Cybersecurity Resolutions for the New Year
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Resolutions for the New Year
As we wind down 2022, many of us set our sights on goals for the new year. When contemplating your new years goals, you may want to consider adding some of these cybersecurity resolutions into the mix in order to have a great, safe 2023.
Password Hygiene - The most essential building block of being cyber secure is having good password hygiene. This is a simple, free step you can take that makes a world of difference in your personal cybersecurity. Be sure that you use complex, unique passwords for each login. Use a string of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and characters such as an exclamation point or ampersand. Be sure that each of these logins is unique from the others that you use. Additionally, be sure that at least once a year, if not twice per year, that you change your passwords for your accounts - particularly for accounts tied to financial institutions.
Regular updating of devices - Keeping your devices up-to-date with the newest software updates is one of the most straightforward steps you can take when it comes to being cybersecure. Despite its simplicity, this step is one of the best things you can do to help protect your devices from threats; manufacturers of devices put out security updates when their internal teams have detected some way to improve the functionality of the device or have detected a vulnerability which could betaken advantage of by malicious actors. If you do not update your device when anew operating system is available, you miss out on those enhancements that help your device to operate more smoothly and safely.
Clean up your connections - In2022, the average person spent two and a half hours on social media each day - this is a good chunk of a person’s time spent awake! With social media being so prevalent in our lives, it is an area that should be high priority when it comes to cybersecurity measures. One way to better protect your online presence is to go through your connections on social media and delete any suspicious looking accounts, duplicate accounts that appear to be left dormant (i.e. you see one account for your aunt that is active and posting new things all the time and another account tied to her that she must have lost the password to some time ago), and anyone who you no longer wish to have access to the information you share online. Cleaning up your friends and followers lists can help you to ensure that your social media space is safe.
Staying in the know - For an especially tech-minded individual or merely a person who wants to prioritize cybersecurity in the new year, staying in the know in relation to cybersecurity is an incredibly easy and helpful step to take. Keep up-to-date with cybersecurity news and threats via a Google news alert for common threats like phishing and ransomware. You can also keep up to date on tips and stories by keeping up with articles posted on the Tego blog!
Vamp up your security with additional steps - For those who wish to take their cybersecurity goals to the next level in the new year, there are some additional measures you can take to really enhance your security. A VPN, or virtual private network, is a great way to privatize your connections and protect your privacy while online. Another way to vamp up your security is to utilize a password database to help the management of complex passwords an easier and more efficient process - a password database is just as it sounds, a single location to store the data that is your logins and passwords. With a password database, you only need to remember one password (the password to the database) and then you have secure access to all of your login information. Be careful to ensure that your database password is complex and unique so as to protect all of your passwords!
