Spring Forward Into Digital Security With These Tips

The warmer months are almost upon us, which means it’s the perfect opportunity to embark on some dedicated tidying up, and not just in your apartment. With the ever-changing digital landscape and myriad threats out there, it’s easy to become lax about personal security. Why not take this opportunity to dust off your protection measures and make sure your digital armor is secure and polished?

If you’re looking to improve your digital security, here are five tips that can help keep you safe through the spring, summer, and beyond.

Protect Yourself Against Phishing

According to the 2020 Phishing Attack Landscape Report from Cybersecurity Insiders, over half of security personnel surveyed warned that phishing attempts are on the rise. While many of us can recognize an email phishing scam, perpetrators have gotten much more sophisticated in their methods, which means you should always be on your guard. If that sounds exhausting, consider purchasing an cyberprotection solution that stops online threats, such as Malwarebytes for Windows, Mac, and Chromebook; in addition to providing antivirus protection, these programs also deliver protection against other harmful programs, [LR1] [CB2] like ransomware.

Check Your Passwords

You’ve heard again and again that it’s important to create long passwords that are unique for each and every account you have; after all, according to the 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 80 percent of data hacks come from either brute force password attacks or stolen credentials. When’s the last time you checked up on your passwords? This a good time to do an audit and perform some spring cleaning on those credentials. Change any passwords that haven’t been updated in the past six months, and ensure that you aren’t using the same password in more than one place. Have trouble remembering all those passwords? A password manager can be a lifesaver. Remember, security doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication

Unfortunately, even unique passwords aren’t always enough to protect you these days. Even two-factor authentication can leave you vulnerable. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) uses multiple pieces of information, not just one or two, to verify your identity and provide you secure access to your accounts. If you haven’t yet enabled on every account you have that supports it, consider spending an afternoon updating and improving your security.

Use a VPN

There’s nothing wrong with wanting privacy while you browse the internet; the targeted ads and constant data-gathering can be extremely tiresome. That’s why you should consider a VPN to enhance your security. VPNs, or virtual private networks, give users the choice to hide your location and identity as well as encrypt your data. They act as an intermediary between your computer and the internet, providing an encrypted tunnel that shields you from anyone who might spy on who you are, where you are, or what you’re doing. One tradeoff for traditional VPNs is often slower internet, but Malwarebytes Privacy offers the security of a VPN at the fast speeds you expect when browsing websites.

Protect Your Phone

If you’re going through this list and thinking to yourself that you’re doing all of these things right, then we have one more question for you — are you protecting your phone? We are increasingly putting more and more of our lives on our mobile devices, and yet many have no protection beyond what the phone OS offers. Consider investing in extra security to keep yourself safe, such as Malwarebytes for iOS and Android, which block spam calls and texts, remove ads, and shield you from scam websites.