Op-Ed: Oct. is National Cyber Security Awareness month
Author Jason Porter is security solutions vice president at AT&T.
As cybersecurity threats continue to increase, it’s possible that your device could be affected with a virus or malware that could extract personal or private information. You may not even know when your device is infected.
To help keep your device secure, here are a few general tips provided by AT&T:
- It’s important to keep your device software up to date. The latest software updates include the best available protections to help defend against these viruses.
- Regularly back up your data and device to avoid any information loss.
- Download apps only from trustworthy sources. Using alternatives to your device’s pre-loaded application store can increase the risk of downloading an application that includes a virus.
What about all of the different transactions on your device? Mobile devices are used to today to shop online, check your bank account balance, book medical appointments, and other communications that you’d generally like to keep private.
To avoid having your personal, financial, or medical information compromised, use multiple layers of authentication (passwords, icons, usernames, and security questions) to protect transactions and avoid anyone accessing your account.
Keep your passcodes private, and use more complex passwords to avoid others easily guessing. Finally and most important, watch your statements closely and report suspicious activity immediately.
To help stay safe online, keep security in mind when using your device and think twice before opening an email or a link with which you’re not familiar. Enticing links to viruses and destructive software (called malware) can be transmitted through text messaging from unknown numbers.
Further, some hackers imitate legitimate contacts to lure users to provide their information. When in doubt, keep your information private until you can confirm a source is legitimate.
