As more aspects of our lives move online — banking, shopping, & healthcare just to name a few — ensuring online safety has become increasingly important and is crucial in today’s digital age.

“What is online safety, you ask?” 

The actions an individual takes to protect themselves, their personal information, and their digital assets when using the internet. 

There are a multitude of ways to protect yourself, your accounts, and your personal information online.

Here are 10 key items to remember:

1. Unique Passwords: Always use a strong and different password for each account — do not use the same password on multiple sites. This makes it so that threat actors (aka hacking groups) are unable to use the same credentials across multiple sites, logging into your other accounts. Many times threat actors will steal credentials from a small site and try to use the same credentials to login to peoples banking and financial accounts. 
2. Password Managers: Remembering unique passwords for every online account individuals have is challenging even though it’s tempting to — don’t write them down.  Do yourself a favor and use a password manager. There are many on the market today.
3. Multi-factor Authentication (MFA): This one’s easy — turn on multi-factor authentication. MFA requires individuals to provide multiple forms of identification beyond just a username and password adding an extra layer of protection. MFA can also alert you if someone is trying to force their way into one of your accounts.
4. Update Apps: Keep applications updated on computers, tablets, phones — all of your devices.  Updates often include security patches that can protect against the latest threats. 
5. Avoid the Internet of Things (IoT): Avoid connecting devices, such as appliances, to the internet if you do not need them (Do you really need your refrigerator connected to the internet?).  Manufacturers add it for convenience and in most cases do not put any security into the product or security updates. In fact, approximately 98% of appliance-type device traffic is unencrypted, putting your information at risk.  Every device connected to the internet represents an endpoint that is a potential point of entry for bad actors. In the past, threat actors have gotten into devices like thermostats and cars to do malicious things such as turn up the heat or unlock the doors. Frightening, but true.  
6. Be Careful With Social Media. That (seemingly) harmless post about leaving for vacation, the fun “Get to Know You” list, even online birthday greetings, can give threat actors personal information about you or your family which can be used in negative ways. Are you thinking “There’s nothing dangerous about answering questions in a fun list a friend tagged me in,”? — What street did you grow up on? What was the name of your first pet? What was the first concert you ever attended? Yes, these are fun things to learn about friends, but often questions just like these are used as security questions for online accounts.
7. Think Before You Post It: Everything on the internet is backed up somewhere — regardless of how long an app says it might last. Before you post a photo, blow off steam about a coworker, or even send a chat you think will vanish in 60 seconds, pause and think whether or not you would want your grandma to see that photo of you. What about the future in-laws that you might have someday, but haven’t yet met? The college admissions board? Or a potential new boss — would you want them to see the photo? Do not send out pictures or videos that you might, someday, wish did not exist.
8. Relinquishing Rights: Once you put something on the internet, you are relinquishing the right to it. Some apps are owned by foreign assets and in the terms of agreement state that they are allowed to use any videos, pictures or information posted for their own purposes. Make sure if you record and post something that it does not contain sensitive information that someone could steal from the background and that it doesn’t provide personal information about yourself or others.
9. Do the Due — Due Diligence, That Is: Before you click a link, or share a post, do your due diligence aka, quick research.  Is it a real link? Does your favorite online retailer have a hyphen in their name? Does the rock group really spell their name that way? If it seems suspicious, don’t click the link and don’t share the post. Odds are, your all-time favorite band isn’t really going to let you hang out with them on their tour bus before their concert if you are the 10,000th person who shares the post. 
10. Digital Footprint: Remember that everything you do online contributes to your digital footprint — your ‘shares,’ your ‘likes,’ your purchases,  website visits, even your online searches contribute to your digital footprint and can be accessed by others and potentially used by threat actors. Being mindful of what you do online is essential for your online safety, as well as your reputation.

Protecting yourself online isn’t “one and done,” it’s an ongoing process. By educating yourself about online threats, taking proactive measures to secure your devices and accounts, and implementing these 10 key items, you are protecting your assets and building responsible online behavior. 

Reach out to me if you have questions or would like to talk about protecting your information and online accounts or other ways you can significantly reduce risks to your personal information and enjoy a safer, more positive online experience.