Stay Safe Online: Tips For Businesses

From BBB: Better Business Bureau Northwest + Pacific is participating in the 15th annual National Cybersecurity Awareness month campaign aimed at raising the public’s awareness of the basic steps needed to stay safe online. Throughout the month, BBB will be releasing cyber safety tips and articles to help consumers and businesses stay vigilant. BBB articles will focus on HTTPS, what it is, why it's important and how small businesses can migrate to HTTPS to increase security. Articles and a cybersecurity toolkit for small businesses can be found at www.BBB.org/BBBSecure. BBB encourages online users to educate themselves about cybersecurity risks and offers the following tips to stay safe online:

Own your online presence. Set the privacy and security settings on websites to your comfort level for information sharing. It's OK to limit how and with whom you share information.

Get two steps ahead. Turn on two-step verification on accounts when available. This adds an extra layer of security to your account by requiring you to know more than just a password. This is typically a code that is sent to you after accessing your password-protected electronic device. This can also be a fingerprint or facial recognition.

Keep a clean machine. Technology companies such as Apple and Microsoft are constantly making safety updates. Keep all software on internet-connected devices – including PCs, smartphones, and tablets – up to date to reduce the risk of infection from malware.

Keep a lid on personal information. Information about your history or location has value. Think about who is seeing the information and how it is gathered by mobile apps or websites.

Think before you post. Take care when posting about yourself and others online. Consider who might see it and how it could be perceived now and in the future.

Follow the hashtags #BBBSecure and #CyberAware for more BBB tips on staying safe online. Also, plan to attend weekly Twitter discussions each Thursday in October at noon PDT. And look out for weekly Facebook live videos where we will discuss a different theme or provide different educational information and cyber-security tips. Anyone who feels they may be a victim of a cybercrime should report it to local law enforcement and BBB Scam Tracker at bbb.org/scamtracker.

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