In our increasingly digital world, it’s essential to know how to protect yourself online.
Many of us know we should be doing more. But staying safe online can seem like an overly complex process.
It doesn’t have to be. In fact, many of the most effective actions you can take are easy to do.
Read our top cyber security tips to get started.
One of the easiest ways to stay safe online is to make strong passwords. Passwords that are long, unique and random are challenging for cybercriminals to hack.
To make strong passwords, we recommend:
- using passphrases (a type of password made up of 4 or more random words)
- using a new password for each account
- making your passwords tricky to guess
It’s also vital to store your passwords securely. Consider using a password manager, which is a program that keeps your passwords safe and easy to access.
Want to learn more? Read our Create strong passwords guide.
Test a password’s strength
Test how much you know about making good passwords with Service Victoria’s Password strength tester. You can see how strong the password is against hackers and password guessing programs. You’ll also see if it was in any known data breaches.
A practical way to add more layers of security to your accounts is to set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your online accounts.
MFA works by asking you to authenticate (or prove) in 2 or more ways that you’re the real owner of an online account.
There are many ways you can prove your account is really yours. You could:
- enter your password, passphrase or PIN. This is the standard authentication factor on most accounts. Using a password alone is called ‘single factor authentication’.
- receive a random code that you need to enter to access your online account. This is sometimes called a ‘one time password’ or ‘one time PIN’ (OTP). You could choose to receive it via text message (SMS), an email, smartcard, physical token or authenticator application (app).
- use biometrics. For example, you could scan your fingerprint or iris (eye), or use facial or voice recognition.
It’s highly recommended that you take the time to set up MFA.
Want to learn more? Read our Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) guide.
Have you been ignoring prompts to update your devices?
It’s important to update your devices because updates allow for weaknesses or vulnerabilities in the device’s software to be fixed. If you don’t update your devices, it’s far easier for cybercriminals to get into your devices.Want to learn more? Read our Update your devices guide.
Online scams are becoming increasingly commonplace.
We might think that we’d never fall for a scam, but the latest data tells a different story. According to Scamwatch, Victorians lost more than $110 million in scams in 2023.
When it comes to protecting yourself from scams, knowledge is power. Knowing what red flags to look out for will help you to identify scams.Want to learn more? Read our Stay safe from scams and Online shopping scams guides.
If you’ve ever lost your photos, files or other important data, you’ll know how devastating it is.
After it happens, you wish that there was some way you could get your data back.
That’s why it’s vital to regularly backup your data. Backing up your data is the only way to safeguard your data against data loss. If you’ve backed up your data, you’ll still have a copy of it, even if the original data can’t be accessed anymore.
Data loss doesn’t occur just due to human error (like losing your device). You could also lose access to your data if you’re targeted by an online attack, or your data is affected by a data breach.
Want to learn more? Read our Backup your data and devices and Information leaks and data breaches guides.
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