It’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: What to know

DELMARVA – October marks National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Local experts are sharing helpful tips to keep your information safe online.

Impact Technology is just one of the companies that provides IT help and cybersecurity support to businesses across Delmarva. Operations Manager Tara Diskin says hackers are continuing to find creative ways to get access to information online. That includes email, text messages, and even phone calls.

“You can never be vigilant enough when it comes to cybersecurity,” Diskin said. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who are trying to hack your accounts. That ranges from individuals all the way up to business accounts.”

Keeping software up to date can help. However, Diskin says one of the best ways to protect your accounts is to use multi-factor authentication whenever possible. And, you should make your passwords complicated, and unique to each account. Avoid using pet names or other information that is easy to find out, as well.

“If you have the same password for Facebook as you do for your bank account, Facebook can be hacked easily, and therefore they have the keys to the kingdom,” Diskin said. “It’s important for everyone to look out for, and it is scary when it happens. It’s not that you should be scared of it, but it’s ‘if?’ and not ‘when?'”

Impact Technology offers its own cybersecurity services to customers.

“That includes training platforms where people who we serve can actually be trained on what to look for,” Diskin said. “We also offer things like anti-virus protection and managed detection response.”

If you are hacked, you should change your passwords, beef up your log-in security settings, and report any phishing efforts you come across. You can find more information on the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s website.