As part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Guilford County is sharing tips with residents to help them keep their information and data safe. Cybersecurity Awareness Month aims to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity, emphasizes personal accountability, and highlights proactive steps to enhance and ensure the security of personal and work-related private information. Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a collaborative effort led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), uniting the public and private sectors to encourage behaviors that reduce online risks.
Guilford County Information Technology Department is sharing the following tips to help residents stay safe online and protect their personal data:
• Use strong passwords. Long, complex, and unique passwords are recommended for protecting social media, email, and any online accounts. Use a password manager to generate passwords and save them securely. Don’t reuse passwords. Generate a unique password for each of your online accounts.
• Turn on multifactor authentication. Multifactor authentication, MFA, provides an extra layer of protection for online accounts, personal devices, and business networks. Enable the feature wherever possible. For extra security, it is highly recommended to have more than just a password on important accounts, such as your email, credit card, bank, or any other financial accounts.
• Recognize and report phishing. Be wary of unsolicited emails, texts, or calls asking for personal information. Don't click on links or open attachments from unknown sources.
• Keep software up to date. Enabling automatic software updates allows your devices and applications to receive the latest security patches and remain continuously up to date.
Throughout October, Guilford County will share online safety tips on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and Nextdoor. To help residents make smart and cautious decisions when going online, Guilford County reminds residents that the county will never ask for personal or financial information through its various social media channels or via email. Use caution when encountering individuals who claim to be collecting personal or financial information on the county's behalf through social media comments, posts, or direct messages. When in doubt, always verify by contacting Guilford County directly.
For more information, visit GuilfordCountyNC.gov/Cybersecurity.