5 Expert Tips On Improving Your Digital Security

Scan today’s headlines and it’s easy to be concerned about digital security: high-profile hacks that expose tens of millions of credit records; malware (malicious software) that targets the most popular mobile operating system in the world; data breaches on social media that compromise your privacy; and “phishing” scams that dupe your employees into revealing sensitive company information. The good news: as long as you take the necessary precautions to safeguard your information, you will dramatically reduce the odds of an attack. Below, a cybersecurity checklist, from the GoDaddy pros. —Vita Daily

• Have reliable anti malware: Reputable anti malware software on all your devices—laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones—can identify, quarantine, delete and report any suspicious activity. The best ones offer a suite of services, including a web application firewall (WAF) and encryption options. For example, GoDaddy offers daily malware scanning and automatic removal to help keep your site safe.
• Update your software & Operating System: Set up automatic updates and use a reliable ongoing monitoring service that covers your Operating System, browser, plug-ins and other software. Set it to update when you’re not working on those devices.
• Use strong passwords & two-factor authentication: One of the biggest digital security mistakes is using the same password for all your online activity. Not only should you use different passwords for all accounts (password manager apps like LastPass are a handy way to keep track of them all) but you should also use a passphrase instead of a password. make it even harder for the bad guys to access your data by adding a second layer of defense with two-factor authentication.
• Secure your website: Not only is it affordable to encrypt your website with an SSL certificate, so it displays that little green lock in the browser bar, but Google Chrome now clearly marks sites that don’t have them as “Not Secure”. A recent GoDaddy survey revealed that over half of Canadians will not shop from a website that does not have an SSL certificate.
• Backup your files: It doesn’t really matter how you want to do it—a free or paid cloud service, external hard drive, USB thumb drive, or what have you. So long as you’re proactive about backing up your important files regularly, you’ll minimize the damage if hit with a direct or indirect attack.

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