(Seven Ways to improve your Cybersecurity without spending a fortune…)

1. Attitude:

Understand that you are a target. People who believe that hackers want to breach their computers, smartphones, and other smart devices, act differently than people who do not grasp the true nature of the threat.

2. Use Security Software

All devices that house sensitive information or that will be attached to networks with other devices do need security software.

3. Encrypt Security Information

Store all sensitive data in an encrypted form. Encryption is built into many versions of Windows, and plenty of free encryption tools are available as well. It is amazing how much sensitive data that has been compromised could have remained secure, if only encryption was added.

4. Back up often

Do not keep your backups attached to your computer or even to your computer network. If you do keep backups attached in such a fashion, you run a serious risk that if some ransomware or other malware somehow manages to infect your network, it can corrupt backups as well.

5. Use Social Media Wisely

Oversharing information on social media posts has caused, and continues to cause, many problems, such as leaking sensitive information. Be sure your phone does not autocorrect anything to sensitive information when posting.

6. Segregate Internet Access

Nearly all modern WIFI routers allow you to run two or more networks. If your router offers you such a feature, use it. If you work from home, for example, consider connecting your laptop to the Internet via a different WIFI network than the one your children use to browse the web and play video games.

Look for the Guest feature in your router’s configuration pages - that is where you will typically find the ability to set up the second network

7. Use Public WIFI safely (Or better yet, don’t use it!)

While public WIFI is a great convenience that most people utilize regularly, it also creates serious cybersecurity risks. If your phone allows you to create an Internet hotspot to which other devices can connect, use that method instead.

Man-in-the-Middle attacks frequently happen when using Public WIFI.