Be cyber smart and stay one step ahead

Published on November 22, 2021

Each one of us can do our part to make sure that our online lives are safe and secure. There has been a significant increase in cyber fraud as cybercriminals took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s all do our part and learn about cybersecurity, so that we don’t fall victim to cyber fraud.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recommends everyone:

• Implement stronger security practices
• Raise awareness in your community and among friends and family
• Educate vulnerable audiences, including seniors and children, and promote training for employees

It can start at home by creating a great password. Here are some tips:

1. Use a long passphrase
2. Don’t make passwords easy to guess: do not include personal information in your password
3. Avoid using common words in your passwords and substitute letters with numbers
4. Get creative by using phonetic replacements, such as “PH” instead of “F”
5. Keep your passwords on the down-low and don’t tell anyone your passwords
6. Unique account, unique password: have different passwords for various accounts
7. Double your login protection: enable multifactor authentication (MFA) to ensure that the only person who has access to your account is you
8. Utilize a password manager to remember all your long passwords

For further information, please visit the CISA cybersecurity resources page.