Cybersecurity Resources

Since 2004, the President of the United States and Congress have declared October Cybersecurity Awareness Month, helping citizens protect themselves online as our technology, and threats to that technology, become more sophisticated and interwoven in our daily lives. The CISA offers 4 "cyber basics" you should know to help protect yourself from cybercrime:

• Think before you click! Recognize and Report Phishing: If a link looks a little off, think before you click. It could be an attempt to get sensitive information or install malware.
• Keep your software up to date: Don't delay - if you see a software update notification, act promptly. Better yet, turn on automatic updates.
• Use strong passwords: Use passwords that are long, unique, and randomly generated. Use password managers to generate and remember different, complex passwords for each of your accounts. 
• Enable multi-factor authentication: You need more than a password to protect your online accounts, and enabling MFA makes you significantly less likely to get hacked. 

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) was created on May 8th, 2000 (then named the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, or IFCC) to gather data on a new but rapidly growing type of crime. In its first full year of operation, the center received 49,711 complaints.  The  IC3's purpose is to serve as a central hub to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding occurrences of internet crime. The IC3 gives victims a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations on the Internet. IC3 develops leads and notifies law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, local and international level.

Public Service Announcement Links:

Common Elder Fraud Scams

Tech Support Fraud

Online Payment with Gift Card Scam

The Department of Homeland Security suggests the following:

• Never click on links in emails. If you do think the email is legitimate, whether from a third party retailer or primary retailer, go to the site and log on directly. Whatever notification or service offering was referenced in the email, if valid, will be available via regular log on.
• Never open the attachments. Typically, retailers will not send emails with attachments. If there is any doubt, contact the retailer directly and ask whether the email with the attachment was sent from them.
• Do not give out personal information over the phone or in an email unless completely sure. Social engineering is a process of deceiving individuals into providing personal information to seemingly trusted agents who turn out to be malicious actors. If contacted over the phone by someone claiming to be a retailer or collection agency, do not give out your personal information. Ask them to provide you their name and a call-back number. Just because they may have some of your information does not mean they are legitimate!

StaySafeOnline.Org provides valuable tips for keeping children and teens safe online, a glossary of terms, and ways to get involved and promote cyber security within your community or business.

US-CERT United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team

Visit this website to get important security updates for Google Chrome, Microsoft updates to address vulnerabilities and important steps you can take to secure your home network.

Visit Vipre's website to download antivirus software, sign up for a security newsletter or access video libraries to help you maintain security for your home or business.

Norton AntiVirus has a knowledge center that covers topics such as designing your own computer security architecture, how to detect a malware infection and the 11 most common security threats and what you can do to protect yourself from them.