The Importance of Cybersecurity: How Each Individual Can Also Play a Part in Ending Attacks

Cybersecurity is something that most people don’t think about until it’s too late and they have been hacked.

A corrupted firewall, an identity theft scare, a suspicious pop-up on your cellphone.

We don’t want that to happen to you, so that’s why American Lazer is educating you this National Cybersecurity Awareness Month with tips and best practices.

• Enable multi-factor authentication: A lot of banks and secure sites give you a choice to enable multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication is simply when 2 or more options to secure your site are presented.
  • Example: Do you ever see those questions that ask about the model and make of your first car or the name of your childhood best friend? That’s Multi-Factor authentication at its finest.
• Use strong passwords (and change them often): We recommend you change your password at least every three months (or after being notified of a threat or leak). Making sure to choose a password with a mix of capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuation work best.
  • And if you want to choose something easy because you will forget, create a shorthand.
  • Example: You were married to Diane on May 5, 1975 so your password could be Dmay51975 or any variation.
• Update your software: We all see those software notices to update your computer (yes, again) and we tend to put it off to the side for another time, but acting on those updates as fast as possible is best. Yes, it can disrupt your flow, but not as much as sensitive data being leaked.
  • Those updates are actually timed perfectly with what the software companies are noticing about cybersecurity hacks. So if you see an update notification, it means that your software company is informing you in real time to beat hackers to the punch.
  • Better yet, you can always automatically have your software update during sleeping hours, unless you are night owl, you won’t even notice
• Think before you click: If something looks suspicious, it probably is. So follow your gut and err on the side of caution. You won’t regret it.
• Lastly, Spread the word: Tell your family and friends how important it is to be one step ahead of hackers. Share these tips with them. It can change their life.

If you have any more questions about cybersecurity and how to keep your online presence safe, email us at [email protected] or fill out our Contact Us form.