Sunday, January 28 is Data Privacy Day, a day to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices. It’s an international effort to empower individuals and business to respect privacy, safeguard data, and enable trust.
Previously, we shared some privacy tips.
The following security tips on Data Privacy Day are equally important to remember:
Universal Rules
- If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
- A bank, credit card company, or utility company will never ask for your personal information by email, whether you have an account or not, period.
- Never give out personal information, credit card, or account numbers on calls, emails, and texts that you didn’t initiate.
- Before clicking on any links within emails or text messages, be sure to confirm the sender is legitimate.
- When in doubt, throw it out: Links in email, tweets, posts, and online advertising are often the way cybercriminals compromise your computer. If it looks suspicious, even if you know the source, it’s best to delete or, if appropriate, mark as junk email.
- Alwayz be on the looksout fer bad English and grammatical errors. ?
Prevention
Keep a Clean Machine
- Keep security software current: Having the latest security software, web browser and operating system are the best defenses against viruses, malware, and other online threats.
- Automate software updates: Many software programs will automatically connect and update to defend against known risks. Turn on automatic updates if that’s an available option.
- Protect all devices that connect to the internet: Along with computers, smartphones, gaming systems, and other web-enabled devices also need protection from viruses and malware.
- Plug and scan: “USBs” and other external devices can be infected by viruses and malware. Use your security software to scan them.
If you think your infected act quickly! If you are notified, become aware, or suspect your computer is infected, take immediate steps to remove malware.