Following tips can help a layman be more cyber-aware and develop a cyber-conscious behaviour that will help them in their day-to-day life.
- Ensure that your software is up to date. Turning on automatic system updates on phone and other devices will allow security updates and patches to be applied to software which will remove vulnerabilities that attackers use to access these devices. This should be followed both for operating systems and applications. Similarly, web browser plugins should be kept up to date.
- It is critically important to understand that home computers can be infected by malware received as attachment from emails. The attachments can be exe files, document, pdf or images. Therefore, one should be careful before opening such attachments especially emails received from unknown sources. One should not fall victim of phishing scams where recipients click on a link sent by an attacker trying to collect recipient’s personal or sensitive information. Phishing attacks are also launched when a malicious user sends attachments that infects the recipient’s computer with malware, Trojan, virus or zero-day vulnerability exploit. This often leads to ransomware attack. One must be vigilant when emails come from unknown sources. If the email contains links, hovering over the link can show where does it direct to. Emails with grammatical errors and unprofessional to appear are candidates for careful evaluation. Fraudulent emails can also be sent by friends or acquaintances who have been infected as well.
- New software and applications should not be installed unless the source is trusted.
- Passwords should be a combination of uppercase, lowercase characters, numbers, and symbols. They must be easy to remember yet difficult for others to guess. They should not be written on sticky notes or notebooks and left out unattended as this gives opportunity for cyber-attackers to steal the password. The same password must not be used twice, and they must be reset once in a year.
- Use antivirus software to protect from malicious attack and prevent viruses and malware from entering your system. Anti-virus software must be bought from known vendors. In case the last update scan does not display the current date and shows a past date, manual anti-virus scan can be run which will remove the latest threats with the recent version of antivirus signature and the last update scan will reflect the current date.
- Enable two-factor or multifactor authentication which adds an extra layer of security to the password used for online identification. This would mean receiving a personal identification number on phone or over email and validating the user’s identity after the user has entered username and password.
- Avoid connecting to public wifi without any virtual private network. This will prevent cyber-attackers from accessing your data as the traffic between your device and the VPN server is encrypted. Use of mobile network is safer than connecting to public wifi. authentication.
- Protecting Personal Identification Number is vital. They include information such as name, SSN, address, phone number, location details, physical or digital identity. These information can be used by cyber-attackers by stealing them and masquerading as a real user. Quite often, some of these information are available over social media which makes the job easier for the attackers. Therefore, it is key to be mindful of the information that are published online and ensure that PII are not made available to random users on social media. Very little information about oneself should be published online. Additionally, privacy settings of social media platform should be reviewed often, and activity status should be shared with limited audience.
- Mobile devices must be used securely. Mobile passcodes must be a difficult one to guess and should not be familiar to birth date, bank account details or any other related number. Security updates and patches should be allowed on mobile device to keep it safe from old vulnerabilities. Features like- Find my iPhone and Android Device Manager must be kept on to locate your phone in case they are lost in order to prevent any theft. Apps should only be installed from trusted sources. Mobile data should also be backed up regularly.
- Online classes form an essential part of a student’s life in the aftermath of the pandemic. Therefore, it is vital for parents to have a check on the content being exposed to the students. The digital identities of the children must be kept secure so that they are not targets for cybercriminals. Online popularity is a growing trend among teenagers. Often strangers on internet masquerade as friends trying to manipulate and keep a watch on the teenagers. Therefore, it is important to teach children how to respond to interactions and message requests coming from strangers. Cyberbullying is a dangerous threat that affects the psychological wellbeing of an individual. Everyone should be offered a safe space to talk about it. In the event when a young adult possesses a credit card, they should be advised appropriately to visit safe websites, not to save card details on the site and not provide any personally identifiable information online.
In this fast-paced world, knowledge of good cyber hygiene is sacrosanct. This also includes people from older generation as well as children. They form a part of essential skills of today and security awareness can help each of us foster a safe environment around ourselves.