Common Cyber Vulnerabilities And How To Protect Yourself!

2020-04-29
By: Denise Koslowsky

Right now, the vast majority of us are working from home.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have asked their employees to continue to work but to do so from the safety of their own homes.  If this is true for you, you are likely spending most of your time in front of your computer and online.

Whether your time spent online is for work or for personal use, you are susceptible to cybercrime.  We want to offer some words of advice to help you understand some of the most common cyber vulnerabilities and how you can protect yourself and your family.

Ransomware
It has been estimated that 4,000 ransomware attacks occur each and every day (according to mcafee.com)!  Ransomware happens when your data and/or network is disabled (your data can be encrypted making is unusable) and then you receive an email from the hacker informing you that unless you pay a ransom, your data will be permanently destroyed.  Experts agree that you should never pay the ransom, the best way to protect yourself is to prevent the attack in the first place.  

Tips From Your Insurance Advocate

• Update or install antivirus software on your computers.
• Back up your data frequently.
• NEVER pay the requested ransom. You will only be giving the hackers additional personal information.

Phishing Scams

You are no doubt filtering through a massive amount of email coming to our inbox each day.  Some of those emails are bound to be phishing scams designed to get you (or your employees) to open a malicious attachment or click on a malicious website link.  More than 90% of all cyber security breaches start from phishing emails.

Tips From Your Insurance Advocate

• NEVER give out sensitive information via e-mail.
• Don’t click on links or open emails from people you don’t know personally or already do business with.
• Avoid emails that have odd syntax, poor grammar or spelling.
• Don’t click if you hover over the link and the URL doesn’t match the link description.

Cyber Bullying
Your kids are likely spending a higher percentage of their time online during this period of quarantine.  You no doubt want to protect them from the threats of cyber bullying.  59% off all teens state that they have experienced bullying online.  When a child experiences online harassment, it can have an effect on them academically.  According to cyberbullying.org, 64% of students who have experienced cyber bullying shared that it made it difficult for them to learn and feel safe.

Tips From Your Insurance Advocate

• Set boundaries on your kids’ use of mobile devices.
• Talk to your kids about the risks and steps you can take as a family to keep them safe.
• Consider monitoring your child’s cell phone activity with an app such as TeenSafe.

Make Us Part of Your Team
We want to help.  Use us as a resource!  Pick our brains, take advantage of our knowledge and learn more about your options.  If you have any questions about how to protect yourself from Cyber Threats, we would love to talk with you.  The more we know about your specific needs, the better we are able to create the perfect plan for you.