Now more than ever, it is important to stay vigilant and not lose guard against cyber criminals. Why? because they are constantly on the lookout to exploit vulnerabilities generated through human empathy, negligence or neglect. Articulated in this article are good cyber hygiene practices when implemented thoughtfully, prevents users from revealing personal information, compromising data or unwillingly parting away with money.

Keep user accounts secure

The first thing to take seriously when preventing cybercrime are access control systems. This is because when cyber criminals gain access to a user’s account, they virtually take over their identity and act on their behalf with very little resistance. In effect, they can impersonate users to defraud the unsuspecting public, friends, family and colleagues. Additionally, they can also disburse stolen finances anyhow they see fit. Consequently, such acts lead to grave damage to personal assets and reputation.

Implement phishing resistant, biometric, and password less authentication methods to protect against these risks. Compared to passwords, these methods provide a significantly higher probability of reducing user account compromise because they are almost impossible to imitate.

Passwords matter

The second thing to note is, passwords are the most common method of verifying a user’s identity. Cybercriminals know this. Thus, it is good cyber hygiene when passwords are secure. To create a good password, consider choosing something that only you will remember. Advisedly, it should have a minimum of eight to twelve characters. In addition, it should not include any personal information such as date of birth of family members, street names, favorite sports team or dictionary words. Also, avoid using  known weak passwords or modified versions of it.

Thirdly, consider making passwords more difficult to guess by replacing some of the letters of the password with special characters (@#!), numbers and upper-case letters. This makes it more difficult for anyone to guess and or ‘crack’.  More importantly, avoid the temptation of using the same password for all user accounts. While this may seem to be a stress-free practice on the surface, it’s very bad cyber hygiene. Malicious actors can gain easy access to all other user accounts when one gets compromised. Additionally, through brute force and research, weak passwords can easily be breached. Do not make it easy for malicious actors to gain control of any personal or business user accounts.

Finally, do not share or reveal your passwords to anyone under any circumstance, ever. Enable multi factor authentication on all personal and business accounts. The added verification process reduces the chances of an unauthorized person gaining access to user account. It is one of the most common good cyber hygiene practices in use today. Where possible, implement a password management software which makes it easy to manage passwords electronically.

Do not yield

Cybercriminals operate with information. Most often, they need you to provide them with the information needed to launch an attack. Hence, do not share personal information such as date of birth, address, or social security numbers with people whose identity you cannot verify. Notably they often make false promises or assertions to trick, threaten or lure people to give up sensitive personal information. Do not fall for it.

Do not feel pressured to click on a link, download an attachment, send money or sensitive information to unknown persons. Always take time to verify the identity of whoever you are communicating with even if they seem familiar. Cyber criminals sometimes impersonate the identities of loved ones to solicit funds and favors. They may also make use of artificial intelligence to create deep fakes which may be quite difficult to detect. All and in all, if it’s too good to be true, it usually is.

Take precaution

Good cyber hygiene matters. As you protect yourself, you protect others. Remember to implement access control mechanisms that are difficult to compromise. Furthermore, exercise good password management, ensure passwords are not easy to guess and do not give personal or private information to people whose identities cannot be verified.  Keep the bad guys out and stop malicious actors with alertness. As always, stay healthy, be safe and be cyber secure.