Tips to Protect Yourself During Cyber Awareness Month

Think that everything you do on the computer is safe? Secure? That you won't ever have an issue with cyber security? New York State Department of Consumer Protection has a few tips or guidelines to help keep you safe (and your identity) during October, which is Cyber Security Awareness Month.

According to a press release here are the big things that you should be doing on a regular basis to keep secure. Are you regularly doing any of them? Maybe you should.
Regularly change your password. This is probably the most important one of the tips, and the one that people have a tendency to overlook the most. Use more complex passwords, ones that use both upper and lower-case letters, special characters and numbers. A password that has at least 10 characters is a good place to start. Did that? Ok, now make different passwords for each account. That way a crook cannot access multiple accounts once they get into the first one.

Change your security questions.Yes, this can be a pain, but in the long run, your security is worth it. Also make sure that only you know the answers to those questions. Don't have answers that can easily be figured out through a quick search on social media.

You have probably been told this next tip since you first began using a computer, but here it is again, "Beware of phishing." Resist the urge to click on nks, download files or open attachments from unknown senders. Just don't do it.

Monitor your financial accounts. Know what is going on with all of your accounts and regularly review your statements so you can spot suspicious activity quickly.

Check your credit report every year (it is free if you go to AnnualCreditReport.com). You can access your credit report for free from each of the credit reporting agency's one time per year.  Since there are three credit reporting agency's, access your report every four months using a different agency, so you can spot unlawful activity on a regular basis.