During Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Take Steps for Better Online Safety and Privacy.

More than 20 years ago, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) joined forces to designate October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The goal is to raise awareness of online dangers and promote better online habits and behaviors among businesses, their employees, and consumers.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month stresses these key actions.

There key components to boost and maintain online security.

You should take time now to review these strategies and ensure you’re strong in each area, or consider taking time to look closer at your personal cybersecurity profile:

Creating and using strong passwords
Using two-factor or multifactor authentication on your most critical accounts
Knowing how to spot the red flags of common scams
Keeping your devices’ operating systems, as well as apps and software, up to date

You can scroll further down for more information on the four actions. For now, let’s get you rolling into Cybersecurity Awareness Month by illustrating, through a helpful infographic, what you can do to update your devices and software.

Every month should be Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

More than two decades after Cybersecurity Awareness Month was established, the need for more awareness is greater than ever, as the number of attacks reaches an all-time high. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the average consumer and most employees of businesses are keenly aware of the dangers of cybercrimes.

It’s also likely that employees and consumers are not educating themselves on cybercrimes and how to stay safe. In fact, most people only start paying attention to cyber dangers when they themselves have become a victim of an online attack.

And yet, the exact opposite needs to happen. It’s the lack of awareness of cybercriminals’ tactics and tools that makes every business, every employee, and every consumer a target for cybercrime. And that’s not likely to change any time soon—if anything, that number will only continue to grow.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month theme: “Secure Our World.”

Throughout Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Cybersecurity Alliance will focus on key topics and provide tips to help everyone learn and adopt new and improved habits. These are tips that cybersecurity experts routinely stress, but which are still not widely implemented by consumers and online users.

The theme for this year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month is called “Secure Our World.”

In particular, this year’s campaign emphasizes practical and actionable tips to encourage all U.S. businesses and citizen to increase their awareness of scams and online threats, and learn how to avoid them. This year’s theme emphasizes “straightforward, everyday actions that significantly improve cybersecurity.”

Cybersecurity Awareness Month emphasizes that enhancing your safety begins with your actions.

Here’s a sobering truth and a dose of reality: staying safe online and protecting your finances, privacy, and identity are your responsibilities.

Your local police, the FBI, and the FTC cannot keep hackers and scammers from attacking you.
There are tools available to help you stay safe, but you must use them diligently.
You cannot trust what you see and believe anymore. And you can’t trust someone just because they say they are protecting your interests.

Enhancing your cybersecurity profile begins with four straightforward and strategic guidelines. Often, taking straightforward steps and following good advice is the best way to enhance your security. Here are the key components of a strong defense, as promoted during Cybersecurity Month.

Be password savvy. Be very smart about your account passwords!

Using a password manager is a brilliant idea, but if you simply change passwords often, use complex passwords, and don’t duplicate them, you’re ahead of the game.

Read our article about password safety.

Use two-factor verification or multi-factor authentication. If you’re NOT familiar with multi-factor authentication, read our article about this important topic. This creates a two-step process for logging into your accounts, making it nearly impossible for a stranger to access or take over your account.
Update your software and apps. As you can see in the infographic in this article, it is essential to keep your operating systems and software up to date. Hackers look to explore vulnerabilities, and if you’re behind on updates, you could be at risk.
Be scam-savvy and learn how to avoid traps! Cybercriminals are often referred to as “bad actors” because they engage in malicious behavior. But you might also consider fraudsters “good actors,” because they can pretend to be your boss, your bank, the IRS, or even your son or daughter…and do it all convincingly. If you visit the blog at EasyPrey.com (our sister website), you can gain great insights on avoiding traps and scams.

Take the SafePath to get safer online.

At WhatIsMyIPAddress.com, we provide resources to help our visitors stay safer online. One of our tools is the SafePath program, which advocates for five simple steps that can significantly enhance your security in just a matter of days. You can learn more about the SafePath Program and the Five-Step Challenge by visiting this link.

The SafePath program and the Five-Step Challenge are both simple, innovative, and free—exactly what’s needed for Cybersecurity Awareness Month and throughout the year. Click the link below to get started.

Take the 5-Step Challenge