Our simple steps to be cyber smart

Cyber criminals can use a variety of methods to try and steal your personal information. Whether you’re using a computer or a mobile device, it’s important you’re aware of the dangers.

With the help of our IT Team, here are six steps to keep yourself cyber safe.

Create strong passwords

Criminals can easily crack a weak password. By making your passwords unique and long (we recommend you use at least 16 characters), they are hard to guess. An easy way to do this is to combine three random words together to make a passphrase.

  • Your passwords shouldn't contain personal information such as birthdays, addresses, phone numbers or names of friends and family members (including your pets).
  • Always use a separate password for different sites and systems.
  • Make sure you change them regularly.
  • Use a password manager app to help remember all your passwords.
  • Always use two factor authentication if available.

Keep your devices updated

Always run updates on your devices as soon as possible because they often contain essential fixes to security weaknesses. You can use your device settings to schedule updates to run automatically.

Don't assume that your mobile device doesn't need antivirus protection. Make sure you regularly run antivirus software or scanning tools on your mobile devices. IT services have a selection of free software available for your use.

Back up your data

To avoid losing data if your device is lost, stolen, damaged or infected by malware, make sure it’s always securely backed up. Think carefully about where you back up your data. External hard drives can be infected by malware or ransomware, if connected, or damaged, lost or stolen along with your device.

We recommend that you save 3 copies of your important data in 2 different locations. One of these locations should be in the cloud such as your University Microsoft OneDrive account.

Be careful what you share online

Don’t make it easy for hackers. Cyber criminals can collect information about you from various social media platforms and use it to build up a profile of you to open credit cards in your name or get access to more of your personal information.

  • Check your privacy settings on social media sites to make sure only friends can see your information.
  • Don't publish everything about yourself to the whole world. In particular, be wary about making information such as your date of birth, home address, financial information and the names of close relatives freely available.

Recognise cyber scams

Cyber scams can take many forms. Phishing emails try to trick us into revealing sensitive information or downloading malicious software. These scams can pretend to be from the University or other trusted organisations like banks, the government or Student Loans. They often ask us to take urgent action.

It’s not just email though. It could be a text message, phone calls or social media. Social Engineering scams can be elaborate and highly convincing by using snippets of information they know about us to make the scam more realistic.

Always be wary of any email or text message that asks you to click on a link and provide sensitive personal information such as banking details or username and passwords. Most legitimate companies would never request this type of information from customers via email or by telephone.

  • You should never click on a link from an unsolicited email or text message unless you are absolutely certain where it points to. Have a close look at the URL before clicking on it.
  • Take a moment and trust your instincts. If you’re not sure, then don't click it and delete the message.
  • Do make sure websites' addresses start with https – especially when you're exchanging sensitive information, such as your bank or credit card details. The 's' on 'https' means 'secure'.

Remember to remain calm

If you do become a victim of cyber-crime, remember it is not your fault. If you think you’ve been scammed, try to remain calm and act quickly to cut off communications and report the situation to prevent the loss of any more information or money. There are multiple organisations you can contact to report a scam:

  • If you have given away your bank details, get in touch with your bank’s fraud team as soon as possible.
  • You should report the occurrence to the police, and you can also report it to Action Fraud
  • Finally, report the incident to the Community Safety Team located in the North Lodge at the top of the Green Heart as soon as possible.

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