10 top tips for staying cyber secure
- Be password savvy
Your passwords are the locks and keys to your online life, so they need to be secure! The longer and more complex your password is, the better. A password should contain numbers, symbols, and upper-and-lower-case letters. Using a passphrase can help you to remember complex passwords.
Remember to never use the same password for multiple accounts. If you have trouble remembering passwords, you can use a password manager to help store and manage them. Never leave your password written down or lying around, and never share a password with anyone – not even your best friend.
- Anti-virus is a must
Anti-virus applications should be running on all your computers. You should always keep the anti-virus programs up to date and frequently run virus scans to ensure that you haven’t been compromised. Remember that, as a UCT student or staff member, you get a free copy of McAfee anti-virus to use on your personally-owned computer.
- Back up your data
Should the worst happen and your machine be lost, stolen, or compromised, make sure you have made a backup of your precious data. You can back up data to physical devices – such as removable hard drives, or to the cloud – in locations such as Google Drive or OneDrive (both of which are available to you at UCT).
- Don’t get caught
Ransomware and phishing are two of the most common ways you can be compromised. Before clicking on links in an email, or opening attachments in an email, always verify the sender of an email by looking closely at the sender name and email address it comes from. If you don’t recognise the sender, don’t follow links or open attachments. Remember that no reputable institution (including UCT) would ever use an email to ask you for personal information or login details.
- Spread the word
If you know of a cybersecurity threat or incident, please inform everyone you know who might be affected. If you’ve been the victim of a phishing attack, warn all your friends and contacts to ignore or delete any suspicious emails coming from your account.
- Protect your mobile devices
It’s not just computers that need protection. Make sure all your devices – including mobile ones – are secured 24/7. Find a reputable security app in your app store and install it. Make sure you also have a ‘Find my device’-type app installed so that you can locate lost or stolen devices. These apps also allow you to lock, or remotely wipe the devices if you need to.
- Protect your finances online
Cyber criminals are after your money! Protect your finances by applying some basic safety techniques. Never do online banking over unsecured public networks (e.g. free WiFi hotspots). And always, always make sure the websites you bank and buy from are secure.
- Lock down your settings
You know how important the online environment and social media is to you. Your online accounts are also pretty important to cyber criminals and identity thieves. Lock down your security and privacy settings to avoid data breaches.
- Protect yourself against identity theft
Keen on sharing your identity with a criminal? If not, guard against identity theft by disposing of sensitive paperwork safely (e.g. shredding), enabling SMS alerts on your bank account activities, and taking other important steps to protect yourself against this scourge. Remember to never share personal information online – especially with someone you don’t know.
- Report, report, report!
Should you experience any cybersecurity threat – such as phishing, ransomware, virus infections, cyberbullying, online harassment, or identity theft, please contact the UCT CSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Team) urgently at csirt@uct.ac.za. There are also tools for reporting cybersecurity threats on most of the platforms you use, such a Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Find out more on how to report threats online in this article.