No doubt you will have heard about one of the many data breaches recently as a result of cyber attacks. These unfortunate events are shining a light on how important personal information is. It may be time to review your cyber security practices and give them a spring clean with these simple steps.
1. Update your devices and applications.
Regular updates are critical to maintaining secure systems. Cyber criminals hack devices by using known weaknesses in systems or apps. Check your devices for updates and turn on automatic updates to apply future updates straight away when charging and connected to Wi-Fi.
2. Turn on multi-factor authentication.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security measure that requires at least 2 proofs of identity to grant access. Turning on MFA will boost your protection against criminals. While they might steal one proof of identity, such as your password, they will be locked out of your account without the other.
3. Back up, back up, back up!
Backing up your data saves copies of your files to an external storage device, or an online server like the cloud. Setting up automatic backups means you can recover your important information if something goes wrong. Once you’ve followed these tips you might like to check out the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s Small Business Cyber Security Guide which gives more advice to help smaller organisations build their cyber security resilience.
Resources:
- How to turn on automatic updates on your devices.
- How to turn on multi-factor authentication.
- How to set up automatic backups.
