October: Cybersecurity Awareness Month

The rise in online interactions and massive amounts of data flowing over the web, has led to an uptick in fraudulent activity with 2.2 million reported fraud cases, costing consumers an estimated $3.3 billion in 2020, according to the FTC.

Cybercrimes have always been a chief concern for banks, which is why our community bank follows industry standards and procedures to protect electronic systems, data applications, and networks from interference and ensure your personal information is handled with proper care.

Our staff undergoes routine cybersecurity training to spot and prevent attacks, but another essential weapon in the fight against cyber threats is an educated consumer.

Below is a curated list of best practices to help reduce your likelihood of becoming a victim of identity theft and fraud:

• Use unique passphrases as passwords and differentiate them across multiple platforms. Length trumps complexity. A strong passphrase is a sentence that is at least 12 characters long.
• Do a system check. Purge unused apps and outdated or sensitive information stored in old files and emails and ensure all software on internet-connected devices is current.
• Manage social media settings and minimize information sharing. Just a few data points can create a pathway for exploitation by cybercriminals.
• Use Wi-Fi judiciously: Limit the type of business conducted over public Wi-Fi connections, including logging in to key accounts like banking.

Consumers can also make sure their account has not been compromised by taking the following steps to:

• Monitor account activity regularly for transaction irregularities and report discrepancies to your bank.

• Back up intellectual property and other digital information and store it safely so in the unfortunate event of a ransomware or other cyber threats you can retrieve the data.

• Read the fine print when purchasing items online. Do not save credit and debit card credentials on a merchant’s website or app, if prompted.
• Stay vigilant. Be mindful when shopping online and look for signs of illegitimate websites. Spelling or grammatical errors, missing contact information, and suspicious URLs or email addresses are all red flags.
• Look for special indicators such as web addresses with https:// that denote extra measures taken to help secure your information. URLS that end in .BANK are assigned for exclusive use by financial institutions.

Working together, we can take a bite out of cybercrime by shoring up our defenses.