8. Watch out for gimmicky advertisements on web pages.
You are a smart business person, right? And you know if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So if you see an ad that tells you it’s going to give you a ton of money, stay far, far away! About the only prize you can receive from one of these ads is a slow PC full of adware.
9. Don’t leave company email open on a public internet kiosk
This is just plain common sense, but it is amazing how many people forget to take care of this detail. If you are travelling and need to check your email at a public PC, please make sure to close out of your email when you are finished. Some providers will automatically log you off after a certain amount of time, but within that time limit, all of your email is fair game for anyone close by.
10. Passwords, passwords, passwords
Last, but certainly not least is the topic of passwords. Almost every program, website, computer, file, can be secured by a password. It can get difficult to remember all of them, and it is tempting to use the same one in multiple locations, but DON’T! And you should NEVER make your password “password” or something similar to a default password. Taping them to the front of your monitor or hiding them under the keyboard may help you to remember what they are, but isn’t much of a data theft deterrent. If you have to keep a record of them, try doing what I do – I store them in a spreadsheet file with a misleading name, on a Flash drive I keep in another location where I can get to it easily but where others cannot. (yes, I have over 200 passwords to remember and I certainly don’t have that good a memory!)
So now you see how, with a little time, effort and common sense, and a few pieces of (mostly free!) software, you can keep your business and your data more secure!
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