We are told as children not to speak to strangers and to only trust those we know. Why as adults have we forgot this and seem to engage and share personal details online to those we don’t know?

The online world does a very good job at making you think that your information is safe when shared and encourages you to share as much as possible, yet often the sites/apps have very little security measures in place to protect all your information.

This is why you need to be cyber smart and not only rely on a third party to have all their cyber security ducks in a row.

You need to heed that childhood advice and start to be more careful with what you share and with whom you share it.

With online threats at an all time high and with your personal sharing at an all time high, it is a recipe for disaster if you don’t follow your best practices.

When you think of your internet banking, you know it is your most secure account with a difficult password and multi-factor authentication.

In your mind, that is how it will be most secure, and it definitely helps but have you ever thought about other accounts that have your credit card details? If they are breached, it is the same as your online banking being breached.

I heard someone say they don’t worry too much about their Netflix password because what, is someone going to watch a movie for free?

Unfortunately, what they forgot was that they entered their card details into Netflix to activate the account.

Cyber security needs to be taken as seriously as you take your, your family and friends’ safety.

Just like you message someone to find out if they are home safe, you need to start checking that the people around you are not using compromised passwords, have different passwords for each account and that they have a multi-layered security system in place.

It is becoming more and more dangerous in this cyberworld to not have any structures in place to fight back against a cybercriminal.

Organisations are losing thousands and individuals are even losing their life savings.

Hackers are working harder and smarter, it is up to you to make sure you are doing all you can to prevent yourself falling victim.

We are living in a world where sharing every aspect of one’s life is seen as a positive and we are more worried about the likes and followers than the actual content that is being put out onto our platforms.

Have you ever checked the background of a photo you are about to post on social media?

Be it at a work event or at home, there could be confidential information in the background without you realising it. You may be thinking that this is crazy, why would people have confidential information lying around?

Well you will be surprised. From documents on desks that is busy being worked on, to names and ID numbers from forms on a table at an event. These seemingly minor details will cause catastrophic results when falling into the hands of a cybercriminal.