Expert offers tips to ensure your online information secure
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - As technology continues to advance, so do cyber security threats.
A significant amount of commerce and day to day interactions happen through internet operations. Matthew Beauregard, a mathematics and statistics professor at Stephen F. Austin State University who serves as an interim chair of computer science, said over the last 10 years, cyber security threats have become more sophisticated.
“You can get something that looks directly from eBay. It has the right graphics, it has the right user agreement form,” Beauregard said. “Everything on that email looks legitimate because they can replicate exactly what you would receive for say your password was just lost from eBay.”
Beauregard said the biggest thing one can do to avoid becoming a victim of scams is to educate yourself and be aware.
“Whatever you received, did you expect to get that? Were you expecting to get a link from them, expecting to get some sort of document from them? “Beauregard asked. “You’re also looking for in the email address, if it is not beautifully covered, is that is there a spelling mistake.”
As tensions around the world escalate, warnings of cyber security threats to the United States grow.
“We have the largest economy in the entire world. And we have competitors that are out there trying to exploit different entities within this economy,” Beauregard said. “A really good example is that it would be a lot easier if I can give you the F 22 build design than if you have to engineer for that particular weaponry. So it’s far easier for me to copy what you are doing and infiltrate your economy into your research and development than it is to generate your own.”
Beauregard recommended that you install the two-point authentication factors for websites.
“That happens through phishing, that happens through emails and clicking on links, and malware, going onto websites that aren’t secure, or clicking on ads- those are phish bait. That’s the equivalent of you unlocking your door and letting someone in,” Beauregard said.
If you were influenced by a cyber security threat, Beauregard advised that you contact your local police department to inform them and contact the superiors within your company.
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