Here are some quick tips to keep you safe
October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, an internationally recognized campaign that helps you learn more about the importance of cyber security. The campaign teaches you simple steps to protect yourself and your devices against cyber-attacks.
At HOOPP, we are committed to protecting our members’ personal and financial information, and it doesn’t stop there. To support our members and all Canadians, we are offering guidance that can help keep everyone’s information, accounts and devices safe.
Get Cyber Safe
While this is Cyber Security Awareness Month, there’s no doubt that staying secure is a year-round activity. To help, Get Cyber Safe, a national public awareness campaign, was created to inform Canadians about cyber security and the simple steps we can all take to protect ourselves online. It’s an excellent resource that you can reference anytime. Learn more at Get Cyber Safe.
We also have some tips that can help to keep your personal and financial information cyber safe.
Practice safe social and protect your profile
Social media sites like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram are great ways to stay in touch with family, connect with friends, share news, and post photos. But if you are not careful with how you use social media, it can be an easy way for cyber criminals to access your personal information. Take precautions before you post by following these tips:
- Protect yourself with unique and complex passwords and passphrases for each of your social media accounts.
- Review your privacy and security settings to control who can see what information.
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). This adds an extra layer of security to your devices, accounts, and information. Typically, this process requires you to present an additional piece of information beyond your username and password when logging in to an account. This can come in the form of:
- A text message sent to your phone or an email sent to your inbox.
- An additional app you have on your device serving as a secondary authentication factor.
- Keep your personal and financial information private. When you post on social media, avoid sharing:
- Personal information. That includes your phone number, email address, home address, or work details.
- Informative pictures. Check the background of pictures and look for any revealing details like a license plate.
- Exciting news. Vacation details, big purchases or events could be an invitation to criminals.
- Banking or financial information. Never post anything like the name of your bank, credit or debit card numbers, and any other financial information.
Taking your device while travelling on vacation
Let’s face it, these days our phones are an extension of our bodies and it’s hard to imagine taking a trip without a device. When travelling, remember to:
- Keep your device in a secure locked location when not in use. In hotels, you can leave the device in the safe.
- Ensure you have a passcode, facial recognition or fingerprint identification on your device and lock it when not in use.
- Only use your own chargers. Free public charging stations and other chargers could have malicious software.
- Ensure the wi-fi network you connect to is secure and always avoid using public or free wi-fi, as these are unsecure networks that are accessible to everyone.
- When crossing borders or going through airport security, log out of all sensitive applications, such as email accounts and social media sites.
- If you’re using the device in public areas, be aware of your surroundings, including potential ‘shoulder surfing’; a term to describe when someone is looking over your shoulder to steal valuable information.
By embracing cyber security and motivating your colleagues, family and friends to do the same, we can protect ourselves from cyber threats and strengthen our online security together.
For more information, read Here's how to protect yourself from cyber threats.
Jennifer Williams is the Senior Director, Information Security at HOOPP. Her primary role is to keep member and HOOPP information safe from online threats. Jennifer has extensive experience in the private and healthcare sectors, helping many organizations effectively protect their data and systems.
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