Emergency preparedness monthly focus: cyber security

Cyber threats are getting more common and more widespread. Canadians are not immune to these threats, which can rob you of your money and identity and do serious harm to Canada’s infrastructure, economy and national security.

A cyber threat is an activity intended to compromise the security of an information system (such as a computer network, a website or even a social media page) by altering the availability, integrity, or confidentiality of a system or the information it contains. These activities take place in the online space.

Cyber threat actors are individuals or organizations trying to cause harm to an organization or individual, or profit from online activities. These individuals/groups take advantage of vulnerabilities, low cyber security awareness and technological developments to gain unauthorized access to information systems in order to access or otherwise affect victims’ data, devices, systems and networks.

Understanding how cyber threats work is the first step in protecting yourself from their activities.

There are some simple things we all can do to help protect our devices from cyber threats, including the following:

• always use strong passwords
• don’t click on links or open attachments without checking that they’re valid
• use only password-protected Wi-Fi networks
• keep your operating system, privacy settings and antivirus and anti-spyware software up to date

Cyber Security Awareness Month is an internationally-recognized campaign held each October to inform the public of the importance of cyber security. Content in this post is courtesy of the Government of Canada.

Learn more about cyber security.