At work, you use strong passwords, connect to secure networks, and ferret out phishing emails. You have the tools and knowledge to stop cyber threats! At home? The people we care about the most, our children and parents, are targeted just as much as we are at work. There is no end to the weird phone calls and emails sent to our family members. Making matters worse, scam artists look for vulnerable individuals. We’ve provided some tips to keep your home and family cyber safe.
Tips for Cybersecurity at Home
Cyber bad guys will take advantage of people at work or at home. But luckily, many of the pointers we encourage at work also protect your home. Follow these tips, and you’ll be the cybersecurity superhero in your family!
· Protect their digital identities. We pay bills, check on investments, and even socialize using a digital identity. It’s important to keep these identities safe!
· Get to know them. Digital identities can be different for different applications. Personal accounts often use aliases instead of real names. Ask family members which applications are important to them. For children, their most important identities may be different than for you!
· Double down. For their most important accounts, use two-factor authentication. Many online service providers (e.g., banks, social media sites, webmail) offer this feature for free.
· Lock it up. Encourage family members to use unique passwords for every account. Simplify password management without sacrificing complexity with a password vault.
· Protect their private information. Given the amount of time we spend online, it’s no shock that we have a ton of information out there!
· Share less. Encourage your family to limit what they share on social media. You may find that family members use different social media applications than you do. Discord, Tik Tok, and Snapchat are some of the social media applications that are popular with different age groups.
· Know who they know. Know who is on your child’s online “friends list.” If the friends list has aliases instead of real names, take the time to find out who the friend is in real life. Different applications may have a different set of online connections.
· Show healthy suspicion. Reputable banks and government agencies will not send unsolicited emails asking for sensitive information (e.g., Social Security and bank account numbers). Be particularly suspicious of fund transfer requests when buying a home, requests related to taxes, and scams targeting the elderly (e.g., concerning Medicare, prescription drugs, etc.).
· Protect their devices. Just like here at the Judiciary, the bad guys are trying to access home computers and the information on them.
· Go away phishy phishy. Tell your family to be on the lookout for signs of phishing attempts, like misspellings, messages requiring an urgent response, and suspicious links. , And they shouldn’t click on file attachments they weren’t expecting.
· Back it up. Back up the data on their systems. If their system gets infected with malware, or even just fails, the data will still be safe.
· And keep it current. Make sure you have antivirus software installed on all devices. Keep this software, and all other software, current with all updates and patches. ,
Take time to talk to your children and older parents about the scam artists and malicious personalities on the web and on the phone. Teach them to have a healthy skepticism of phone calls and Internet solicitation, links, and attachments. The same skills you use at work can help protect your family at home!
If you have any additional questions about these or other good security awareness practices for your home, please contact your local IT staff, Circuit IT Security Officer, or ITSO for more information.
Tips for Cybersecurity at Home
Cyber bad guys will take advantage of people at work or at home. But luckily, many of the pointers we encourage at work also protect your home. Follow these tips, and you’ll be the cybersecurity superhero in your family!
· Protect their digital identities. We pay bills, check on investments, and even socialize using a digital identity. It’s important to keep these identities safe!
· Get to know them. Digital identities can be different for different applications. Personal accounts often use aliases instead of real names. Ask family members which applications are important to them. For children, their most important identities may be different than for you!
· Double down. For their most important accounts, use two-factor authentication. Many online service providers (e.g., banks, social media sites, webmail) offer this feature for free.
· Lock it up. Encourage family members to use unique passwords for every account. Simplify password management without sacrificing complexity with a password vault.
· Protect their private information. Given the amount of time we spend online, it’s no shock that we have a ton of information out there!
· Share less. Encourage your family to limit what they share on social media. You may find that family members use different social media applications than you do. Discord, Tik Tok, and Snapchat are some of the social media applications that are popular with different age groups.
· Know who they know. Know who is on your child’s online “friends list.” If the friends list has aliases instead of real names, take the time to find out who the friend is in real life. Different applications may have a different set of online connections.
· Show healthy suspicion. Reputable banks and government agencies will not send unsolicited emails asking for sensitive information (e.g., Social Security and bank account numbers). Be particularly suspicious of fund transfer requests when buying a home, requests related to taxes, and scams targeting the elderly (e.g., concerning Medicare, prescription drugs, etc.).
· Protect their devices. Just like here at the Judiciary, the bad guys are trying to access home computers and the information on them.
· Go away phishy phishy. Tell your family to be on the lookout for signs of phishing attempts, like misspellings, messages requiring an urgent response, and suspicious links. , And they shouldn’t click on file attachments they weren’t expecting.
· Back it up. Back up the data on their systems. If their system gets infected with malware, or even just fails, the data will still be safe.
· And keep it current. Make sure you have antivirus software installed on all devices. Keep this software, and all other software, current with all updates and patches. ,
Take time to talk to your children and older parents about the scam artists and malicious personalities on the web and on the phone. Teach them to have a healthy skepticism of phone calls and Internet solicitation, links, and attachments. The same skills you use at work can help protect your family at home!
If you have any additional questions about these or other good security awareness practices for your home, please contact your local IT staff, Circuit IT Security Officer, or ITSO for more information.