In Honor of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Learn Hikvision’s 5 Tips to Boost Cybersecurity
October 4, 2023
It’s October and the beginning of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM)! This month is dedicated to helping Americans stay safe online and boost their cybersecurity. One of the best ways to remain safe online is to create strong passwords and store those passwords in a secure location using a password manager.
Here are five tips from Chuck Davis, Hikvision’s Vice President of Global Information Security, to help you protect your passwords to stay safer online:
- One of the first tips to boost protection online is to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) everywhere you can. This will protect your account even if an attacker gets your password. MFA adds two or more pieces of verifiable evidence or “factors” to the authentication process, vastly reducing the chances of an account being accessed by the wrong person.
- Never reuse passwords. Reusing passwords increases the chances that your account will be compromised in a credential-stuffing attack.
- Sign up for “Have I Been Pwned?” so you get alerted if your email address shows up in a data breach. This is a free service that often alerts you of a breach before the vendor or website contacts you.
- Use a Password Manager. Since our passwords all should be long and unique, it’s unreasonable to expect anyone to remember all of the passwords that an average person must use. Using a password manager will relieve you of that burden because you can store all of your passwords in the password manager, and you won’t have to remember any of them. Password managers can also automatically enter your passwords into websites for you.
- Use Passkeys. Passkeys are a new way to sign into apps and websites that are easier than passwords. They are resistant to attacks such as phishing and enable users to log in with a fingerprint, a face scan, or a screen lock PIN. FIDO Alliance, Apple, Microsoft, and Google have all rolled out passkey options.
Hikvision’s online Cybersecurity Center has numerous other resources to help you stay safe online. Take advantage of those resources this month as part of NCSAM!