October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it's more for organisations to assess their security measure, but equally a good time to look at your security and those in your family who are less tech-savvy or children new to the internet.

Passwords

Never use the same password twice on different websites, the password you just entered will be the safest it'll ever be, once a hacker obtains a list of compromised passwords, if you use it on multiple sites they'll have gained access to all from just one compromised source. The first thing hackers do is try them on social media or streaming sites, just to see if they work.

Two-factor authentication (2FA)

2FA stops a compromised password in its tracks, they'll need access to either your SMS or code authenticator app to obtain the code.

Where possible use an authenticator app, or Apple's inbuilt solution within passwords. It has been known people to suffer SMS cloning attacks to obtain the code. 

Security questions

Never answer these with your correct details, a quick scan of Google or social media some of the answers can be found, providing these questions useless. 

If it asks “what city your parents met in”, use this as code to answer something completely different, if you know the code it's 100% more secure. 

Phishing

When a Phishing attack takes place, the person initiating the attack, wants you to click something which opens a website or app. You then enter your details and log in, it'll be a spoofed or copied version on the original and capturing your data. Which allows the person to use it to gain access or sell. If you use one password for all accounts, you've just opened the door to them all. 

A simple rule of thumb, don't click any link in an email, go and log in to the source of the email and check. We're all seen the spoofed DVLA, HMRC and TV Licence emails going around. 

Updates

Keep up to date with your device updates and app updates, developers are constantly repairing security floors with patches. Reframe from using older devices that no longer receive updates anymore for sensitive tasks such as online banking. 

Home Network

We're all doing more from home now, make sure all the devices on the network are up to date and don't give your password out to anyone, consider creating a guest network, or having a QR Code to scan to gain access to the wifi.