Family cybersecurity: 5 tips for keeping family devices secure
When it comes to the impact of a data leak or device compromise thoughts often go to reputation or financial impacts, the end result. But the reality of how these outcomes are reached can be particularly unsettling especially when it involves your family and their devices. Scenarios where your family have been used and their data weaponised can give a sense of unease far greater than any ransom payout ever would.
Protecting your family and their data is a necessary step to securing yourself from compromise. Often attackers will look to target the close inner circle of an individual, threatening their reputation, safety, or using them as a route to the primary individual. Exploiting the weakest link is a common threat for high value or high risk individuals.
In this blog we discuss 5 simple suggestions for securing family devices, easily implemented advice that makes a huge difference in the ongoing safety of both them and the data they hold.
1. Install updates
There is no better strategy than promptly installing updates as soon as they become available, as the first step to securing your devices against compromise. This simple yet powerful step ensures that your family’s devices are protected against currently known exploits targeting their operating systems.
By updating as soon as you can, you significantly reduce your attack surfaces, making it much harder for malicious actors to find vulnerabilities to exploit. Updates not only patch security issues but also improve the overall performance of your devices, ensuring they are performing well and are safeguarded against the latest threats.
2. Use a password manager
Passwords remain a crucial element of our account security. Although passwordless solutions exist, the significance of strong passwords cannot be overstated. When creating a password, it’s essential to focus on its length and complexity. Additionally, each password should be unique to the specific account and not reused across multiple accounts. This practice helps protect against credential stuffing attacks, where compromised credentials from one service are used to access others.
A good password manager can simplify this process making it far more actionable, requiring only FaceID or a fingerprint to access. They can generate strong, unique passwords for each account, store them securely, and make them easily accessible. This ensures that each of your accounts is protected with a unique password without the hassle of remembering them all.
3. Enforce Multi Factor Authentication (MFA)
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) needs to be a critical component of any family’s cybersecurity as it significantly enhances the protection of online accounts. By requiring multiple forms of verification, such as a password and face identification or a code sent to a mobile device, MFA makes it much harder for unauthorised users to gain access. This added layer of security is particularly important given the increasing sophistication of cyber threats. Meaning even if a password is compromised, the additional verification steps help to ensure the account remains secure, protecting sensitive personal and financial information from being exploited.
Understanding the different types of MFA can be confusing. Learn about the pros and cons of each factor in this blog by coc00n CTO Luke Smyth.
4. Limit publicly available information
Personal information is a goldmine for attackers, and we often share it too freely online. Sharing contact details unnecessarily can lead to a flood of phishing emails. When combined with more personal info such as hobbies and interests, these can quickly turn into spear phishing attacks, where scammers use your interests and habits to trick you into clicking links or entering banking details.
Attackers can create convincing messages that look like they’re from trusted sources, making it tough to spot the fakes. Oversharing on social media can also give them insights into your routines and preferences, which they can exploit. To stay safe, be mindful of what you and your family share online and use privacy settings to keep your personal details under wraps.
5. Backup your data
While backing up your data doesn’t proactively protect it from threats, it ensures that you won’t lose it permanently. By regularly backing up, you protect against accidental deletions or malicious attacks, ensuring that you can quickly recover family data and get back to business as usual if a household device is ever lost, stolen or corrupted.
Backups act as a safety net, providing you with peace of mind, knowing that no matter what happens, your important files and memories are secure and retrievable. They also allow for more confidence implementing security controls such as a device wipe, knowing that your data remains secure elsewhere.
What next?
Implementing these five tips across all household devices will give families confidence that they have in place the first line of defence against cyber threats. But there is no room for complacency when it comes to cybercrime as criminals are always looking for vulnerabilities. For more complex scenarios or higher threat situations, families would need to consider more tailored solutions to get true defence in depth.
Want to assess your household cyber risk exposure? Get in touch with coc00n today for a bespoke approach to household cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is an international initiative that educates everyone about online safety and empowers individuals and businesses to protect their data from cybercrime.