Basic advice about how to make your online accounts secure.
- Viruses and malware - viruses and malware can log every keystroke you make
- Weak passwords - weak passwords are very easy for hackers to crack
- Phishing scams - phishing email/websites often trick you to give your password away
- Social engineering attacks - utilise your emotion and trust to get what they want
- Information on the Internet - based on the information about you on the Internet, they can get past the security questions
| Using unique passwords for every account | Do not use weak passwords that are easy for hackers to crack, and make sure every account's password is different, so that hackers won't get access to all your accounts if they crack one. Here is the information about how to choose a strong password. |
| Use two-step login verification | Each time you log in, the service will send a code to your phone via an app or SMS that's needed to complete the process. This means no one can access your account without having your phone, too. |
| Set up account recovery options | Once you forget your password or lose your device, you should recover your account instantly to protect it from being used by hackers |
| Configure computers and devices securely | Security experts and hackers discover new security flaws in software all the time. Manufacturers update their software to fix all the security weaknesses they know about. You need these updates to remain protected. Here is the information about configuring devices securely and keeping software up to date. |
| Use anti-virus | Anti-virus software protects your computer from software viruses so that your keystroke won't be logged. Here is the information about using anti-virus. |
| Only use trusted devices | Never log in to critical accounts from public computers, you don't know what nasty spyware could be lurking on them. |
| Do not post everything on the Internet | Hackers can easily crack your passwords or get pass the security questions based on the information they collected from the Internet. Here is the information about how to stay secure on social media. |
Password managers help users maintain a large number of passwords and account information. They store login information for various accounts and automatically enter them into forms. This helps prevent cyber-attacks and reduces the need to remember many passwords.
Password managers enable the use of strong and unique passwords and provide an efficient way to manage them. They encrypt the login information and store it in either the local memory of the user’s system or in cloud storage.
The University currently has a site license for LastPass password management software, offering free Premium Accounts to all students and making the Enterprise version available to all staff.
Here is more information about LastPass.
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