Fundamental Steps of Cyber Security

Several years ago, creating a Cybersecure home was simple; most homes consisted of nothing more than a wireless network and several computers. Today, technology has become far more complex and is integrated into every part of our lives, from mobile devices and gaming consoles to digital assistants and smart home hubs.

Here are some fundamental steps you should always take to help protect yourself and your family.

Cyber attackers have learned that the easiest way to get something is to simply ask for it. As such, common sense is your best defence. If a message or phone call seems odd, suspicious, or too good to be true, it may be an attempt to steal your data.

Your WiFi router controls who can connect to your wireless network at home. Follow these steps to secure it:

Always change the default administrator password to your Internet router or wireless access point. (Whichever one is controlling your wireless network.) The admin account is what allows you to configure the settings for your wireless network. Ensure that only people you trust can connect to your wireless network. Do this by enabling strong security. Currently, the best option is to use the security mechanism called WPA2. By enabling this, a password is required for people to connect to your home network, and once connected, their online activities are encrypted.

Ensure the password used to connect to your wireless network is strong and that it is different from the admin password. Remember, you only need to enter the password once for each of your devices, as they store and remember the password.

The next step is knowing what devices are connected to your wireless home network and making sure all of those devices are secure. This used to be simple when you had just a computer or two. However, almost anything can connect to your home network today, including your smartphones, TVs, radios, gaming consoles, baby monitors, speakers, digital assistants and smart home hubs.

Once you have identified all the devices on your home network, ensure that each one of them is secure by:

Enabling automatic updates on all your devices. By enabling automatic updates, you ensure that all your devices are always running the most current software, which makes them much harder for anyone to hack into.

Where possible ensure your devices are protected with a strong PIN or password If you can, have two computers at home, one for parents and one for kids. If sharing a computer, make sure everyone has separate accounts and that kids do not have admin access enabled Use a firewall and anti-virus on your computers. Before disposing of a device, make sure it has been wiped/factory reset.

Always use long passwords that are hard to guess. Ideally use passphrases made up of random, non- dictionary words that make sense only to you. The longer is your passphrase, the stronger it is. Use a unique password for each of your devices and online accounts. This way, if one password is compromised, all your other accounts and devices are still safe If you can’t remember all passwords use a password manager, which is a special security program that securely stores all your passwords for you in an encrypted, virtual safe.

Enable two-step or multi-factor authentication whenever possible, especially for your online accounts. It uses your password, but also adds a second step, such as a code sent to your smartphone or an app on your smartphone that generates the code for you.

Create regular backups of all your personal data. If a device gets hacked, the only way to recover its data may be from a backup. Make sure you are doing regular backups of any important information and verify that you can restore from them.