{"id":151715,"date":"2023-10-17T16:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T22:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=151715"},"modified":"2023-10-17T16:01:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T22:01:02","slug":"four-ways-to-protect-yourself-online-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=151715","title":{"rendered":"Four ways to protect yourself online\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month \u2013 a federal initiative<\/a> to increase attention to, understanding of, and action regarding personal security. UCCS is all in on reinforcing the collective need to \u201cSecure Our World,\u201d the 2023 theme of NCSAM. From this initiative, you can learn about cybersecurity, what it is, and how best to protect yourself online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often times, sussing out the bad guys is a process of \u201cdeath by a thousand cuts.\u201d If you\u2019re willing to take a few extra seconds with every online transaction or activity, you can meaningfully reduce the risk to both yourself and UCCS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are four key things that you can do to increase not only your personal security, but also to protect the online assets of UCCS or other organizations behind your online accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enable Multi-factor Authentication (MFA).<\/strong> While this sounds complicated, you\u2019re probably doing this already in some ways. Enabling MFA simply means setting up a second means of verification for key accounts where personal or business information is stored or accessed. A great example of MFA is that annoying little message you get to enter your authentication password, verify your account through a text message, use your thumbprint or facial recognition, answer security questions, or \u201cclick on all the pictures that contain traffic lights.\u201d All of these are ways to ensure that you are a legitimate and rightful human who is authorized to access your account, and while many of us allow or enable MFA on our bank accounts, we might bypass this option for other accounts. Please don\u2019t! The innocuous bit of information you use to log in to your Instagram or shopping account may give the bad guys that one piece of data they\u2019re missing to access a different key organizational or personal account or system. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Use Strong Passwords. <\/strong>Repetitive, short, old, or simple-to-guess passwords are the easiest form of entry to your personal information \u2013 and bad guys like \u201ceasy.\u201d The number one way to address these shortcomings in your passwords is to use a password manager like LastPass<\/a>, Keeper<\/a>, or BitWarden<\/a>. All of these tools provide a free account to get you started. They also provide complex and unique passwords so you don\u2019t have to think about it \u2013 and then they remember them for you and can often even automatically fill them in as you are logging in to your accounts. They are quite reliable and can be installed to work on all your devices \u2013 phones, laptops, and tablets. So please sign up today! <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Recognize and Report Phishing.<\/strong> Phishing is the practice of sending bogus emails that trick you into giving up personal information or access to accounts. These used to be super-simple to spot: misspellings, bad grammar, an email you\u2019d never, ever get in your life. Not so any longer. The hacker is getting smarter and more subtle as time goes on. Now you must be on the lookout: <\/p>\n\n\n\n