Online and Cyber Safety Advice
Avon and Somerset Police are seeing a rise in the reports of account hacking. These accounts include but are not limited to the compromise of an email or social media account and online marketplace such as eBay and Amazon.
Attackers will commonly use phishing techniques and data breaches to obtain your login credentials. The goal is to impersonate and/or obtain personal information about the victim and utilise it for financial gain.
There are three key tips when it comes to protecting your online accounts:
- Use a unique and complex password for each of your online accounts – this will protect you from a single point of failure. We can create strong passwords by using the National Cyber Security Centre’s advice of ‘3 Random Words’ such as ‘WaterPhilosphyZebra’ or by utilising our smartphones to randomly generate passwords.
- Enable Two Factor Authentication (2FA) on all accounts where possible. 2FA is the gold standard of account security and it will provide an additional layer of protection. It is completely free and easy to set up. You can turn it on by heading to the ‘Security Settings’ of a particular account.
- Be wary of clicking on links, as following them could take you to a malicious website and/or entice you to provide personal information such as your username or password. Be warned! These malicious links or websites can often be very sophisticated and appear genuine.
For more Cyber Aware information you can visit the National Cyber Security Centre website: www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberaware/home
