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Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Cybersecurity Awareness month was started in October of 2004 by President George W. Bush and Congress. They dedicated this month as a time to learn about how to reduce online risk, cyber risk, and how to protect yourself from fraud. 

There are a few things you can do to keep yourself safe online. The first being: recognizing phishing. Phishing scams are unfortunately very popular and can happen through phone, email or text. Phishers will attempt to steal any personal information including passwords, card information, and bank information. Phishers will pose as someone that you know, it could be your bank, your doctor, or even a family member! They will do everything they can to obtain personal information. Thankfully, there are a few ways to identify phishing scams. First, read the message carefully to see if there is any incorrect grammar or spelling. Secondly, take note if the message is coming from an unknown number/email. And lastly, links - Never click on a link sent to you by someone that you do not know! It is important to recognize phishing so that you can report it and stay safe!

Another way to stay safe online is using strong passwords. Did you know in the US 39% of people use their pet’s name in their password, and 59% Americans use birthdays or names in their password. These are easy to figure out and should be avoided. Make sure that your password is unique and about 16 characters long. Using uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols are great ways to make your password stronger.

Lastly, multifactor authentication. Multifactor authentication requires you to verify twice that you, the owner of the account, are logging in. You may verify it is you through a pin/password, a text code, or your finger or face ID. As annoying as it can be to approve yourself signing into different applications, it makes you 99.9% less likely to get hacked. That is amazing! You can set up multifactor authentication on most applications, if you venture into their settings.

If you find yourself a victim of fraud please contact your bank and report the incident to the FTC.

At Blue Ridge Bank, we work to keep your accounts safe and secure, whether you're accessing them online, through an ATM, mobile device, or in one of our branches. For more information on how to keep your personal information secure, visit our Identity Protection page.

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1 in 3 U.S. Pet Parents Have Used Their Pet's Name as Their Password (prnewswire.com)

Protect Your Digital Identity: Tips for World Password Day (edci.com)