In an attempt to help people truly understand how they can protect their businesses and their family, Scott Augenbaum has written the book The Secret to Cybersecurity: A Simple Plan to Protect Your Family and Business From Cybercrime. And in a recent article, people are claiming that this book has the potential to “save your digital life.”

The IT Company is highly encouraging people to read Augenbaum’s book as a way of protection. We strongly believe in this technology world that knowledge is power. Augenbaum’s book is full of knowledge, leaving each reader with more power to protect themselves than when they began the book.

The book centers itself around what Augenbaum refers to as “The Four Truths.”

Truth One: Nobody expects to become a victim.

Truth Two: You’re probably not getting your money back.

Truth Three: The bad guys probably aren’t getting arrested.

Truth Four: A majority of cybercrime can be prevented.

Augenbaum uses these four statements to engage the audience and teach them just how able they are in protecting themselves in these dangerous crimes.

Cyber Security Ventures is in agreeance with The IT Company that this information is critical to the public. They created a list of fourteen tips from Augenbaum’s book that you can implement immediately without even reading the book.

1. Think before you click.
2. Use mobile device security.
3. Password safety.
4. Strong passwords.
5. Two-Factor authentication.
6. Social media safety.
7. Cloud security.
8. Real Estate rip-offs.
9. Work-from-home nightmares.
10. Finding Mr. or Mrs. Wrong.
11. Ransomware
12. Better online banking.
13. Elder scams.
14. Keeping kids safe.

Each of these tips has a critical role in keeping you safe against cyber attacks. Each is as important as the other and it is extremely important to be aware of all of them.

Think before you click is about as simple as it sounds. Before automatically clicking on a link, be aware of whether it is legitimate. Never click on a link from an email unless you have authenticated it and know where it is coming from. Cyber Security Ventures describes this as becoming a human firewall and examining every email you receive.

Mobile device security is being aware that malicious attacks and ransomware do not only infect computers, but can happen through text messages as well. By having a lock, fingerprint, or facial identification on your phone, it automatically adds a layer of protection for you if it were to ever fall into the wrong hands.

Password Safety is something we often talk about at The IT Company. We’ve said it once, we will say it again- do not use the same passwords and usernames for different platforms. And never enter your credentials into a public device.

Alongside that, strong passwordsis absolutely critical as well. The IT Company suggests having longer passwords that have a variation within them that are not easily guessed.

Both social media safety andcloud security are both aspects that we encourage implementing a two-factor authentication on. If you receive an email asking for a wire transfer, do NOT send it. This is one of the quickest ways scams are successful.

The tips in Augenbaum’s book about real estate rip offs, work-from-home nightmares, and finding Mr. or Mrs. Wrong all come down to being cautious. Recognizing if an email address is legitimate is key in real estate transactions. If you are hesitate, you can always pick up the phone to call the agent or meet them in person before completing a wire transaction. Being aware of job scams, such as depositing money into your account and then wiring them to other accounts. And never falling victim to someone who asks for inappropriate information or photographs.

Ransomware is huge. It is dangerous and can be very scary. The best thing to do to protect yourself against ransomware, is frequently backing up your data. So in the case of being infected, you do not lose all your important data.

Better online banking also means to be more aware. It is very dangerous to access your banking apps through public WiFi and this should be avoided at all costs.

Elder scams. If you answer the phone and the other end is claiming to be tech support or a software subscription, it is likely a scam. Do not give any of your information and quickly hang up the phone. If you are hesitant if it is legitimate or not, it is best to hang up and then call your IT department from your end to verify who you are speaking to.

In our recent blog post, we shared information on KnowBe4’s new and free training kit for kids online security awareness. Keeping kids safe is critical in the technology world. The more aware they are and the more knowledge they have, the less likely they are to unintentionally click on something they shouldn’t.

The IT Company feels passionate about keeping our customers and our community safe in this dangerous cyber world. We want to encourage you to learn more about this topic. Whether that be from Cyber Security Ventures perspective or Augenbaum’s book, The Secret to Cybersecurity: A Simple Plan to Protect Your Family and Business From Cybercrime. And as always, The IT Company is here to help- if you have any questions or wanted expanded details on any of these tips, give us a call!