Welcome to 2023
The Village will be reviewing our privacy, security and data retention policies over the course of January, and it is a perfect time for each of us to reflect on these same topics in our own lives and begin 2023 “cyber secure”.
Cyber Security is taking preventative measures to assist prevent you from becoming a victim of online crime. Some suggestions for how to improve your safety online and the security of your personal information, data and money.
Take action – take steps to be more secure online. Know who has your data and if there is a breach, follow their advice to protect your information. If you have been impacted by the Medicare, Optus, Telstra, Woolworths, Twitter, data breaches in recent months, you should take action to change your passwords. Websites like www.getcreditscore.com.au provide free personalised information checks about your credit history and what organisations have made a credit enquiry about you.
Update your devices and your software. If you have an iPhone, iPad or Apple computer, the software on your phone and iPad is called iOS, and the software on your Apple computer is called macOS. If you do not have Apple devices, your computer operating system may be Microsoft Windows or Chrome OS, and your mobile device software may be Android. One way to keep criminals out of your devices is to update your mobile device operating system and your computer operating system as soon as possible when new updates are released.
Use unique passwords everywhere: Some people use the same password for a number of their accounts so they can remember their passwords more easily, unfortunately this makes it easier for criminals to get access to your information, data and money. Use passwords that include a combination of Upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters. Keep them written someone safe or use an online secure password manager like 1password or LastPass.
Install multi-factorial authentication: This authentication method uses two or more actions validate that you are the owner of your account. Usually it is adding a mobile phone number or email address to your account when you log in so that more than just a password is needed to access your online information.
Install Security Software: Security software packages for computers and laptops are an additional layer of security and provide protection from computer viruses. Programs like AVG, Norton can be installed on your devices and update regularly top detect new viruses.
Watch out for scams Ignore unsolicited emails, phone call and text messages: If you do not know the sender of an email or text message, or caller on the phone and if what they are asking you to do something dubious or suspicious like providing banking details or passwords, ignore it and delete or hang up. There are a number of phone and text-based scams at the moment with the sender / caller claiming to be a child or grandchild who has lost their phone and needs money urgently, this is a well-known scam that has cost Australians many millions of dollars in recent times.
May 2023 be a safe and wonderful year, thank-you for all of the support and kindness you have shown to the Village Staff over the past 12 months. Happy New Year.
Kim Jackson
CEO
Note: Corrected Village Voice uploaded 4th January 2023.
Venue for January Resident Meeting was incorrect.