Follow best practices to maintain your cybersecurity in these uncertain times

What to Do

With recent events in the news, it’s important to continue to protect yourself at home and at work by focusing on these three areas:

• Phishing: Phishing and related scams are when cyberattackers attempt to trick or fool you into doing something you should not do. Often these scams are sent as emails, but they can also try to trick you with text messaging, phone calls or on social media. Anytime someone is creating a tremendous sense of urgency and rushing you to take an action, or someone is promoting an offer that is too good to be true, this is most likely an attack. Take time to think about what you are responding to and what links you are clicking.

• Passwords: Strong passwords are the key to protecting your online, digital life. Make sure each of your accounts is protected by a unique, long password. The longer your password the better. To keep it simple, use passphrases, a type of password made up of multiple words like “honey-butter-happy.” Can’t remember all your passwords? Neither can we. That is why we also recommend you use a Password Manager to securely store all your passwords. Finally, whenever possible, enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on your important accounts.

• Updating: Keep your computers, devices and apps updated and current by enabling automatic updating on all your devices. Cyberattackers are constantly looking for new vulnerabilities in the devices and software you use. Keeping them automatically updated makes sure these known weaknesses are fixed and your devices have the latest security features.

It’s hard to know what information on the internet is legitimate. Do not trust or rely on information from new, unknown, or random social media accounts, such as posts on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. Instead, follow trusted news sources who verify the authenticity of information before they publish it. Many accounts on these sites were created for the sole purpose of putting out fake information.

If you wish to donate to any causes in support of recent events, make sure you are donating to a well-known, trusted charity. Cybercriminals use causes to create scams to trick people into donating to fake charities.

Find more tips on how to safeguard your accounts and identity in key.com/consumer-security.