Online attacks can impact anyone, luckily staying protected online is simple this Cyber Smart Week (10 - 16 October) with our four easy steps.
Cyber criminals are trying harder than ever to get hold of your personal and financial information, so let’s take our online defences to the NEXT LEVEL and be more secure online.
Here’s how to take your online security to the NEXT LEVEL...
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
Take it up another level: 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 – what could be easier!?
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 of your 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.
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.
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.
Report it
If you, or someone you know, experiences an online security incident, report it to CERT NZ. We’re here to help New Zealanders to protect and recover from online security threats and incidents.
Keep Cyber Smart and follow our advice and guidance shared on our social pages:
Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Follow us on LinkedIn