30th November is National Computer Security Day and is designed to raise awareness about cyber security issues and help individuals and businesses maintain online security.
Here are our top-tips to keep all your data and devices secure.
Peculiar Passwords!
- Using a third party password manager, or one on your browser, can help you remember all your different passwords and also suggest strong ones when you have to set a new password.
- Many people reuse passwords which is not recommended, as a hacker would only need to guess one password to have access to a whole host of accounts, including bank and credit cards.
- Where possible try not to use common words or names and dates related to you. The most common passwords in use today are amazingly “password” and “12345”. Make sure all your passwords are strong and hard to crack. Always use a mixture of numbers and symbols and uppercase and lowercase letters.
- Ensure any passwords you use for work are long and strong. Setting device policies to force users to have a PIN or Password that fits a certain criteria can keep your business data safe!
Sound Software!
- Ensure all your devices operating software is up to date.
- Always install recommended updates.
- Remove any out of date software from your devices as without regular updates and patches it can have vulnerabilities that could leave you open for attack! for example, many computer users are still running unsupported versions of Windows XP or Vista which won’t have updates and patches covering the latest cyber attacks around.
- Ensure your browsers and apps are all using the most current versions available.
Hardy Hardware!
- Make sure your computers, laptops and all your mobile devices all have current anti-virus and cyber-security software installed on them.
- Encrypting and backing up your data to an external hard drive, or even to a cloud storage. This way if a hacker gets in and installs ransomware on a device you won’t lose all of your data.
- Set PIN’s, passwords and passcodes on all your devices.
- Having a device manager for your business can remote lock and wipe linked devices if they are ever lost or stolen, protecting your business data
Contact us to find out more about our cyber security solutions.
