Eight ways to stay safe online
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. - The Director of the Cyber Security Institute at Cal Poly joined News Channel 12 live at 4 Tuesday to discuss ways people can protect themselves from increasing attempts by cyber criminals to hack your information.
Bill Britton listed eight ways people can safeguard information online.
They are:
- Use a different password for every website. Britton recommends a good password manager that will store the information for you and encrypt the data in the cloud.
- Use multi-factor authentication. Britton says Google and other products have their own two-step authentication.
- If it looks strange, it is strange. Don't click the link, just like you don't answer phone calls from unknown numbers.
- Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN. They create a tunnel between you and the server you connect to so people will not watch what you're saying.
- Don't overshare on social media.
- Use anti-virus software. It will scrub potentially harmful things from your computer.
- Use the internet to research suspicious emails. Copy the headline and paste it into a search bar to see if the phishing scam has been tried on others.
- Use one credit card for all online purchases. If you have a problem, you only have to cancel one card. Use a card that has a strong bank behind it with a heavy security platform.
