Welcome to the Money Rep

If in doubt, just don't click (or tap).

That is the best advice I can give you regarding you and your security online. Whether you receive an email, text message or a browser pop-up: if you aren’t expecting or don’t recognize the message, it probably isn’t something you should click or tap on.

The best thing you can do to stay protected is to stay informed. I’m going to share a couple of resources with you that should help. You can even sign up for email alerts on some of these sites.

• National Cyber Awareness System
  • https://www.us-cert.gov/
• Threatpost
  • https://threatpost.com/
• ZDNet
  • http://www.zdnet.com/topic/security/
• Naked Security
  • https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/

Help protect your home network by changing your Domain Name System, or DNS, on your internet router. DNS basically translates what you put into your address bar (ex. www.google.com) to an IP address* bringing you to the website you searched for.

If you are a little more advanced user, and know how to change the DNS on your internet router, then I would recommend changing yours to Quad9 (https://www.quad9.net). It is a DNS service (9.9.9.9) that protects against millions of malicious websites. If you can stop bad sites at your internet router, you’ll be better off. If you have someone that helps you with your technology questions and home setup, maybe ask them about making this change for you. Trust me, you’ll be happy that you did.

Again, staying informed is your best defense. Online security is changing all the time and it can certainly be overwhelming at times. Staying informed, keeping your software up to date, and being aware are your best available tools to stay safe online.

*A unique string of numbers separated by periods that identifies each computer using the Internet Protocol to communicate over a network.