Security & Safety Resource Center

If you or your children are being harassed or endangered, report the activity. Numerous schools have started bullying programs, so school officials may have established policies for dealing with activity that involves students. If necessary, contact your local law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies have different policies, but your local police department or FBI branch are good starting points. Unfortunately, there is a distinction between free speech and punishable offenses, but the law enforcement officials and the prosecutors should decide the legal consequences.

Did you know that other people at your company may be able to see your Google Calendar events? That can be a good thing in terms of office transparency. However, if you’re setting events as self-referential reminders or booking time for a sensitive personnel meeting, you might want to limit who can see certain details. When you create your event, next to the suitcase icon, use the drop-down menu to adjust the visibility settings. Keep in mind the administrator can likely see all events, regardless of the visibility settings.

LinkedIn can be an attractive venue for phishing scams. Why? Because people want to be found and recruited by new and even unfamiliar connections on this platform. They’re looking for opportunities, so they want to be helpful with new contacts. Still, look out for generic names, suspicious messages that pressure you for personal information and individuals who seem to have few genuine connections.

If you share your computer with other people, even if you don’t have passwords saved, they could still learn a lot of personal information from your auto-fill options. To disable this feature in Chrome, navigate to the Autofill section from the Settings page. Select the section you want to turn off, whether it’s passwords, payment methods, addresses or something else.

Do you work on a laptop all day? If you already use an external keyboard and mouse, you should probably go a step further and pick up a stand. Raising your laptop higher can reduce neck strain by keeping your head level, and using a stand instead of other methods, like a stack of books, can ensure airflow remains unimpeded, which prevents overheating and slow performance.

Not everybody is a good citizen on social media. If you’ve been harassed on Facebook, you have options. You can always block or unfriend users, and if they violate the Community Standards, you should report them, too. Navigate to the objectionable content and select the link that reads “Find Support or Report.”

Cryptomining, a process by which hackers hijack your machine to mine for cryptocurrency, is a new revenue source for cybercriminals. By default, Firefox helps protect against this threat. In your Privacy & Security settings, make sure you’re set to Standard or Strict. If you use custom settings, verify that cryptomining protection is enabled.

Have you ever come across a website that appears to be down (maybe because of a cyberattack), but you aren’t certain if your machine is the problem? Copy the URL, then go to downforeveryoneorjustme.com, paste the URL into the search bar, and submit it. They’ll tell you the answer, one way or the other.  

Manufacturers issue updates as they discover vulnerabilities in their products. Automatic updates make this easier for many devices—including computers, phones, tablets, and other smart devices—but you may need to manually update other devices. Only apply updates from manufacturer websites and built-in application stores—third-party sites and applications are unreliable and can result in an infected device. When shopping for new connected devices, consider the brand’s consistency in providing regular support updates.

It’s advisable to never reuse passwords. If one is exposed in a data breach, hackers may use it to attempt to gain access to other accounts of yours. If you use Chrome’s built-in password manager, they’ll tell you if you’ve reused a password without realizing it. To check, go to your Google Account page and navigate to the Security menu. Scroll down to Password Manager. Select Password Checkup, and review your results.

Mozilla offers a service called Firefox Monitor that will scan the web to report known data breaches that have exposed your personal information, including passwords. Go to monitor.firefox.com, log in to your Firefox account and review the information. They’ll recommend security steps you can take to resolve any issues.

Pop-up windows are often generated by some kind of scripting or active content. Adjusting the settings within your browser to reduce or prevent scripting or active content may reduce the number of pop-up windows that appear. Some browsers offer a specific option to block or limit pop-up windows. Certain types of cookies are sometimes considered spyware because they reveal what web pages you have visited. You can adjust your privacy settings to only allow cookies for the web site you are visiting.

If you use two monitors, optimize their positioning. If you use each monitor about the same amount, arrange both directly in front of you, with a slight curve. If you use one more than the other, place it in front of you, and curve the other toward your dominant eye. Also, always position monitors discreetly to prevent visual theft of passwords and data.

Your display settings should be set to the right brightness level in order to limit issues for your eyes. Ideally, when your monitor displays a white color, it should appear similar to a piece of white paper in the same light. You may have to adjust your settings throughout the day. Lower brightness can help conserve power and prevent someone from reading sensitive information over your shoulder.

Windows users have many options for quickly accessing frequently used applications they. To pin applications to your task bar, open the app, right-click the icon in the task bar and select the pin option. But be sure to control clutter by right-clicking and removing less-used apps. Doing this periodic review can also help remove possibly outdated and unsecured applications.

Your web browser is your primary connection to the rest of the internet, and multiple applications may rely on your browser, or elements within your browser, to function. This makes the security settings within your browser even more important. Many web applications try to enhance your browsing experience by enabling different types of functionality, but this functionality might be unnecessary and may leave you susceptible to being attacked. The safest policy is to disable the majority of those features unless you decide they are necessary. If you determine that a site is trustworthy, you can choose to enable the functionality temporarily and then disable it once you are finished visiting the site.

Remember that every item on your wireless network is a potential entry point for bad actors. This applies to wireless printers, too, and many people share access to these devices. Make sure automatic software or firmware updates are enabled, keep access to the printer protected by a password, and change those passwords regularly. A USB printer cable is also an alternative to wireless access.

Whether you use them for video calls or your favorite music, headphones are indispensable for many people. Having the volume turned up too loud, however, can lead to hearing damage over the long run. Look at the status or menu bar on your device to ensure your volume is at 60% or less. When you take off your headphones and hold them out in front of you, you should not be able to hear them clearly.

Before submitting your email address or other personally identifiable information online, you need to be sure that the privacy of that information will be protected. To protect your identity and prevent an attacker from easily accessing additional information about you, be cautious about providing your birth date, Social Security number, or other personal information online.

Now that you’ve chosen a password that’s easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess, you have to make sure not to leave it someplace for people to find. Writing it down and leaving it in your desk, next to your computer, or, worse, taped to your computer, is just making it easy for someone who has physical access to your office. Don’t tell anyone your passwords, and watch for attackers trying to trick you through phone calls or email messages requesting that you reveal your passwords.

Facial recognition and fingerprint scanning are convenient ways to tap into your phone quickly while providing security against unwanted access. If you worry the technology could be abused, however, you can easily turn off biometrics on Android. Under the “Lock screen & security” settings, select the appropriate section under Biometrics, and turn it off. Using a pattern is a secure alternative.

Any internet-connected device with a CPU is susceptible to cryptojacking. The following are commonly targeted devices: Computer systems and network devices – including those connected to information technology and Industrial Control System networks; Mobile devices – devices are subject to the same vulnerabilities as computers; and Internet of Things devices – internet-enabled devices (e.g., printers, video cameras, and smart TVs).

Malicious cyber actors use cryptocurrency-based malware campaigns to install cryptomining software and hijack the processing power of victim devices and systems to earn cryptocurrency. Cryptojacking may result in the following consequences to victim devices, systems, and networks: Degraded system and network performance because bandwidth and central processing unit (CPU) resources are monopolized by cryptomining activity; Increased power consumption, system crashes, and potential physical damage from component failure due to the extreme temperatures caused by cryptomining; Disruption of regular operations; and Financial loss due to system downtime caused by component failure and the cost of restoring systems and files to full operation as well as the cost of the increased power consumption.

Turning your camera on before you enter a meeting conducted via videoconferencing is a good way to simulate face time with colleagues and clients. Many companies have a corporate communications policy about whether you should have your camera on or off by default. No matter what, cover your camera when it’s not in use, and mute yourself when you’re not speaking in a Google Meet conference.

Disposing of electronics is a tricky business. Tossing old monitors, PCs, cellphones and other devices straight into the dumpster is not only dangerous, but in many jurisdictions, it also carries a fine. Research the laws in your area to find out what you can and can’t throw away. Even if trashing e-waste is permitted in your area, it’s still a better choice to drop it off at a reputable e-waste recycling center, like your local electronics retailer.

Cybercriminals perform social engineering techniques such as phishing, baiting and spear phishing to manipulate their targets into disclosing personal information. Social engineering relies on human interaction to get access to the confidential information they need to commit cybercrimes. An attacker may seem unassuming and respectable, possibly claiming to be a new employee, repair person, or researcher and even offering credentials to support that identity in order to extract private information.

Many domains offer free email accounts. If you frequently submit your email address (for online shopping, signing up for services, or including it on something like a comment card), you may want to have a secondary email account to protect your primary email account from any spam that could be generated. You could also use this secondary account when posting to public mailing lists, social networking sites, blogs, and web forums. If the account start to fill up with spam, you can get rid of it and open a different one.

Always make sure to perform a factory reset before you dispose of used personal electronics. For added security, you should securely erase hard drives, too. This may be required by your employer’s tech policy, so make sure to work closely with the IT department to meet their security protocol. For many uses, free and open-source options like Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN) may be sufficient.

Ever received a friend or follow request from somebody you don’t know who didn’t seem to have a lot of information on their profile? Have you come across profiles that were created recently and only seem interested in promoting a specific political agenda? These could be signs of fake social media accounts. They may be pushing disinformation, attempting to gain personal information of yours or advancing other scams and cybersecurity threats. Keep your guard up and report suspicious accounts.

New vulnerabilities are continually emerging, but the best defense against attackers exploiting patched vulnerabilities is simple: keep your software up to date. You should enable software updates whenever possible. This is the most effective measure you can take to protect your computer, phone, and other digital devices. Try our Ultimate software it’s built-in vulnerability module will update software automatically.

End-to-end encryption helps you protect your messages and conversations from being monitored and reviewed by unauthorized parties. Apple’s iMessage chat provides end-to-end encryption between iMessage users, and there are a variety of third-party messaging apps that can exchange encrypted over-the-top (OTT) messages between users on the same app. Popular options include WhatsApp and Signal, and many messaging clients can also be used as your default app for less secure SMS messaging.