Hey there, listeners. This is Brett Molina. Welcome to Talking Tech. Security professionals are urging Americans to take immediate steps to protect themselves from what they see as a high risk of Russian cyberattacks following the invasion of Ukraine. Some of these experts are noting that with sanctions imposed by the US against Russia, it is only a matter of time until the US is targeted more directly.
Now, the chances of cyberattackers targeting Americans personally are slim. It is important to stay ahead of things and be prepared. My colleague Jessica Guinn writes about this in a story you can read at tech.usaToday.com. She offers eight tips you can take to help protect yourself. These are a lot of things you should be doing anyway, but if it's something you've put off and you haven't had a chance to do yet, now is the best time to do it.
Let's break them all down here. The first is: turn on multifactor authentication. What is it and what does it do, assuming you log into your Gmail account. You log in to the computer, you enter your passcode. If you have multi-factor authentication turned on, it will ask you to apply a code to verify. For example, in the case of Gmail, if you already have it on your phone, you'll go to your phone, and confirm, for example, "Is this you logged into this computer". There are other ways you can get those extra codes as well. You can send them via text message or email.
I personally use Authy, which is an authentication app. It works with many different services. And I have many apps connected to that. And what it does is, whenever you log in, the website or service will ask for a code from your authentication app. I'll go there, get the code, and type it in. It never passes by text or anything, so it's straight on your phone. Super secure, super secure way to protect your account. It's also good if, say, someone gets your password; You still have that extra layer of defense.
Next step: Update everything. Anything and everything: your phone, your computer. Check for updates, get it at full speed. You want to get the latest updates. A lot of hackers like to take advantage of flaws that get patched up later. But it's up to the user to make sure everything is up to date and patched, so always double, triple check it. Alerts for updates at any time, make sure you are updating.
Think before you click. This is an important one. Phishing emails, other things like that, they are trying to appeal to your feelings or fears, whatever. take your time. Don't feel like you have to rush to click something. take your time. Read it. One thing I do is that if I get an email from a service, and I'm not sure why I'm getting it, I'll go to the actual website and verify if it's something that's legit.
Use strong, unique passwords. If you are using 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or typing "password", please stop. It puts you in danger. Use really strong passwords. Password managers are really good because you basically only have to think of a single password, and it will create and store it unique to each of your accounts, so you don't even need to think about it. You don't have to worry about remembering 50 different passwords. This manager takes care of it for you.
This is something that I think in the early days of the Internet, we actually subscribed to, but not as much. And that is: don't believe everything online. Look at everything with suspicion. Just keep in mind, where is this coming from? What is the source of this information? Too often, again, there is that appeal to your spirit. And I have done this too. I share something instinctively because I feel emotionally invested in what I'm reading, and I share it without thinking. And it happens to everyone. So, just try to keep a similar keel when you see this stuff, whether it pops up on social media, whether someone emails it to you, whatever it may be.
Back up your most important files. It's always good, just in case. You want multiple places where you can get stuff. So that way, if something happens to your computer, you have a backup. Use a VPN if you are on the public internet. VPN is a virtual private network. And it just protects you. If, say, you're somewhere like Starbucks, use a VPN, that way, it encrypts your data first. And also, people can't use that WiFi to somehow get in and see what you're doing on your computer.
You can find out more about what to do and how to protect yourself and read the latest tech news and tech coverage at tech.usatoday.com. Listeners, let's hear from you. Do you have any comments, questions or suggestions? Any technical issues you'd like us to try to solve? You can find me on Twitter @bretmolina23.
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