Take your online security to the NEXT LEVEL

As the time we’re spending online increases, so do the security risks. CERT NZ’s latest data shows that online security incident reports are up 48% from this time last year. These incidents are impacting our finances, our friends, family and workplaces. But the good news is that CERT NZ’sCyber Smart Week is back with four simple steps to help you (and your business / staff etc) take your online security to the NEXT LEVEL.

With these steps in place, the risk of experiencing an incident is much lower, and if you are impacted, having these steps in place will help reduce the impact.

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‍1. Strengthen your password game

Long, strong and unique passwords are harder to crack.

Up your online security game with long, strong and unique passwords for each account – 15 characters or more is key!
It can be tricky coming up with strong passwords, so try making passphrases instead – a random phrase of four or more words. They’re easy to remember but hard for attackers to crack. For example, BeastModeNowActivated

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We highly recommend you keep your passwords secure with a password manager - it's like an online vault that keeps all your logins in one secure place. That way you only need to remember one strong password! Talk to us about our recommended password manager to help you out!

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2. Power up by turning on two-factor authentication

Keep attackers out of your online accounts with a second layer of defence.

Double down and protect your online accounts from attacks with two-factor authentication (2FA). It’s like a secret key for your online accounts that’s used on top ofyour password.

It’s usually a unique code sent to your phone or taken from an app that only you have access to. Having 2FA turned on means even if an attacker gets your login details, they still won’t get in.

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3. Update to full strength

Activate auto updates on apps and devices to dodge security weaknesses.‍

Updates help keep your apps and devices healthy.Updates aren’t just about getting the latest features available on apps and devices, they also protect you from any weaknesses that could let attackers in. The easiest way to do this is by going to settings and turning on automatic updates – then you just let it do its thing.

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4. Boost your privacy defence‍

‍Switch social media settings to private to protect your personal info.

Your personal information is gold for attackers. Make sure your social media privacy settings are switched over to‘Private’ or ‘Friends only’ – this way, you can control who sees what information you share and who you’re sharing it with. This not only protects yourself, but also your friends, family and followers from scams.

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Talk to us today about what else you can do and how we can help you LEVEL UP your Online Security!

Have you seen our FREE Cyber Safety Check yet? Read the next article for more information!