The National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Aware campaign is in full swing, and at Bob’s Business, we couldn’t be more supportive of their efforts to help individuals and organisations make basic cyber security practices a part of their everyday lives.

With so many of us living our personal, private and professional lives online, the risks associated with losing access to your accounts or having your identity stolen are too great to ignore.

The good news? With only a few small changes, we can all become more Cyber Aware and cyber secure.

Here are the NCSC’s top 6 tips for becoming Cyber Aware (and one of our own, too!)

Create a separate password for your email account

Creating unique passwords for each service you use prevents one breach leading to a chain reaction of breaches, but it’s especially important that your email account has a completely unique password.

With access to your email account, any service you use can have it password reset and changed, completely locking you out.

Think up three random words to create strong passwords

Weak passwords can be cracked by automated software in seconds, and passwords based on your private life can be easily guessed. The solution to memorable yet difficult to crack passwords? Think up three random words!

PianoFromageCartwheel is infinitely more secure than password123, and is just as memorable too. For more security, use special characters and numbers, like £Piano8Fromage!Cartwheel.

Save your passwords in your browser

Doubting your ability to remember all those freshly secured passwords? What if I told you that you don’t need to remember them at all?

By using your browser’s built-in password manager, you never need to remember your passwords again. All modern browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari feature built-in password managers which automatically store your passwords as you browse.

It’s quick, convenient and far more secure than keeping your passwords in a document or in a notebook.

Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a free security feature that’s offered as an option in many online services and it ensures that even if somebody has your password, they can’t access your account. How?

2FA reduces your risk of breach by asking you to provide a second factor of authentication, typically entering a code sent to your phone.

Always check to see if your online services offer 2FA, and if they do, ensure that you enable it.

Keep your devices and software updated

Updates for your devices and software are about more than merely adding features - they patch major security flaws too.

Cyber criminals use these security flaws to gain access to your systems, and that can spell disaster.

So, always ensure your devices and software are fully up to date.

Backup your devices

If your phone, tablet, laptop or PC are hacked, your sensitive personal data can be lost, damaged or stolen.

By turning on backups on your devices, you can roll back to a safe point and retrieve your personal and private data. More than good cyber security practice, backing up your devices is great practice for data protection too.

Train your workforce

In organisations of any size, the most important element of your cyber security isn’t a firewall or a hardware solution - it’s your workforce.

Over 90% of breaches occur as a result of human error, so empowering your team to create new, secure and positive cyber security behaviours is vital to protecting your organisation.

At Bob’s Business, we know that empowered teams are the bedrock of a secure organisation. That’s why we create award-winning, NCSC-certified cyber security training services for your team - all of which take place online.

To learn more about how we transform behaviours within organisations of all sizes, book a demonstration here.