Hacker by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

A massive data leak containing over 20 billion records was reported earlier this week.

LinkedIn, Adobe, Canva, Twitter (X) and data from other sites were included.

You can check all of your email address at these and other websites:
https://cybernews.com/personal-data-leak-check/
https://haveibeenpwned.com/
https://www.malwarebytes.com/digital-footprint (email reply and sales pitch involved)

Enhance Security On Your Computer

The following tips and suggestions can help enhance your computer security and help protect against various cyber-security threats as well as increase your privacy.

After checking, we strongly recommend that you:

• change your passwords on the sites that leaked data,
• always use new strong, unique passwords,
• use secure password managers,
• enable two-factor authentication,
• consider using passkeys where available,
• install a virtual private network (VPN) for added security and privacy, etc.

We also advise that you:

• regularly check to ensure your operating systems, browsers, programs/apps, plugins and extensions, etc. are up to date,
• back these all up regularly,
• for Windows users: set a restore point regularly, make a recovery drive and a repair disk
• follow the 3-2-1 principle for copying your important files, images and videos,
• have current virus and malware software installed and working on your computer and scan or check regularly,

When browsing you should:

• be mindful of HTTPS or lock signs on website URLs
• keep your personal information limited and professional,
• avoid sharing personal information on social media,
• keep privacy settings on,
• consider using more private browsers and search engines such as DuckDuckGo, Brave, Firefox (and Firefox containers), Tor, etc.
• set up separate email addresses to register or subscribe to sites,
• use a Google voice phone instead of your regular cellphone or landline, also to register,
• practice safe browsing habits, as we frequently discuss, to recognize and avoid scams, phishing, malware and virus downloads, phony email addresses, etc.
• clear cookies and the web browser cache

Additional Tips:

• be cautious with email and downloads,
• do not open images routinely, in fact change settings to ask to display images before opening,
• mouse over suspicious email addresses to reveal actual senders,
• use filters to send suspicious emails to purgatory,
• avoid public Wi-Fi for sensitive activities,

We know this may be confusing. We have developed over 125 helpful PDFs and videos in easy-to-follow instructions to guide you in many of these tasks. Request a link for a specific topic or we can send you a file.

We also encourage you to contact us for one-on-one assistance and training. Please call us at 847-634-6535 or use the contact form in the sidebar.

Judy and Michael