More than a billion online fraud attacks are being detected annually and the rates are increasing at alarming speeds. Cybercriminals took advantage of increased online activity and anxiety during the pandemic to ramp efforts to steal sensitive information and extort money. Government agencies, private companies, and individuals have all been susceptible to these attacks.
Extra vigilance is clearly needed during this time and practicing some precautionary measures can help minimize the chances of being a victim to cybercrime.
These include:
- Continually updating your computer and mobile devices: You can easily program computers and phones to do automatic updates for you
- Having anti-virus and anti-malware software on your computers: Use software that provides adequate protection and keep it updated
- Using good password habits: Don’t repeat passwords, change passwords often, and keep a password vault
- Strengthening home network: Wi-fi protected access to your home router will start
- Use pin/passcodes to enable access to devices: Put your devices on auto-lock when the pins are not entered correctly
- Backing up data on computer and mobile devices: Even the best machines crash so backup on external hard drives
- Talk to children and family about internet security: Kids and teenagers are targets because they visit riskier sites where videos and files are shared; older adults are targets because they have financial resources
- Understand and Protect against identity theft: Shred sensitive documents, avoid suspicious links and attachments in email, and review credit report on regular basis
- Know what to do if you become a victim: If you discover you’ve become exposed, enable a fraud alert and credit freeze
- Keep control of your information: Don’t hand over SSN, account numbers, and other sensitive info easily
Come to TiEcon 2022 to hear more from experts in CyberSecurity about some of the game changing forces that are happening now in the space. It is sure to enlighten you to use better security features regardless whether you are a developer, founder, or consumer.