Did you know: 90% of viruses enter computers as an email attachment. Always scan attachments for viruses before downloading, even if you know the sender.

Follow these guidelines to keep your network, equipment and data secure:

Use Built-in Protections

Don’t disable or try to breach our company-wide firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. If the use of these protections inhibits your workflow in any way, let your supervisor know and they can work with IT to find a way to solve the problem.

Always allow system automatic updates to install properly. If you choose to cancel these trusted, automatic upgrades your system may not have the most up to date security measures activated.

Use Smart Passwords

Follow best practices to create better passwords. Strong passwords should be at least seven characters long and mix upper and lowercase letters and numbers. Using common names or words is a bad idea, since a common hacker technique is to use dictionary hacking that attempts common word and number combinations. Make up new, fake words if you need help remembering what your password is.

Use different passwords and usernames for different accounts. Using the same passwords and usernames may be easy to remember, but if a hacker managed to retrieve your password from a less secured site, they could then access all of your accounts. Also, be proactive in changing your passwords regularly to increase your security.

Defeat Spam

To prevent spam messages and files reaching your inbox, be sure to use the spam filtration. If you do see any spam-like messages in your inbox, flag them as spam. This will help the spam filter improve its monitoring and make it harder to get through.

Set Security to High

Web browsers are a point of major weakness for security defense. Malicious programs will try to get your computer to download malware without you even knowing it by exposing weaknesses in your browser. Improve your defenses by making sure the security settings for your browser are set to “high.”

Download with Caution

If you need to download programs or files, proceed carefully. By specifically giving permission for a file to download, the firewall and anti-virus program may not be able to protect against them. Make sure the files are from a protected source and use common sense. Even if an email comes from someone you know, but doesn't seem like something they would send, their account may have been compromised, resulting in spam being sent to their contacts.

Theft Protection

When you’re out of the office protect your laptop and other electronic equipment from theft by disguising it. Don’t use obvious laptop briefcases and never leave any electronics out in the open in your car. If working remotely, try to keep within sight of your equipment. If you have to let it out of your sight for a moment, use a workstation lock to prevent someone from walking off with it.