From Cybersecurity: Taking security awareness home

Given the landscape of ongoing security threats, RTD, like most organizations, requires employees to take routine awareness training. It is also vital to remember that security threats extend far beyond the workplace. Scammers don’t mind getting personal. They’ll target anyone anywhere, not just organizations. That’s why applying awareness training concepts to personal life is a good idea.

Develop household security policies

Whether living alone, having kids or living with roommates, a household security policy serves to protect data and devices. It should include simple things like using strong, unique passwords for every account and setting social media profiles to private.

Stay updated

Outdated devices and software often top the list of security concerns. It’s one of the reasons developers routinely push updates that patch vulnerabilities. As a best practice, enable automatic updates so security updates are never missed that contain important fixes that could help protect your data.

Learn the warning signs

There is no shortage of scammers in the world who love to steal money and data. By learning the warning signs of their plots, scam attempts can be thwarted. No matter the scenario, stay alert for threatening language, urgent requests and unrealistic promises.

Stay informed

It’s always a smart idea to stay informed of current cybersecurity news. This proactive approach can help to avoid trending scams and other security threats.

Protect your network

Like an online account, it’s vital to protect home networks with strong passwords. Routers often ship with default login credentials, like “admin” or similar. The default passwords for those accounts are public knowledge, so it’s important to update them immediately to something strong.

Navigating the privacy paradox

The concept of personal privacy is at odds with the wealth of convenience the internet provides. This conundrum has given rise to what’s known as the “privacy paradox.” It refers to people who, despite concerns about their privacy, disclose personal information so they can access free online services.

Nothing, of course, is ever actually free. Those services are usually provided in exchange for personal information, such as browsing habits, age, location and other personal details, which will be used for marketing purposes.

The question then becomes, what actions can anyone take to balance privacy with online convenience? The answer isn’t easy, but there are at least a few ways to control privacy.

  • Review permissions
    • Whenever installing mobile apps, take a minute to review permissions. Decline any that aren’t necessary for the app to function. For example, a mobile game shouldn’t need access to contacts or messages.
  • Opt-out
    • Cookies are how sites store various settings for the next time the user visits. Feel free to reject them for any sites not regularly frequented.
  • Go incognito
    • Most modern web browsers offer an incognito or private browsing mode. It lets the user use the internet without the browser tracking site history. This function can help to avoid unwanted advertisements and data collection.

While these privacy measures won’t fully remove the concerns of data collection, they can help manage how personal information is used. Like all things related to personal security, being proactive is the key.