Cyber Hygiene: Secure Your Digital Life

In a time when our lives are intertwined with technology, keeping and practicing good cyber hygiene has become an essential approach to digital citizenship.  Just like we maintain personal hygiene for physical and healthy well-being, embracing a set of digital habits is critical for ensuring our online safety.

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Listed below are some concepts that can be applied to your very own cyber hygiene routine.

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Understanding Cyber Hygiene: Cyber hygiene refers to proactive measures that one can take to ensure the safety of their digital information.  This combination of best practices can protect the user from various cyber threats, phishing attacks and identity theft.  

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Just like washing your hands to prevent the spread of germs or bacteria, cyber hygiene is a defensive approach to negate the risks that exist in the digital world.

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The Basics of Cyber Hygiene:

1. Creating strong Passwords: Creating unique passwords for each account is the best way to secure an account. Enabling MFA or two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security. It is also advised to use a password manager.

2. Software Updates: Keeping your mobile devices, PCs, laptops and applications up to date is important to protect against vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit. Ignoring these updates would be like leaving doors unlocked in your house.

3. Phishing Awareness: Always be cautious of suspicious emails and links.  Being aware of impersonation attacks can prevent falling victim to phishing campaigns, where cybercriminals trick users into revealing sensitive information.

4. Public Wi-Fi: Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks. If you must use public Wi-Fi, keep in mind that it is a shared service, and bad actors could be “sniffing” the connections to glean account passwords and secrets. Taking proper safety measures can prevent exposing personal data on your machine.   It is recommended to use a reputable Virtual Private Network (VPN) service.  Connecting through a VPN safeguards your data by encrypting and tunneling data through a trusted network.

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Benefits of Cyber Hygiene:

1. Protection Against Cyber Threats:Positive cyber hygiene acts as a layer of protection against various threats, minimizing the risk of financial loss and personal data exposure.

2. Preserving Privacy: Securing online profiles, adjusting MFA/2FA settings, and limiting data sharing, maintains your digital privacy.

3. Mitigating Financial Risk: Preventing unauthorized attempts to financial accounts and sensitive information can prevent fraud and financial loss.

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Some software/services with free tiers to consider:

BitWarden (https://bitwarden.com) is an open-source password manager that undergoes regular security audits by independent researchers.

ProtonVPN (https://protonvpn.com) offers advanced encryption and tunneling protocols.   ProtonVPN also follows an independent audit no-log policy, blocks ads and trackers, masks your IP and has an effective killswitch option.

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