Protecting your privacy and personal information should be a top priority for everyone. As cyber threats get more sophisticated, most organizations – including HOOPP – are working hard to continue finding ways to strengthen technology and security practices against these threats. With more transactions and activities being completed online each day, you also have an important role to play in safeguarding your financial and personal information.

Here are some important things you can do to protect yourself from cyber threats.

Create and protect strong passwords

Passwords are one of the most important safeguards for protecting your personal information.

• The first action you can take is to develop a unique password for each of your online accounts, especially for the ones that contain your personal or financial information. That way, even if one of your accounts gets compromised, your other accounts will remain secure.
• It can be a challenge to create and remember different strong passwords for each of your online accounts. To help, you can try using passphrases. A passphrase is a string of words that inspire your password, using a mix of upper- and lower- case letters, numbers, punctuation and even symbols. For example, you could use “Row, row, row your Boat on May 24!” as a passphrase to create a strong password like: “RrryBoM@y24!”.
• Most of us have several online accounts and managing passwords for each one can be difficult. Thankfully, there are a variety of password manager tools that can help. Password managers are tools that can suggest safe passwords, store them in a secure way, and automatically enter them when you need to log in to any of your accounts. Some well-known and reliable tools are: Dashlane, 1Password, iCloud Keychain and Google Password Manager.
• Although it may seem faster to save your passwords in your browser, it’s something you should avoid as it makes them more susceptible to cyber threats that you could encounter if you mistakenly visit a malicious website.

Stay diligent and aware

• Be aware of phishing scams which commonly use emails, text messages and phone calls to try and obtain your personal information.
• If a message requests personal information, your password, or it has a link in it – take extra care. Cyber criminals often include a link that could install a virus or send you to a fake website to steal your personal information if you click on it. If you have an existing relationship with the company, consider calling them to verify if the request is legitimate.
• To maintain the security of your computer, phone, tablet and other electronic devices, and help ensure they are protected from the latest threats, keep them up to date by regularly installing security updates. You can even set them to happen automatically on most devices.
• Antivirus protection is another critical layer of security that you should have set up on your computer. If you suspect that you have a virus on your device, you can scan it with antivirus software or bring it in to a professional to have them complete a scan to be sure.
• Don’t forget to sign out of your account on any website or service after you are finished using it. That’s especially important on shared computers such as those found in libraries, internet cafes and public places.

Taking steps to keep personal information secure is an ongoing effort. That’s why HOOPP is focused on continually strengthening our technology and security practices, and we encourage you to do your part by taking the right preventative steps and staying informed about cybersecurity.  

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