Observing Data Privacy Day through cybersecurity awareness

Research & Innovation

Texas State University | January 27, 2023

Data Privacy Day is January 28. It is “an international effort to create awareness about the importance of respecting privacy, safeguarding data, and enabling trust.”

Tips from Texas State University's Division of Information Technology Blog 

By Joel Ausanka, IT projects coordinator 

A hard truth: humans are the most vulnerable link in the cybersecurity chain. So, it might sound cliché, but cybersecurity is a state of mind. Therefore, having a vigilant mindset around technology is critical to building good security behaviors to prevent you from becoming a victim of cybercrime or identity theft.  

Pressing pause  

The best thing you can do when encountering something stimulating is to pause. Threats can manifest in many ways – an email asking for personal information, a phone call from an unknown technical help desk that seems too urgent, or a text message notifying you of a package delivery when you have not ordered anything. All are moments where you have an opportunity to stop a scam artist or phisher in their tracks.  

Dirty passwords  

The most common password of 2022, according to Nordpass, which researched over 275 million passwords from known breaches, was “password.” The top 20 list includes other gems such as “12345678” and “000000.”  

When you add in the all-too-common practice of password reuse, you see a very troubling picture: millions of people with multiple accounts are all using and reusing the worst passwords possible. Updating and strengthening your passwords is an impactful thing you can do to improve your cybersecurity.  

Cleaning up  

Cleaning up login credentials on your accounts is the first defense against an attack or compromise. Password managers are your best friend here. Password managers will help you collect, analyze, and strengthen passwords on any account you store. 

The next step is to change passwords on your most important accounts and store them in your password manager. This will be a process, but once done, you will have peace of mind and a more robust personal security posture.  

Finally, set up multi-factor authentication (or MFA) on as many accounts as possible to ensure maximum protection. However, remember to set up backup factors as well, like pre-generated backup keys to keep for emergencies, or a token generator for times where cell signal or internet is spotty. You could even use a physical MFA key like a Yubikey, for example. If you don’t, and you upgrade to a new phone, your phone might lose the information needed to authenticate, and then you would be locked out of your accounts, requiring a lengthy reset process. Set up multiple authentication factors to avoid this complication.  

Staying safe  

Phishing attacks and scams are everywhere – they work, create real victims, and take many different forms: phishing emails, tax and social security phone scams, and vehicle warranty expiration voicemail scams, to name a few. Phishing is persistent, growing in volume each year, and attackers are getting better and better at making convincing fakes.  

Identifying scams and phishing can help keep you from becoming a fraud or identity theft victim. Securing our devices and accounts with the proper security and managing our reactions to stimuli is our best bet for staying safe in an evolving security landscape.