January 28, 2022
Categories: Education & Security
By David Czarniak, Information Security Specialist
Today is Data Privacy Day!
We all know what a jungle the cyberworld can be. Now, more than ever, it is important to safeguard yourself from those who would take and misuse your personal information. To raise awareness, and promote data privacy best practices, here are some useful tips to keep your information safe and secure:
- Be careful who you give information out to.
- Do not give out personal information online unless you can verify who you are giving it to.
- Always be suspicious of people “phishing” for more information than you are comfortable providing
- Be mindful of any information you put on public websites such as Facebook, Twitter, or other social media.
- Be wary of App Permissions
- While getting a new app on your smart phone is fun and exciting, make sure you check what permissions it is asking for.
- Many apps request far more permissions than they may need.
- You can control which apps have permissions to these things from your phones security settings menu and deny permissions you are not comfortable giving.
- Secure your passwords
- The #1 threat to password security is password re-use. Do not use the same password for multiple accounts.
- Do not write down your passwords or store them in an unencrypted format, such as in a notepad file, or an office sticky note
- If possible, enable Multi-Factor Authentication. The Summit’s online banking has this feature to protect our members!
Here are some more tips to help you avoid becoming a victim.
- Use caution with email messages
- If an email from a known contact or business seems suspicious, contact the sender directly
- Do not open unexpected or unsolicited email attachments
- Rather than clicking a link from an email, open a browser and type the website
- Check website address (URL) before logging in
- Beware of pop-ups and banner ads
- Only share information on secure websites you’re familiar with
- Use an anti-virus program (frequently update software & virus definitions)
- Check online accounts/bank statements regularly or setup email alerts to monitor transactions
With these safeguards in mind, you can be proactive about your data privacy.
Happy Data Privacy Day!