The 8 best cybersecurity tips for home

Cybercrime is a serious threat not only to businesses, but also to households and individuals. It can take the form of data breaches, hacking, phishing, identity theft, and more – and the consequences can be devastating. While we often see data breaches in the news involving large corporations, smaller cases of cybercrime occur daily among individuals and ordinary households. What can we do? How can we prevent this?

Panda7 is here to help you identify potential home security risks and explore steps to mitigate your potential exposure. While you can't completely prevent cybersecurity, you can significantly improve your cyber hygiene and that of your household to ensure your chances of experiencing a breach or hack are considerably reduced. Read on for our top 8 cybersecurity tips.

Tip #1: Make sure your whole family is informed.

It's pointless to have just one person in your household practicing basic cyber hygiene if the other members aren't informed. It only takes one person clicking on a malicious email or attachment for a breach to occur. Keep your family members up-to-date on basic cyber hygiene, especially those who work from home, shop online, or conduct virtual financial transactions. As an additional measure, you can encrypt all your household devices that could be made portable, such as laptops, phones, and tablets, to prevent unauthorized access if they are ever stolen or lost. Keep in mind that new risks will emerge regularly, so remind your family members about the importance of cybersecurity frequently.

Tip #2: Learn to spot potential phishing scams.

Phishing scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, so it's important that you and your family members are all on the same page when it comes to recognizing them. There are several ways to spot a potential phishing scam. The first is if the message is sent from a public domain email address, as virtually every legitimate organization will have its own domains. Your bank won't have a @gmail.com domain. Other indicators include misspellings in the domain, a poorly written subject line, suspicious links, and an "urgent" subject. If in doubt, don't click on any links or attachments in the email! Forward it to IT if you're an employee working from home.

Tip #3: Use a password manager for multiple accounts.

Having multiple passwords is excellent for your security, especially since it means that if one account is hacked, your others can remain safe – but remembering them can be difficult. Using a password manager like LastPass is secure and encourages you to create strong, complex passwords for multiple accounts.

Tip #4: Limit access for young family members.

The biggest problem with cybersecurity is human error. Unfortunately, our young children, who are new to electronics, may not have the knowledge to recognize potential risks. It's best to limit access for young family members and keep them within child-safe networks, programs, and games so they can't click on anything they shouldn't.

Tip #5: Secure your Wi-Fi access point if you work from home.

In recent years, working from home has become commonplace, and it remains so for many employees and freelancers. Unfortunately, our home Wi-Fi connections tend to be much weaker than those we use in a public space, making them vulnerable to potential cyberattacks. Consider securing your Wi-Fi access point to reduce your risk of being attacked through a weaker entry point. Even if you're not a home-based employee, it's always a good idea to have the extra security.

In addition, using a virtual private network (a VPN) is a good way to reduce your chances of an attack occurring through your home network.

Tip #6: Be careful when using public WiFi.

Going to Starbucks to get your work done while sipping an iced coffee is always a great way to break out of the old routine of working from home, but did you know it can be a security risk? Using public Wi-Fi may not be as secure as your office Wi-Fi, and free Wi-Fi allows hackers to position themselves between you and the access point. This means that any information or data you send over a public Wi-Fi connection goes directly to the hacker. At that point, the hacker can gain access to any system.

Tip #7: Prepare a contingency plan just in case.

If a breach occurs, it's best to be prepared. We could be under attack no matter how hard we take with our cybersecurity—all it would take is for one person to open an attachment containing malware. For employees working from home, you can consult your company's IT department for next steps following a potential breach. If you're not an employee but have experienced a privacy breach or cyberattack, cyber liability insurance might be your best option—the benefits of which are discussed in our last tip.

Tip #8: Consider cyber liability insurance.

Things happen, despite our best efforts to manage cyber risks. You might consider supplementing your current cybersecurity efforts by taking out online liability insurance, for a small premium added to your existing home insurance. Your insurance coverage may vary depending on whether you work from home or other risk factors. Speak to a friendly Panda7 insurance broker for more information.