3 things seniors must know about cyber security

(NC) If you’re in the 65 or older age bracket, the amount of technological change you’ve seen in your lifetime is truly astounding. You’ve gone from witnessing the introduction of colour television, VCRs, car phones and camcorders to having a smartphone that you can use to monitor your health, take high-quality photos and have video chats with your grandkids – or make a simple phone call if you want. But with every new technology, comes new risks. Here are three things you can do to protect yourself in this digital world.

Be scam aware
Knowing that many seniors only joined the digital world later in life and may still be unfamiliar with aspects of it, including cyber security, scammers frequently target older people. Cyber criminals use a common tactic known as the “grandparent scam” to impersonate grandchildren messaging or calling their grandparents in distress for urgent funds, often in the form of gift cards. If anything seems suspicious, contact your family member directly to verify the situation. Some families have chosen passwords (like a code word) that only their loved ones know so they can verify that the person who is contacting them is really who they say they are.

Be smart with your passwords
While you might want to reuse passwords on various websites so that you can remember them, know that if your login information is hacked on one site, your other accounts could also be at risk.

Create a unique password for every site you register on using a combination of at least 12 characters and uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Alternatively, an easier-to-remember option is to use passphrases. These should be at least 15 characters and are a mix of four or more random words strung together that are easier for you to remember but nearly impossible for someone else to guess.

There are also password managers you can use that will remember all your passwords for you. Some password managers can also help suggest strong passwords for you.

Protect your devices
To protect sensitive information, lock your phone, computer and tablets (and any other device) with unique passwords that you need to enter in order to open them. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for an extra layer of security on your device as well as an alternate form of logging in. If you get a notice of a software update, install it as soon as you can. These are often security-related and are intended to close loopholes that scammers can use. Better yet, set up your devices to automatically install updates.

For added protection, you can turn off features on your devices that you don’t always need, such as the camera, microphone and location tracking services.

Find more cyber safety tips at getcybersafe.ca.