Cyber Security Tip: Don’t Drown in the Cyber-waters this Summer

As much as we would like to think that cybercriminals take a holiday at the same time as the rest of us, the reality is the bad guys know that our guard is more likely to be down.

We always get warned about safety in the water during summer, and so we thought in the same spirit we would give some practical cyber security tips to stay safe in the cyber-waters as well.

1. Sober surfing

While a glass of whatever you fancy is always welcome at celebrations, it doesn’t necessarily mix well with checking your feeds. A moment of poor judgement (clicking on that bogus email or text telling you that there’s a parcel waiting for you) could leave you the victim of a phishing cyber attack that could sober you up pretty quickly and leave you with a long hangover. Leave the phone in your pocket while celebrating or at least look without touching something until you’ve got the time to check it out properly.

2. Get a password manager

I’m sure none of our discerning readers are still using their pet’s name, the same password for all sites or the dreaded “password123”, but I bet some will have a “secure” file somewhere, say iCloud, with all their passwords in it. Hot tip: it isn’t secure.

Even the most cyber security-conscious will benefit from implementing a proper password manager app such as Lastpass or Dashlane. These apps will not only help you keep your passwords safe, but they will give you guidance on better passwords, early warning of any of the user IDs that may have been compromised and keep you up-to-date with practical security advice. If you get to the most advanced level of use, even you won’t need to know any of your passwords. It’ll change your life!

3. Think differently

If you’re still worrying about whether your anti-virus is up-to-date or if you’ve got the best product, I know a bunch of hackers who want to come to your party so they can ruin it. There are much more sophisticated strategies, such as monitoring services, that you can look into to reduce your risk without increasing your costs. Why not use the break time to think about whether you would enjoy not having to worry about cyber security at all?

Better yet, why not take our free digital wellness assessment which will give you a sense of what areas of your digital health you need to focus on when the New Year rolls around, not just cyber security.

Whatever you decide to do, please don’t put you or your business at risk of drowning in the cyber-waters this summer.

Stay safe and well everyone!

Happy Holidays to one and all.

Ray Delany is the Founder of CIO Studio, a company built to partner with SMEs and help them solve the “strategy” problem and align their digital investment with their business outcomes.

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