LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and a valley veteran is offering some tips and tricks to protect your information from cyber attacks.
Aaron Arp deals with high-level security intelligence. He spends most of his day tracking trends, crime, potential threats, and more online in order to keep his high-profile clients safe.
"If you're trying to protect anything whether it’s a person whether it’s a place, there's all this information that’s out there and if nobody listening, you have threats that are developing that you are not prepared for," Arp said.
The FBI's Internet Crime report for 2020 reveals one of the top three crimes reported by victims were phishing scams. It also states people lost money to business email comprise attacks, which is a type of scam targeting companies.
But Aaron says there are simple ways to make sure your information is secure.
First, he says to be sure to use a VPN to avoid man in a middle attacks. Those tend to happen on open unsecured wireless networks.
"These are used a lot by criminals, used a lot by governments mainly because they are so easy but mainly you see them used by kids," Arp said. "Kids that are just starting to get into hacking."
Next, be sure to change up your passwords.
"Use a unique password for every single website. I know that’s cumbersome to do that but it's much safer," Arp said. "That way if you have access to a website and that one gets hacked and you use your password, they don’t have the password to every other account along with your email you use for every other account as well."
Be careful when using public USB banks, especially when traveling overseas.
"USB, of course, was originally designed to transfer data, not electricity so anytime you plug your phone or any device into a USB port that isn’t yours, there’s a risk there," Arp said.
If you must use one, invest in a data blocker.
"This is basically a USB port that goes between the port and the device that isn’t yours," Arp said. "It kind of regulates it to make sure just electricity, just your battery is being charged and no data is being compromised."
His biggest piece of advice is to always be aware and alert.
"There's a lot of things that you can do just every single day that will just help you be safer," Arp said.
Arp served in the United States Army before getting into high-level security protection.
More information is also available here.
