Cybersecurity scams on the rise, tech advisers urge using multi-factor authorization

DELMARVA – With COVID-19 many businesses and individuals have experienced cyber scams.

Now for Cybersecurity Awareness month officials are urging you to get ahead of the suspect. “The bad guys coming after our particular accounts and using them in ways that we don’t want, whether that is so they can make some money, whether that is to take information that they can use in different ways later,” says Michael Watson, Chief Information Security Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia at the Virginia Information Technologies Agency.

The pandemic pushed a lot of things to be digital and as a result, a lot of scams are being done to steal personal information and money. The Virginia Information Technologies Agency says a lot of scammers were using gift cards as a means to scam.

A security officer with the organization says it’s important you know where to go if you are a victim of a cyber threat. “We have to make sure we’re paying close attention to whose using our accounts and who is accessing that data so that you can protect yourselves and make sure that if something does go wrong that we’re at least engaging and alerting the right folks to make sure they know what’s happening,” says Watson.

Watson recommends using multi-factor authentication, which is an added layer of protection for your account so it’s not easy to guess. “It’s that code that pops up, that’s texted to your phone or some other digital identifier that comes up on some device that you have. The idea is that not only do you have to know a password or have a fingerprint but you also have a digital representation,” says Watson.

For more resources to stay protected online visit the technology agency’s website.