Cyber Security

• Block and report cyberbullies on social media, email, and text.
• Avoid escalation.  Bullies thrive on getting a reaction.  Have a strong blocking game.
• Know when it's a crime.  Listen to your gut if the bullying become more frequent, severe, or dangerous.  Contact law enforcement.
• Document everything.  Keep a record of any bullying activity, like emails, webpages, or social media posts.
• Keep some secrets.  Be careful who can access contact information or details about your children's interests, habits, and location.

• Cyberbullying is unwanted, repeated, aggressive behavior online that involves  real or perceived power imbalance.
• First steps: if a joke or other form of online attention makes you fell bad, and those behind the joke won't stop after you ask, talk to a trusted adult.
• Manage your privacy settings on social media so only the people you want to can see you, not the general public. 
• Step away from screens.  It can be helpful to log out for a little while.
• Help a friend.   Understand that your friend might feel fragile about bullying.  Try to help them talk to an adult.  Stand by their side!

• Be a bully detective!  Save images or messages related to cyberbullying.  Take screenshots or screenrecord videos and show them to a trusted adult.
• Report it to stop it.  Report to your school, parents, app, game or website.
• Don't do nothing.  If you or a friend has experienced it you can do something about it!
• Posts are like ghosts.  You don't want what you say to haunt you in the future.  Be kind online.
  
  
  

Computer Symptoms

• Suddenly slow performance
• Unexpected shut downs/restarts
• Frequent error messages & unexpected pop-up windows
• Frequent system crashes...

What to do

1. Run full system scan with your antivirus software.
2. Restore computer to earlier backup. Run full system scan again.
3. Delete all temporary files.
4. Boot system in "Safe Mode" & attempt to delete them again.
5. Last resort - wipe the entire hard drive and reinstall your operating system.

Change the account's password right away. 
This may help lock out the hacker.  However, the hacker may have changed your password & locked you out.  If this happens, use the account's "Forgot my Password" function to reset it.  

Notify your contacts that your account was hacked & that they may receive spam messages that look like they came from you.  Tell them not to open any messages or click on any links contained in them.

Run a full system scan of your computer using your antivirus software.

Get help.  Contact your bank and local police. Contact your IT Dept. if your work account was compromised...

Stay calm.  Don't make hasty decisions.
Take a photo of the ransomware message for evidence.
Quarantine your device Disconnect it from WiFi and unplug any ethernet cables.   
Check your antivirus software to see if it has decryption tools to remove the ransomware.  
If your files are backed up in the cloud or external hard drive, wipe your hard drive and reinstall your operating system.
Report the attack to your local police department, the FBI, CISA and the U.S. Secret Service.
Change all of your passwords once you have control of your device again.

Preventing viruses and hacking in the first place is easier than dealing with consequences after the fact.  Practice good cyber hygiene behaviors to lower your risks.

1. Lock your login with strong passwords, a password manager, and extra authentication.
2. Update your software regularly.  Turn on automatic updates.
3. Back up your data to the cloud or an external hard drive or both!
4. Never forget your antivirus software!

Check out our tips for staying secure online at home or at work with regular software updates, watching out for phishing, an introduction to password managers, & information on multi-factor authentication below.

Don't skip or delay your software updates.  They fix general software problems and provide new security patches where criminals  might get in.  

You should only get the update from the company that created it.

Automate your updates. It's easy and you get a reminder so that you can easily start your update process.

Password Managers help you to mange the ever-increasing number of passwords that you have accumulated for your online accounts.  Don't take the easy way out and use the same password for multiple accounts.  If your password is stolen in a breach, all of your accounts are at risk.  Finally, they help you manage access to all your accounts more easily.  

Multi-factor authentication, or MFA, is a security measure that requires anyone logging into an account to navigate a two-step process to prove their identity. 

It makes it twice as hard for criminals to access an online account.