Do you lock your door when you leave your home? Do you hide your valuables before leaving a parking lot? You probably don’t even think about it when you take these basic precautions.

If it’s second nature to protect your tangible valuables, are you that careful with your digital ones?

针对个人和企业计算机系统的网络攻击每年都变得越来越普遍. The 2021 FBI Internet Crime Report says Texas had 41,148 reported cyberattack victims and lost $606.2 million to cybercrime last year. And those are just the incidents we know about, says Wade McCain, cybersecurity training specialist at the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, Cyber Readiness Center. Plenty go unreported.

“Typically, cybercriminals are going for money. Whatever leads them to money will be the biggest target,” he says. They may be interested in personally identifiable information, customer and financial data, intellectual property and trade secrets, or systems and business plans.

网络罪犯知道他们可以通过瞄准2021十大正规彩票app企业和像你这样的专业人士来赚钱. 如果你认为你的家用电脑或公司太小或微不足道，不会受到攻击，那么再想想吧. Once cybercriminals have broken into your systems, 他们可以加密你的文件或欺骗你交出你的钱和个人信息, among other disruptive actions.

There are basic steps you can take to protect yourself online. The more of them you implement, the safer you’ll be. Here is what McCain recommends.

For Individuals

“我们网络准备中心认为，教人们如何保护他们的个人生活更令人难忘, and then that knowledge will spill over into their professional lives,” McCain says.

Long, unique passwords for every personal and work account are essential. A long password should be at least 12 characters in length. Do not reuse passwords for multiple accounts. If your password gets stolen, 网络犯罪分子可以在整个互联网上进行测试，并获得更多的信息, he says.

Password managers are programs and apps that can help you generate long, unique passwords and store them securely so you don’t have to remember them. By downloading and installing one, you only need to remember a single password: the one that opens the password manager.

Check before you click. Take a second before opening an email or text message. Do you recognize who sent it? Does the email address or phone number look normal? Are there any misspellings? Does anything seem unusual about the message? Don’t open attachments or click on links from sources you do not recognize. If you aren’t sure if the sender is legitimate, do not log in to a service to read a message or access a file. 邀请您查看在线文档可能会将您引导到一个看起来合法但旨在窃取您的密码的欺诈网站. This is a common way criminals can break into your systems.

Don’t give out your personal information. 网络钓鱼是指网络犯罪分子假装成一个值得信赖的人或实体，欺骗你交出你的账户凭证或个人信息. This could take the form of an email, text message, phone call, or website. Verify that the message is legitimate; call the person or organization at a number you independently locate to confirm before responding.

Reduce your digital footprint. People love sharing their personal activities and photos on social media. “你在网上所做的一切不仅是书面的，而且可能会被坏人用来对付你,” McCain says, 他补充说，企业受到攻击的原因是员工在个人渠道上发布的内容. Think carefully about what you post online. Does that post reveal anything sensitive? Consider limiting who can see your posts.

Two-factor authentication protects your accounts by asking users to provide a second credential after the password. Typically, you’ll use a one-time code sent via text message, email, or an app. 许多流行的服务，如Gmail、Amazon和金融服务，都允许双重身份验证.

Websites that monitor major hacks can tell you if your information is in danger. If you input your email address at haveibeenpwned.com, the site will tell you if that address was included in known major data leaks. If the information was leaked, change your passwords immediately.

Keep your devices up to date. It may be tempting to delay that software update, but tech companies are continually fixing vulnerabilities. If they’ve provided a solution to a problem, install it. Many devices update automatically or have a setting you can turn on to automatically update.

Back up everything offline. 将文件和重要信息的额外副本保存在与计算机断开连接的外部硬盘驱动器(或两个)上, the network, and the internet once your backup is completed. If anything happens to your computer, you can start over from your backup file. Be sure to test your backups periodically to make sure they’re working and up-to-date.

For Businesses

When it comes to cyberattacks for real estate companies, knowing your risks is the first step to mitigating them, McCain says. 券商正成为网络钓鱼、数据电汇、电子邮件泄露和勒索软件的攻击目标.

Training your agents and personnel on cybersecurity is the most important thing you can do. Business email compromise attacks resulted in nearly $2.4 billion in losses nationwide last year, according to the FBI. 骗子会侵入企业电子邮件账户，或者诱骗合法所有者让他们进入. Once there, they can conduct unauthorized transfers of funds, the FBI Internet Crime Report 2021 says.

每个访问您的系统的人都像人类防火墙一样保护您的组织免受网络攻击. “It doesn’t matter how many technical controls you put in place. If someone inside the organization clicks a link, 那个人可以让坏人直接进入网络，绕过所有现有的技术安全措施,” McCain says.

Verify payment and purchase requests in person if possible. “Too many times, people will authorize paying people and approve real estate transactions through email,” McCain says. “If that email has been compromised, you could literally lose tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, 甚至是数百万美元，只是因为你以为你付给某人的钱并不是你真正付给的人.”

Two-factor authentication is needed for all remote access accounts. 任何通过虚拟专用网络(VPN)连接到系统的人或管理服务器的管理员都需要这第二层保护.

Create a separate administrator account with full access on your devices and only use it for administrative purposes. Brokerages and business owners can set this up across all of the company machines. Give your own account less access and use it for your daily business. 当以权限较少的用户登录时，您的系统更安全，不受恶意软件感染. If your computer has been infected with malware, you may be able to resolve the problem using the administrator account, McCain says.

Having procedures in place before anything happens will help your firm immensely. Create a cyber incident response plan. 美国国家标准与技术研究院(NIST)网络安全框架和互联网安全中心(CIS)安全控制是很好的起点:它们是一套防止网络攻击的指导方针和实践. Create a playbook so you know what to do for each type of cyberattack. Once you have established plans, be sure to practice them at least once a year, McCain says.

Cyber insurance can offer coverage from cyberattacks and guidance when an incident happens.

Hold your partner organizations accountable. Even if your business is secure, 如果与您交互的供应商和第三方组织不安全，您仍然处于危险之中, according to McCain. Require that any third party you work with follows strong cybersecurity practices.

Keep your systems up to date. 最近一些备受瞩目的网络犯罪的发生，是因为攻击者利用了过时的服务器和操作系统, McCain says. Have a patch management system to routinely update your devices and computers.

Having secure, offline backups of data is just as important for businesses as individuals. Those files can help you recover if ransomware freezes your systems.

“我对2021十大正规彩票app公司的2021十大正规彩票app是做好所有基本的事情——所有简单的事情,” McCain says. “Having good cyber hygiene will make a big difference.”