MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WRN) – It’s cybersecurity awareness month and state consumer protection officials want you to keep your computers and devices up to date.
October is cybersecurity awareness month, and state consumer protection officials want you to think about the passwords you’re using.
Michelle Reinen with DATCP says it’s important to not reuse passwords.
“Because once they have one and it figured it out now they have access to many things. So it’s important to make sure you have multiple passwords that are long, strong, and unique.”
She says it’s best to either use long pass phrases that are easy for you to remember and hard for others to guess, or use a password manager program.
Keeping your computer and devices up to date is also vital to keeping your data safe from the latest emerging bugs and hacks.
“That could mean that you are having to press the button to do those updates, fix those glitches, bugs and weaknesses yourself, or you’re going to have to set those auto updates and make sure that they’re running.”
If you’re not sure if your device has auto updates, check with the manufacturer and see what needs to be done to get it up to date.
