Home Cybersecurity Checklist

April 11, 2017

Don't Take the Bait Resources from BEDELsecurity

Home Cybersecurity Checklist:

The checklist below doesn’t guarantee your security, but it’s a good starting point. Your goal should be to work toward being able to check off every item as a “YES”.

Are you running anti-virus on your computer(s)?
- Is it a paid service?
- Do updates automatically run?
- Is “real-time scanning” on?
- Do you have daily scans on?
- Do you have weekly “full” scans on?

Recommended paid anti-virus applications:

- McAfee https://www.mcafee.com/consumer/en-us/store/m0/index.html
- Syamantec https://www.symantec.com/
- Kapsersky https://usa.kaspersky.com/
- Webroot https://www.webroot.com/us/en/landing
- Bitdefender https://www.bitdefender.com/

Do you have automatic updates turned on?
- Windows XP, 7, 8, 8.1: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/306525/how-to-configure-and-use-automatic-updates-in-windows
- Windows 10 is set to automatically update by default
- Mac: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25371?locale=en_US
- Flash: https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/flash-player-background-updates.html
- Other 3rd Party Updates: https://ninite.com/updater/ Just $9.99 per year for automatic updates

Do you have strong password habits?
- Do your passwords have ALL 6 Characteristics:

1. 1. Upper case letters
  2. Lower case letters
  3. Special characters
  4. Numbers
  5. No Dictionary Words
  6. 8 characters or longer (but the longer, the better)

An example of a strong password: vqL2+@adEdfM7JA

Do you use a different password for each website/service you use?
- For easier management of multiple passwords, try this password management tool: https://1password.com/
- Or to learn more about a core password: http://my.infotex.com/the-core-password/

Do you have an offsite backup solution for your most critical files?
- Does it run automatically every day (or multiple times daily)?
  - Some backup solutions
    - IDrive http://idrive.com (Top rated on PC Mag)
    - CrashPlan http://crashplan.com
    - SOS https://www.sosonlinebackup.com/