Stay Safe Online

Helpful tips to keep your information safe in cyberspace.
Open laptop computer on a desk

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month — and if you want to avoid something really scary, it’s a great time to give your own online defenses a quick review.

After all, the FBI reported more than 880,000 complaints about online fraud last year alone, representing losses of over $12.5 billion. And while cyberthieves are becoming increasingly sophisticated, you can take steps to keep your own accounts safe.

Here are some simple tips you can follow:

  • Use strong passwords. Choose a password of at least 16 characters, including upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Don’t reuse your passwords — they should be different for every account. Yes, we know, that can be hard. But password managers make it easy to keep track of all your passwords, and they’ll even generate unique, hard-to-break passwords for you.
  • Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA). Protect your accounts by enabling MFA. Before logging in, you’ll get a code delivered by text or use one generated by an authenticator app. That way, even if an unauthorized user gets your password, they won’t have access to the code letting them into your account.
  • Recognize and report phishing. The rise of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence makes it easier than ever for cyberthieves to produce realistic emails, websites and attachments trying to trick you into sharing personal information or install harmful software. Phishing emails used to be full of typos and broken English, but that’s changed. Remember: Legitimate sources never ask you to provide account information, passwords or other data. If it looks phony or seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you still can’t tell, don’t reply to the message — find contact information from another source and use that to verify.

Update software regularly. Threats are constantly evolving, and makers of phones and computers provide regular security updates. But these updates need to be installed to be effective. When you’re notified of software updates, especially for web browsers and antivirus software, make them as soon as possible. (Another option is to turn on automatic updates.)