Personal Cybersecurity Planning – A Complete Guide, Updated in 2024

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Personal cybersecurity planning is more important than ever for businesses and individuals. With the increasing risk of hacks, scams, and online threats, it is important to have strong security measures to protect your digital presence.

However, even starting your cybersecurity journey can be an overwhelming step, especially if you are not tech-savvy.

This comprehensive guide is here to help you through the basic steps to enhance your online safety and security. When it comes to choosing the right tools for your cybersecurity plan, a VPN is right up there at the top of the list with strong passwords and two-factor authentication, and two reliable options stand out: NordVPN and ExpressVPN.

In this article, we’ll take you through the process of creating your own personal cybersecurity plan to ensure that your online presence remains secure.

By the end of this guide, you will have not only the knowledge but also the tools you need to strengthen your online security. NordVPN and ExpressVPN will play an important role in your digital security strategy, protecting your online world.

What Does Personal Cybersecurity Mean?

We are constantly exposed to a variety of online threats, from cyberattacks and data breaches to identity theft and breaches of our privacy. It’s important to understand that personal cybersecurity is not a solution that suits everyone: it’s an intentional approach that you can leverage to protect your digital presence.

One effective way to develop a personal computer security strategy is to get some guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST has developed comprehensive policies and procedures that provide a reliable foundation for cybersecurity best practices.

These policy charts and policies provide a structured approach to addressing cybersecurity concerns, whether you are an individual, a small business owner, or part of a global enterprise.

NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework is an invaluable resource for personal cybersecurity planning. Built around the basic principles of detection, protection, detection, response, and recovery, it offers a comprehensive approach to managing cybersecurity risks.

This framework allows you to:

By using NIST’s policy templates and framework in your own cybersecurity plan, you can build strong defenses against ever-changing cyber threats. It enables you to systematically manage risks and vulnerabilities and drastically increases the security of your online life.

Should You Take Cybersecurity Seriously?

Yes – you should take cybersecurity very seriously. Failing to prioritize cybersecurity can have huge consequences that, in some extreme cases, can severely affect your personal life and financial well-being. In some instances, personal breaches can even lead to national security concerns.

Let’s find out why you should make cybersafety one of your top priorities.

Think about how much personal information you share online – from your credit reports, medical records, emails, and social media activity, all of these are vulnerable to cyber threats. In 2017, the Equifax data breach exposed the personal data of 147 million people, which highlights the risk of your sensitive information being compromised.

Cyber ​​attacks can cost businesses or individuals significant financial losses. Ransomware attacks, where hackers encrypt your data and demand a ransom in order to release it, have become alarmingly common.

Baltimore experienced a ransomware attack in 2019 that cost the city more than $18 million in restoration and mitigation costs.

Plus, cybersecurity is not just a personal or professional issue but also a national security risk. In 2015, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) suffered a massive data breach that exposed sensitive information about federal employees.

Such breaches can compromise the safety and security of a nation, necessitating taking cybersecurity seriously at the societal level.

While these are large-scale examples, even the everyday user is not completely safe. Frauds and hacks have reached an all-time high, what with cybercriminals constantly finding new ways to profit from their crimes. So it’s important that you take cybersecurity seriously, too.

How to Protect Yourself Against Cyberattacks

The threat of cyberattacks looms larger than ever, making it crucial to prioritize your online security. Here are some of the key steps to consider when it comes to protecting yourself against cyberattacks.

How to Protect Your Devices From Cyberattacks

Because of our dependence on electronic devices, they have become essential parts of our lives. Devices like computers, tablets, smartphones, and even small smart devices can store large amounts of your personal information, making them an attractive target for cyber attacks.

1. Update Your Operating System and Software

One of the easiest and most effective ways to keep your devices safe from possible cyberattacks is to make sure your operating system and software are up to date, so double-check your iOS, Android, MacOS, and Windows versions are the latest.

Now, this may sound simple, but security patches are known to fix common vulnerabilities, and updates a regularly released to help keep your devices safe from these.

Cybercriminals often use these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to your device or steal your data. With regular updates, you ensure that your device is equipped with the latest security patches, making it more difficult for attackers to breach your security

2. Use Strong, Unique Passwords

Passwords are your first line of defense against unauthorized access to your devices and accounts. It’s important to create a strong, unique password for each account. Strong passwords generally consist of a combination of upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters.

Avoid using easy-to-find information like your date of birth, family or pet names, and common words for your passwords. You should also consider using a popular password manager to manage more complex passwords – more on those later.

3. Use Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is another form of security that requires you to provide two separate methods to access your accounts or devices. This usually includes something you know (your password) and something you have (a unique code sent to your mobile device or email account).

Enabling 2FA on your account adds a huge deterrent to potential attackers, even if they manage to steal your password, the chances of them being able to intercept a unique code are slim. Many major online services and apps offer 2FA as a way to increase security, including Gmail, Facebook, and many others.

4. Install Antivirus and Anti-Malware Software

Antivirus and anti-malware software are necessary to detect and remove malicious software such as viruses, Trojans, and spyware. When you install reliable security software, you create an additional layer of security that helps keep yourself and your devices protected at all times.

It’s important to update your security software regularly to ensure it can detect and neutralize the latest threats in real-time.

In fact, the best antivirus software can even protect companies from costly ransomware attacks, potentially saving them small fortunes. Whether you are a business or an individual, they are an essential component to ensuring the safety of your device.

5. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

VPNs encrypt your internet traffic and send it through a secure server. This approach makes it very difficult for cybercriminals to intercept or monitor your data, increasing your online privacy and security. VPNs are especially useful when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks, which are generally insecure and vulnerable to theft.

The top VPNs on the market, such as NordVPN, are well known for their strong encryption, strict no-logs policy, and extensive server networks. Most people seem to use them for unlocking content via their huge array of servers, but they’re so much more than that and offer a good blanket of security on your network and devices.

6. Start Using a Password Manager

Password managers are another great way to ensure your online accounts are secure.

While we’re human, we all have limitations when it comes to memorizing complex and unique passwords for the growing number of online accounts we have. As a result, many individuals can easily rely on guesswork passwords or reuse the same password on multiple websites, which is a dangerous practice

Cybercriminals often target reused or weak passwords to gain unauthorized access to your account, often resulting in identity theft, loss of income, and breach of privacy. However, with one of the top password managers, you use just your master password, biometrics, and 2FA to ensure safety across all of your devices.

How to Protect Your Network From Cyberattacks

While businesses are bigger targets, the threat of cyberattacks is just as significant for private individuals. It’s crucial to secure your network, but don’t panic if you don’t know what steps to take to do so. We’ve created a useful list for you below, which explains some of the basic ways you can improve your network security.

Why Protect Your Network?

Networks enable data to flow and facilitate communication, data exchange, and internet access – they are fundamentally important in everyday life. However, they are also prime targets for cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities, which can lead to data breaches, financial loss, and damage to your reputation. Protecting your network is important for several reasons:

Strategies to Protect Your Network

Below are some of the key ways you can keep your network safe, including updating any old login details, enabling firewalls on your network, and much more.

1. Secure Your Router

2. Implement Access Control

3. Activate Firewalls

4. Use a VPN

5. Security Policies and Employee Training

Can You Protect Your Personal Information When You Go Online?

You can always protect your personal information online if you follow the right steps, but it’s becoming trickier than ever due to the advanced nature of hacks, scams, and other cyber threats. If you’re wondering how they do this, we’ve listed some of the more common ways scammers get hold of your personal information.

As much as the above are bothersome, they aren’t exactly illegal, and it’s commonplace in marketing and advertising to use this data to promote products to you. However, there are some more dangerous cyber threats out there that you need to be wary of, and we’ve listed some of the most common ones below.

Now, all of this might sound a little scary, and it is. But that doesn’t mean you can defend yourself against these cyberthreats and keep your personal data safe. To help you, we’ve listed some basic steps you can take to keep yourself safe.

Step 1 – Use Strong Passwords

As simple as it may seem, having a strong and unique password can prevent many unnecessary cyberattacks, as brute-forcing your password becomes nearly impossible, even for the most advanced hacking tool, the more complex it is.

Hackers will use brute-force tools that test hundreds of thousands of passwords in a matter of minutes, so having a 12- to 16-character phrase that’s a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols is crucial, as it will take millions of years to crack.

As we touched upon earlier, using a password manager is an excellent and safe way to ensure all your passwords are secure. You can use a master password or your biometric data with the best password managers, so they’re near-impossible to crack.

Reputable solutions like NordPass can even suggest unique passwords, mass update any old ones, and detect if yours has been leaked in a data breach.

Step 2 – Be Cautious with Emails

This is another simple step but a vital one to avoid any potential phishing scams. Usually, your email account will flag suspicious messages and links, but this isn’t always 100% accurate, and some may slip through the cracks.

If there are ever links in your email, check the sender’s address before clicking them, as phishing links often come from emails that aren’t quite right.

It could be as simple as a missing letter in the company name or perhaps more hyphens or symbols than an official email address from a verified source.

If you’re in any doubt, just don’t click the link, and reach out or report the link the an official source. The same goes for any attachments, don’t automatically click them and download them, as they may contain malware that could infect your computer.

Instead, use an antivirus software to scan the link to ensure it’s safe or, better yet, ask your local IT support for help – they’ll appreciate you doing so.

Step 3 – Review Your Privacy Settings

Your social media accounts can be an easy place for hackers, marketers, and others to source valuable personal information about you, so it’s vital to check your privacy settings to prevent this.

Popular social media platforms like Facebook allow you to choose your audience, so it’s advisable to have it on friends only, as this stops strangers from viewing your information.

Of course, you can always be cautious about what you post online, but don’t let it get in the way of you enjoying social media.

Just make sure you’re happy with your privacy settings and what people can see, and don’t share anything too personal that a cybercriminal could use to exploit you in some way, like your full address, contact number, and so on.

Step 4 – Get a Reliable VPN

A VPN is one of the best tools you can use to keep yourself safe online, along with a good password manager and antivirus software – all apps we’d recommend installing.

With a VPN, you can safely use public Wi-Fi, something that hackers might usually target, as they often offer little in terms of network security.

ExpressVPN and NordVPN are two trusted sources we’d recommend, as they boast large server networks and have excellent security protocols. By using one of these providers, you can browse the internet more securely, with your personal data kept clear of any potential cybercrooks or snoopers.

Step 5  – Stay in the Know

Another great way to avoid any potential hacks or scams is to stay up to date with the world of cyberattacks. This can range from a simple Google search for common scams, or if you’re very serious about it, there are websites like Investopedia, where you can read about the most popular internet scams.

However you choose to do, it’s up to you. The simple step of starting to get info on cybersecurity planning will equip you with the knowledge of these scams and methods on how to avoid them. It may seem like a pain, but it can potentially save you a lot of hassle further down the line.

Personal Cybersecurity Planning – Is It Worth It?

Cybersecurity planning is 100% worthwhile. Your personal data should be yours and yours alone, and if it falls into the wrong hands, it could be a costly and stressful experience for you.

Thankfully, there are multiple ways to stay safe, as we’ve touched upon in this article, with one of the key ways to do so being VPNs. A top provider like NordVPN encrypts your data, meaning you can browse the internet from anywhere (even public Wi-Fi) with the safety of knowing your personal details are secure.

If you follow the instructions listed in this article, you’ll be well on your way to having your own dedicated cybersecurity plan. Be sure to stay informed on any of the latest hacks and scams going around online to further enhance your security. Stay safe!

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