It’s hard to believe that 2024 is over and we are already “diving into ’25”! In the last year our newsletters focused on tips to help optimise your IT infrastructure around your needs whilst keeping a close eye on costs and remaining cyber secure. We are starting the new year with help on how to better manage your passwords as well as taking a look at the NCSC’s latest annual review.
Password manager protection
Password protection is vital to keeping all of our apps and online selves as secure as possible. However, for a password to really be effective, it needs to be both strong and unique – harder to crack in the first place and minimising hackers’ access if they do manage to break one. A password manager keeps all your passwords in one place, and you need to remember only one (very strong) master password allowing you to access all your other passwords. Password managers generate long, random passwords that are hard to crack and use high-level security to protect your data. You can use them to auto-fill your information on websites saving time and avoiding typos and some can help you store other secure information including credit card details safely. When choosing a solution you should look for strong encryption and two-factor authentication and make sure it will work across all your devices whether laptop, phone or tablet.
NCSC annual review
The NCSC is part of GCHQ and was set up in 2016 to focus on cyber security with the aim of keeping the UK as safe as possible online. As more and more of our lives have moved online, we have all seen the increase and diversity of cyber threats by hostile actors whether at home or abroad. NCSC has recently released its latest annual report that you can find online or download as a pdf here. There is a lot to read through and important to remember that whilst there is no sign of the hackers going away, there is plenty we can do to protect ourselves. Indeed, the new year might be a good time to gain your Cyber Essentials certification – not simply to help your peace of mind but also to provide reassurance to your clients and business contacts.
STAY IN CONTROL