Top Online Safety Tips for National Internet Safety Month 2020

This month marks National Internet Safety Month, where the goal is to raise awareness about online safety and how we can reduce risks online.

There are several key security practices you should keep in mind when using your smartphone, PC, tablet, and other connected devices that should by now be as instinctual as looking both ways before crossing the street.

Here are WOT’s top 6 Internet safety tips that everyone can benefit from and that will help keep your information and devices safe.

Windows, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Adobe, and other software should always be updated, which will patch new security vulnerabilities and include fixes to software as needed. If you’re using Windows, you can turn automatic updates on or set alerts to prompt you when new updates are available so you can install them at a time convenient to you.

While it may seem obvious, it’s important to remind yourself that any application can contain malware, and Windows is the most vulnerable OS. Remember when downloading apps or new software, to only download from a software developer’s official site.

With the benefit of technology constantly improving and becoming faster and smarter every day, also come various risks, many of which surround your passwords and how you operate with them.

Hackers nowadays have a much easier time cracking a password than they did just a few years ago. The longer and more complex your password is, the harder it is to be cracked. While it may seem challenging, you should always use a password at least 12–15 characters in length with a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.

Additionally, to keep things extra safe, always deny your browser from remembering your username and password when you log in to any site. If an attacker gains access to your device, your accounts could be compromised, simply because your passwords are safe and without realizing it, you just gave them free access to your account.

Always enter your login and password manually regardless of the device you are using, remember, attackers, do not need physical access to your device in order to gain access to the information on it. The extra step it takes you to log in to an account each time, while inconvenient, can do a great deal to keep out intruders.

In a survey carried out last year by Survey Monkey and then posted to Tech Radar they found that of 1,507 U.S. adults, one third (34%) said they share passwords or accounts with their coworkers. Meaning that upwards of 30 million of the 95 million American knowledge workers may be sharing passwords. Almost 22% of the people they surveyed also admitted to reusing the same password on multiple work accounts.

A hacker discovering a document full of shared passwords in one employee’s Google account can turn a single security incident into a full-blown breach, potentially opening your organization to legal issues if customers’ privacy rights are violated.

Therefore, it is important to always keep online accounts private and secure. You may think it harmless to set up and share a photo-sharing account, however; users are still vulnerable to social engineering tactics, which can put shared accounts at risk.

Always use your best judgment on what you share, post, and like online. Instead of sharing accounts, you can use shared folders on the Cloud such as Google Drive or Dropbox, with constant control over who has permission to access specific files, that way you are still connected and still have access to other people’s accounts — just in a much safer way.

Today, our mobile devices are a one-stop-shop for making payments, our personal health, work, gaming, productivity, texting, tweeting, and everything in between. We use them to do just about everything, from mobile banking to navigating new places, and to emailing. But whether it’s hacked browsers, petty thieves at the coffee shop or your own tendency to lose devices, using your smartphone as a centralized source for all of your information comes with big risks, and the more you’ve connected and stored, the more you stand to lose.

Therefore, it has become crucially important to take mobile security measures seriously. Keeping your mobile and personal data secure on your mobile device can be done in a few simple steps.

When you set up your passcode, use the same security measures you would on any other device, such as not using your birthday or social security number for your passcode, and definitely not any obvious series of numbers that are easy to guess.

Overall it’s important to have your mobile and computer security measures in place throughout the year. National Internet Safety Month brings this to your attention so we wanted to remind you of the most vital security measures to have in place. Happy browsing!

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