How to Prevent Cybercrime

Cybercrime prevention starts with understanding the digital threats available to you or your business and how to guard against them. Just one data breach can lead to huge losses from crimes like identity theft and credit card fraud. Fortunately, there are several easy steps you can take to protect yourself or your business from cybercrime.

If you're in need of extra protection, a local independent insurance agent can help you find the right cyber liability insurance policy. They'll get you all the coverage you need against cybercrime, whether you're an individual or a business owner. But first, use our guide to learn how you can prevent cybercrime in the first place.

Top 5 Tips to Prevent Cybercrime

Cybercrime prevention starts with maintaining good cyber hygiene. Follow these five simple tips to keep yourself or your business safe from hackers and other cybercriminals.

1. Use safe browsing habits

Phishing awareness is critical for effective cybersecurity. Avoid clicking on any suspicious links, such as those found in spam email, to prevent phishing attacks. Emails sent from addresses you don't recognize or disguised with shortened links are important to be aware of.

Also, be on alert for any messages that use urgent language, such as those encouraging you to update a payment method now to avoid losing access to a subscription service. 

Generic greetings are another giveaway of a fraudulent message. These are common methods used by cybercriminals to get users to surrender their personal information. This type of cyberattack is also known as social engineering.

2. Require security awareness training

If you run a business, you can train your employees on easy and effective ways to prevent cybercrime, such as teaching them how to set strong passwords. Require a mandatory security awareness training for all current and new employees, and be sure to host another training anytime your business's network or computer systems undergo major updates. 

Your business should also have an incident response plan in place in case of a data breach, where customer or employee data or records are exposed or compromised.

3. Keep all software updated

Antivirus software, security suites, and firewalls must be regularly updated to keep cybercriminals out. Hackers know how to breach security holes in outdated software to gain access to information and networks. That's why it's critical to stay on top of your personal or business software updates and patch management. 

You can enable auto updates on all of your network's security features, including firewalls, data backup programs, and antivirus software. That way, your system can check for and download and install these new updates for you, so you won't miss a critical patch that could protect yourself or your company from an attack.

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4. Improve your privacy settings and habits

Setting strong passwords that are a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols is a great place to begin. You'll also want to always enable two-factor authentication (2FA) or multifactor authentication when available. This requires a user to provide another form of identity verification after entering a correct password at login. 

Enabling 2FA is an easy way to increase your identity theft protection. You can also protect yourself from identity theft by not oversharing personal information on social media or in public. There are professional services you can use to remove your personal information online if you've accidentally exposed something.

5. Closely monitor all accounts

Routinely check and monitor your online bank accounts by reviewing all statements carefully. This can help you detect identity theft and other types of cybersecurity breaches ASAP. 

If you spot suspicious activity on your credit report, such as unauthorized transactions, contact your financial institution or bank immediately to resolve the issue. This can help you minimize your risk of further financial losses and hopefully get fraudulent transactions reversed. 

An Independent Insurance Agent Can Help You Guard Against Cybercrime

Unfortunately, cybercrime is a common threat in today's world. But luckily, having the right cyber liability insurance policy can help you reduce your personal or commercial risk of losses. 

A local independent insurance agent can shop and compare quotes and policies from several different carriers for you to find the best deal. And down the road, your agent can help you file claims and update your coverage when necessary.