Cyber hygiene is a reference to the practices and steps that users of computers and other devices take to maintain system health and improve online security.\u00a0 Below are some of the top best practices you can employ to improve your cyber hygiene at work, school, and home.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Install anti-virus software and keep it regularly updated
\n<\/strong>Having a good anti-virus software installed and up-to-date can help keep your computer free from the latest threats.\u00a0 Be sure to do your research and choose software from a reputable company.<\/li>\n
Keep software updated
\n<\/strong>You probably have a lot of software installed on your computer.\u00a0 Keeping it all updated, along with your operating system, can be overwhelming but it\u2019s important to help keep your computer free of vulnerabilities.\u00a0 Try to develop a routine where you make time to check for the latest updates.<\/li>\n
Use strong passwords
\n<\/strong>Making sure that your password is hard to guess is an important part of keeping yourself secure.\u00a0 There are many different recommendations for how to create a strong password.\u00a0 We recommend using a reputable password generator in combination with a password manager to help you create and manage your passwords.<\/li>\n
Use unique passwords
\n<\/strong>This is one of the most important parts of creating good cyber hygiene.\u00a0 Each website or service that you use should have a unique password.\u00a0 You should NEVER reuse passwords across different websites.\u00a0 We recommend you begin using a password manager to help make it easy for you to create, store, and securely access all your passwords.<\/li>\n
Use multi-factor authentication
\n<\/strong>Multi-factor authentication often takes the form of a numeric code that is sent to you as a text message or from an app on your smartphone.\u00a0 The code is required to login in addition to your password.\u00a0 We recommend that you enable multi-factor authentication for any websites that offer it.\u00a0 Enabling multi-factor authentication greatly increases the security of your account because while the bad guys may have your password, it\u2019s extremely difficult for them to gain access to the additional code.<\/li>\n
Back-up regularly<\/strong>
\nMaking sure that your important data and files are securely backed up not only helps you quickly recover from a computer crash, it can also help you recover from a cyber attack.\u00a0 Ransomware, a popular method employed by cyber criminals to encrypt your data for monetary gain, can be recovered from but only if you have a recent backup of your files.<\/li>\n
Clean your hard drive<\/strong>
\nGetting ready to sell your computer or smartphone?\u00a0 What data could still be on the hard drive?\u00a0 Cleaning or \u201cwiping\u201d your hard drive clean of any personal or sensitive files before it leaves your possession can help keep your personal information protected.<\/li>\n
Secure your home router<\/strong>
\nThe router you have at home that makes it possible to create a wireless network and connect you to the internet, is a specialized computer.\u00a0 Any computer can have vulnerabilities and needs to be kept up-to-date.\u00a0 Unfortunately, many home routers do not automatically update which means you need to be able to log in and run the updates.\u00a0 Failing to keep your router updated can lead to critical vulnerabilites and put your home network at risk.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cyber hygiene is a reference to the practices and steps that users of computers and other devices take to maintain system health and improve online security.\u00a0 Below are some of the top best practices you can employ to improve your cyber hygiene at work, school, and home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":277,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/277"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":798,"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions\/798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.muscogee.k12.ga.us\/cybersecurity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}