business 10 Personal Cyber Security Tips for 2021 May 06, 2021 Do you use a password manager? How about multifactor authentication? In today’s world it’s important for you to prioritize protection of your online presence. Here are 10 tips for 2021. We live in a time where we have invited the entire world into our homes through the Internet. It’s amazingly enabling, but of course it also brings risk. How can you effectively protect yourself and your family’s personal information? Here are my thoughts. The problem at hand It’s reasonable to say that we lean upon technology in mostly every situation nowadays. Most of the time when we go somewhere, the first thing we do is connect to the Wi-Fi. In the past, we were only dealing with a few devices, usernames and passwords. Now, you’re likely juggling dozens of devices, and 30-40 sets of credentials. Most of us have the same username and password for everything…and that’s where we become vulnerable to attack. Ten tips Centralize your credentialing- There are excellent password managers available through Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. Having a centralized place for all your passwords makes it easier should your information become compromised. You only have one place to go to make a change.Deploy MFA everywhere- Use multifactor authentication for everything. Use a question and answer only you would know—something that cannot be easily found on your social media profiles. Nowadays you also have the option to have a code sent to your phone to prove that you’re the rightful account holder. Level up password management- LastPass is an excellent password management tool that I use myself. There are other credential managers out there, but remember they should be encrypted, have a master recovery program, and it’s wise to Google them to see if they’ve ever been breached. Anything that makes it harder for a hacker to gain access is helpful!Control your devices- Make use of patching and anti-malware. Control your family usage levels through something like the Office 365 family plan.Control your data- Microsoft has a great tool called the “personal vault” which alerts you when a sign-in request comes through. This can house your personal info and it automatically relocks so you don’t have to worry about signing out. Also, you should settle on a single file storage provider and never save things on your local drive! More local drives are compromised than cloud services.Decentralize your financial accounts- Set up an account just for incidental online spending—keep a small volume of cash in there and use for sites you aren’t familiar with. Also, consider a virtual credit card number.Build out a contact doppelganger- Think about setting up a dedicated email address for one off online transactions. It’s also wise to consider setting up a virtual contact number through google voice or freedom voice to reduce spam or phishing calls.Hire a digital bodyguard- Identity Force and Lifelock provide monitoring for your credit accounts, bank accounts and monitor the Darkweb for you. They will alert you if there is unusual activity on your account. Periodically check your own accounts through HaveIBeenPwned.com.Raise awareness- Talk as a family about the risks of ID theft and threat. ID theft isn’t just stealing a password—it’s about data gathering. Social media is a treasure trove—hackers can find out where you live, what kind of car you drive, where you work, who your family members are and more. High net worth individuals are particularly vulnerable. Hackers will go to the Darkweb, get a list of potential targets, find recent breaches and learn about them in order to gather info. Watch out for voicemail phishing or vhishing. Hackers will target children and elderly to incite fear—watch out for your family!Have a written plan- Keep a business card sized list in your wallet with 3-5 tips, ordered by level of risks, that you can pull out if you think you’ve been compromised. For example: -Citizen’s Bank- freeze accounts -Notify identityforce.com -Change MS password -Notify Capital One Include phone numbers so everything is right there where you need it in this stressful scenario. View our recent webinar here: 10 Personal Cyber Security Tips for 2021 Is your cyber security up to par? Need assistance? Reach out to Envision Technology Advisors.
