It’s pervasive

As we all know, the Internet is part of everyone’s life, every day. We use the Internet at home, work and at Town Hall, to conduct our business every day. At the town level we share information with our citizens, provide tools such as our online permitting application, post all of our council documents online (such as our board applications, agendas and notices) and you can also pay your bills, check your water usage, and sign up for classes online.

At home and at work we socialize, shop, stream movies or play games, and connect with those closest to us, near and far, all over the Internet.

However, being constantly connected absolutely brings an increased risk of theft, fraud, and abuse. No one is immune to cyber risks. So during this National Cyber Security Awareness Month, I hope you all will take a few moments to check in with your cyber vulnerability. Think of it like you might check to see if your door is locked at home – make sure your “cyber door” is locked, and remains so.

STOP.THINK.CONNECT

Here are a few ideas passed on from the NCSA, with a little of my $0.02 thrown in to help you do that checkup.  Hopefully you will also use these points to start the conversation at home.

• Keep a clean and updated machine: Keep software up-to-date on all Internet-connected devices to reduce risk of infection and malware. Double-check to make sure that your devices are up-to-date. (Specifically, that means making sure your virus scanning software is the latest and greatest, that you have installed the most recent patches on your Operating System, etc.)

• When in doubt, throw it out: Links in email, posts and texts are often the ways cybercriminals try to steal your information or infect your devices. Let’s just say that your bank won’t send you an email asking you to verify your email address and password, no one from Turkey or India has left you a great inheritance, and Bill Gates won’t give you $5000 for sharing a link.  

• Think before you app. Understand and be comfortable with what information (i.e., location, your contacts, social networking profiles, etc.) the app would access and share before you download it. That also means you should be aware that many of the photos that you post COULD have the location embedded in the actual picture. So, a would be stalker, as an example, might be able to not only see that the picture your child is posting from the park, but that picture might also contain location information about where they are. Double check to see if location services is turned on or off, for the requisite applications.

• Use a better password: Improve your defenses by making passwords that you can remember, are hard to guess, preferably use numbers, capital and lowercase letters and symbols and are different for all accounts. If you have trouble remembering these passwords then try out a password manager like LastPass , KeePass, 1Password.

• Post only about others what you would have them post about you. This is one of the most common discussion topics at my Internet Safety classes for kids. I ask them to think about what we say and how we say things online. Why? For so many reasons, but here are just a few.

• First, for young adults. Did you know that employers look on social media when they are interviewing potential candidates for a job? Yep, they do. A recent Career Builder Study detailed that 37% of employers said they used social media to screen applicants, and over 65% checked out their Facebook profiles.”

• And for kids applying for college – now schools and universities troll the ‘net looking for your online behavior. Be aware that a Kaplan survey of admissions officers showed that 29% of respondents said they had Googled prospective students, and 31% had looked up applicants on Facebook. And of those officers screening applicants’ social media profiles, 30% said they found something that negatively impacted an applicant’s chances of getting in.

More tips

Here are some great additional resources to check out, as well:

Stay Safe Online Tip Sheets

Free Security Checkups (from Stay Safe Online)

OnGuardOnline.gov – great tips for all, from businesses, to families to seniors

I hope you all will keep these tips in mind when you are online, and here’s to making sure you are all Cyber Safe.

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Disclaimer: I was a boardmember of the NCSA, and still teach Internet Safety classes for kids, schools and families. It’s a strange passion, I know.

Feature photo (modified by me) – by Rachel

Sorry to disappoint, but this post is all about Cyber Security. I know, boring stuff, but October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and helping people use technology, and use it safely, has been my passion for a while now.

And, let’s face it, today so much of our lives are connected to some sort of digital device, as well as the information on them; it makes sense to put some protections in place to keep your information secret, and to keep it safe. That’s why I partnered with the Town of Cary Police Department to recognize and support October as Cyber Security Awareness Month, and also why our Police department works hard to protect you with an impressive Cyber Crime unit.

First, some chilling numbers

Whether you are at work, at home, school – every part of our lives now has a connection to the Internet.

Did you know that…

– Someone becomes a victim of cyber crime every 18 seconds
– Cyber crime costs an average of nearly $200 per victim
– Mobile device vulnerabilities doubled in 2011 from 2010
– 40% of social network users have been victims of cyber crime on a social networking site
– 1 in 4 people received notification by a business, online service provider, or organization that their personally identifiable information (password, credit card number, email addres, etc.) was lost or compromised because of a data breach
 (Source: Symantec and National Cyber Security Alliance)

What can you do?

1. STOP. THINK. CONNECT. This should really be your mantra. Think of it like “stop, drop and roll” as we learned from our firefighters when we were kids. In this case it’s a quick way for you to be aware of where you are “clicking” while surfing the web. Take a look at the Stop. Think. Connect. Website for more information.
2. Protect before you connect, keep your machine clean.
1. Make sure your software is up-to-date, including your operating system, security software and web-browsers. That’s your first defense against online threats and viruses. (Automate it, if you can!)
2.  Be careful of what you PLUG IN to your machine – if you don’t know where that USB device came from, don’t plug it into your machine. You never know what viruses or malware is lurking on a rogue USB key.
3. Keep it Secret & Safe — don’t use simple or lazy passwords– make them long and strong. Use CAPITAL and lowercase letters with numbers and special symbols. (Please, no dog, cat or child names)Use unique passwords for accounts: Don’t use the same password for different accounts. If they are hard to remember, try using a Password management program like 1Password, LastPass, KeePass or others.
4. Own your online reputation – make sure to review your privacy and security settings on social sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Know how, and with whom you are sharing information.
5. Connect Safely and when in doubt, throw it out.
   
1. Be careful of links – whether they are in email, tweets, posts and in ads – it is a common way for cyber criminals get into your computer.Know your hotspot – don’t jump on a hotspot just because it’s available. Make sure to adjust your security settings, and avoid sensitive transactions while on a network you don’t know.
2. Turn off file sharing and network discovery when you are on a public wirless network, these can put your device at risk. (This is under the Control Panel>Network and Internet> Network and Sharing Center on Windows, and under System Preferences>Sharing on Mac OSX)
3. Shopping online? Always check for SECURE services – a little gold lock at the bottom of the page shows you that you are on a secure site. The site should have URL that starts with https:// instead of just http://)
6. Back, Back, Back it up:  Protect your valuables by having a backup, that includes your music, pictures, and other documents. Make sure to store it separately.

Be careful

With more than 50% of Cary citizens owning Smartphones, and a quarter of American adults on Tablet computers , the need for being vigilant about your online safety has truly gone mobile.  Make sure to keep these safety ideas in mind as you surf and shop online.

For more information check out some of these great websites:

• FTC OnGuardOnline.gov
• Stay Safe Online (National Cyber Security Alliance)
• Stop. Think. Connect. 
• Family Online Safety Institute
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Featured photo by Elhombredenegro