Over these past few weeks of this year's National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) we have mentioned several times how one of the most important aspects of being cyber secure is being aware of potential dangers. So, it is high time that we discuss how you can go about identifying dangers and keeping yourself up to date with the latest cyber security knowledge.
Awareness
One of the first things you should know is how to protect yourself from is phishing scams. We have an entire blog post dedicated to this subject here, but the short version is that phishing scams are when a malicious website or email tries to trick you into thinking it is legitimate and allowing it to steal your data or infect your devices. The most important things to know from this is to always scrutinize any emails that ask for your data, to follow a link, or download a file. You should always check the sender's address to see if it is actually from who it is claiming to be. Additionally, you should find the phone number of the person or organization the email claims to be sent from and call them personally to verify the validity of the email, if the email provides you with a phone number you should verify it with research such as comparing it to the phone number on a known legitimate site before trusting it.
A few common phishing scams include people claiming to be family or friends requesting financial aid or personal information, people claiming to be representing government organizations such as the Social Security Administration, and now with the COVID-19 epidemic there have been many phishing scams involving people claiming to be charities, or distributing malware claiming to be new statistics on COVID-19, or people claiming to be distributing COVID-19 related stimulus payments. Remember to always be cautions, and never give away your personal details to anyone digitally or download any files without doing research to ensure their validity. And keep in mind, urgency is a red flag.
Staying Up To Date
You should also understand that you are reading this blog after it has been written, and that not all the information in it may still be applicable. For example, the COVID-19 epidemic will eventually come to pass, and when it does, cyber criminals will be less likely to use COVID-19 related scams. There are numerous resources available to you in order to stay up to date on scams and other cyber security news. Of course, there is our own Lighthouse IT Solutions blog which you are reading now, we will always strive to post relevant and helpful information you can use to protect yourself. As well, our partners at Sophos have a blog called Naked Security located here, which is regularly updated and focuses exclusively on topics related to cyber security and privacy. Finally, there is official website for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Administration located here, which also contains numerous guides on how you can keep your digital presence safe.
Is your network up-to-code?
Our Secure-IT Cyber Smart Assessments is a self-assessment of your network! You can fill it out be yourself to understand if your company's network has any major issues, but we can help guide you through the assessment this entire month! Because all this tech stuff can be a bit confusing, we want to guide you through so that you can learn what everything is and truly understand the thing your company relies on every hour of every day. Again, your network is only as strong as its weakest link, and that weak point is almost never obvious.
Start learning how to better secure your company!
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