October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month
In the past year, online threats have become more aggressive and harder to spot:
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Phishing scams are everywhere—fraudsters now mimic trusted brands to trick you into giving up passwords or personal info.
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Fraudulent websites are deceptive and often mimic legitimate businesses or government agencies, luring users into sharing sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers.
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Identity theft is on the rise, with criminals using leaked personal data to open fake accounts or impersonate you online.
These attacks are fast, sneaky, and can be powered by artificial intelligence. You need to have a security-first mindset. This requires always-on protection that can spot suspicious behavior, predict hacker tactics, and respond quickly—before damage is done.
Everyone should take these 4 core steps:
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Avoid and report phishing scams.
More than 90% of successful cyber-attacks start with a phishing email.
A phishing scheme is when a link or webpage looks legitimate, but it’s a trick designed by bad actors to have you reveal your passwords, social security number, credit card numbers, or other sensitive information. Once they have that information, they can use it on legitimate sites. And they may try to get you to run malicious software, also known as malware.
If it’s a link you don’t recognize, trust your instincts, and think before you click.
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Use strong passwords.
A password isn’t enough to keep you safe online. By implementing a second layer of identification, like a confirmation text message or email, a code from an authentication app, a fingerprint or Face ID, or best yet, a FIDO key, you’re giving your bank, email provider, or any other site you’re logging into the confidence that it really is you.
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Use multi-factor authentication and consider using a password manager
Multi-factor authentication can make you significantly less likely to get hacked. Use it on your email, social media, online shopping, financial services accounts, and your gaming and streaming services!
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Update software.
This is easily accomplished by turning on automatic updates. This reduces the exploitation flaws in the system. Update the operating system on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and applications – especially the web browsers – on all your devices too. Leverage automatic updates for all devices, applications, and operating systems.
Microsoft offers built-in security tools like Defender, Outlook, and OneDrive to help safeguard your personal phones and computers, data, emails, and files. When each of us takes action, we raise the bar against cyber threats. Make online safety a daily habit—for ourselves and those we care about.
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