company or organization with a link, be mindful about the link before you click it.
If the email is directing you to click a link to update your personal information or password, do not click the link. Instead, go to the known home page of that organization and contact their customer service to find out if they sent that email to you.
Links in email are a common phishing attack. Click for more information on Phishing. -
What do you reveal on social media posts?
Be careful about the personal information you share about yourself on social media, especially linked sites that ask for your date of birth, your mother's maiden name, your city of birth, the year you graduated high school.
These are pieces of information we often use for our password security questions. Protect them as you would your Social Security Number or credit card number.
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Use one password per website or account.
Avoid using the same password across your various online accounts and apps. You can use a password manager to create random passwords for each site you logon.
The more a password is used, the more likely it is to be hacked. If a password is hacked, by using different passwords across sites, you need to only worry about one account as opposed to changing passwords and monitoring activity on all your services.
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Buying online? Stay on the platform for your communication.
Have you ever been coordinating a purchase from eBay or Facebook Marketplace when the seller suggests you move to text or phones? Don't! Continue to use the messaging option provided by that platform.
Moving off the platform can put you at risk of fraud and leave you unprotected if you are scammed.
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Text messages can be harmful!
You know to be skeptical of emails that may appear to be from your bank, Paypal, the Apple store, etc. Now you need to use the same scrutiny with text messages.
Legitimate companies and organizations will not use text messages to ask you to send your password. If you receive a text with a link to change your password, do not follow the link! Go to the organization's website and change your password through your account settings.
You can visit our Online Security web page for information any time of the year.