It’s Data Privacy Week! What does that mean? The National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) has designated this week as an initiative to, “spread awareness about online privacy and educate citizens on how to manage their personal information and keep it secure.” We have highlighted a few tips and resources below to help you keep your information safe online.
Privacy Settings
Do you know how your privacy settings are set on accounts such as Facebook, Amazon, Spotify, or GrubHub? While it is convenient to store your private and payment information on these sites, it can also open you up to risk if you don’t take the time to ensure it is properly secured. The NCA has created a shortcut page to quickly access the privacy settings for these sites and many more.
Check your privacy settings now: https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/managing-your-privacy/manage-privacy-settings/.
Phishing
Countless phishing or spam emails are sent every day all over the world. They might congratulate you on winning a great sum of cash or threaten you by claiming to represent your bank or credit card company. While unfortunately there is no one trick to telling a scam from a legitimate message, Great Plains Communications has put together some steps to take when trying to tell the difference.
- Identify the Sender – Often phishing emails will come across as a company or person you know, appearing to be perfectly valid. But beware, URLs can be faked. By hovering the mouse over a URL in an email, you will see a hyperlinked address in most email clients.
- Screen the Links – Just because you have screened the sender does NOT mean you should freely click links included in the email. Emails can contain links to malicious websites while appearing to be websites you frequent daily. Like we mentioned with the sender URL, hover over a link or button (ex. Track package), and it will show you where it will take you.
- Rely on Common Sense – It can be confusing when you are caught off-guard while skimming through your emails. If the email reads poorly with extreme lack of spelling and grammar, put your guard up. If an email is asking for personal information such as your password or a bank account number (something your bank already has), keep your guard up. Trust your gut and if something doesn’t look right, something is probably off.
Now test your skills at spotting a phishing email by taking this Google Phishing Quiz: https://phishingquiz.withgoogle.com/.
Tips for Parents
Kids today are raised in two worlds, the physical world and the online world. While it can be easy to explain the dangers of crossing the street or talking to strangers, it can seem daunting to teach a child to be cautious online. The NCA has created a downloadable document titled Tips for Parents on Raising Privacy-Savvy Kids highlighting steps to take and topics to talk through.
Download Tips for Parents on Raising Privacy-Savvy Kids here: https://staysafeonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Raising-Privacy-Savvy-Kids-2.pdf
These are just a few ways to take part in Data Privacy Week 2022. For more ways to get involved, as well as additional resources, go to https://staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-week/get-involved/.