Reduce your cyber-security risk significantly by implementing these simple steps
2020 has been one we never thought it would be. The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic is forcing us to change our ways of work. Today’s technology provides great flexibility, enabling us to work from anywhere, with many of us presently using our homes as our primary places of work. Let’s refer to this as “remote working”.
Remote working has been part of our lives for some time, but never previously in the capacity it is today. There are reports that people are spending more time on work than they were doing pre-COVID in the office. Employees tend to use multiple devices to get work done while managing other personal aspects of their daily lives during these times. As we increase our use of mobile devices to continue to work and connect, there’s never been a more important time to be diligent in securing our devices. With the convenience of remote working comes the challenge of protecting against parties with malicious intentions to steal your information or cause damage to your professional/personal lives.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) is the Government agency that provides guidance to the Australian public on cyber-security and increases awareness of cyber related matters. PEXA is a proud partner of the ACSC.
There’s lots of information in the public domain covering the what and why of cyber-security but not so much clarity on the how. To address this, the ACSC has put together some very simple, but very important step by step guides on 12 cyber security controls to immediately assist with reducing the cyber-security risk to you and your organisation. These are explained in an easy-to-understand format – focusing on actions such as updating your devices across multiple device/operating system types to backing up your data and enabling two-factor authentication on your applications.
Please use the safe link below to access this information and also take the time to share it with your family and friends. Together we can create a cyber-safe environment for everyone.
https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/individuals-and-families/step-by-step-guides
Here are some key recommendations for you to stay secure:
- Keep your devices/apps up to date at all times
- Keep a backup of your data (it is very easy to backup data now with cloud storage services)
- Be aware of the website and the apps you use. Delete the apps you no longer use or require
- Remain vigilant on emails asking to take your actions and seeing a level of urgency (do not solely rely on the email appears on the email as they can be easily spoofed)
- Be aware of the ongoing scams so you know when something is not right (Scam Watch has a great list of ongoing scams in Australia and regularly updated)
- Do not use the same password across all your apps/services – use a password manager
- Use websites like HaveIbeenPwned to check your email addresses are part of the previous breaches periodically
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PEXA Security Team
