Staying safer and more secure online is a very high priority for all Americans. Between social media, email, banking, and shopping, it's safe to say that a large part of our lives are online. And the safeguard for all of these mediums is a username and password. Over the years, the method of account access has become quite vulnerable.

Recently a Pew Research Center study discovered that in the last year 21% of Internet users (18 and older) have had their online account compromised, and only 23% of people think their accounts are very secure.
 

So I'm interested in helping make sure more people feel safer online. From cyberbullying to staying a step ahead of those hackers. So I talked with the Executive Director of The National Cyber Security Alliance, Michael Kaiser, about making sure all of us are being safer online. And I also wanted to bring this up because with kids being out of school for summer, cyberbullying can become even more prevalent (and it doesn't just affect the kids but also the adults. So Michael, what do you think it's so easy for our online lives to become less safe?

People lead their sometimes bad offline behavior online as well. There's really no boundaries anymore about the ways people treat each other and that's an issue that we need to address with everyone.

What seems to be some of the biggest issues when it comes to that safety online?

I think the biggest issue comes in a couple different areas. One is just basic security. Making sure that you are keeping a clean machine and all your computers and internet devices free from malware and infections. Then it's your online behavior, what you do online. For example how you treat and respect other people online and also the kind of information you share that can put you at risk.

That's something that gets a lot of people in trouble. They begin to think “this is my account on this website so therefore I'm okay to post this piece of information”, and then they find out that someone hacked into their password and now has this piece of personal information.

Yes, so there are two issues there. One is the password access meaning they probably have a weak password. The most common one right now being 123456, which you should avoid using. The other is that they may not be fully aware of who can see the things they are posting. Maybe they haven't adjusted their settings on a social network or maybe they're not aware of how information gets shared on a network. So we need to be aware of that so that they can be sure that the information being shared matches with the people they want to see it.

Let's start with those settings. What are some of the options for settings that will make it a little bit more personal that we don't realize we have access to?

So really the most basic is who gets to see it. Your friends, the friends of your friends, or everybody. So that's the kind of thing that people need to go in and think about. And really people are different. Some people are more vocal and want to be wide open to the world and other people want to keep things a little more private. That's why those settings are there so that you can customize it to you and your desire.

That's definitely something that I feel like a lot of people don't realize. If you look at Facebook, one of the biggest social media sites, in that top right corner are those privacy settings that a lot of people don't take advantage of.

I think that's true. I think people have gotten into the habit of “oo I just signed up, I'm going to go do everything”. But we have a responsibility in our online world that when we sign up for these services to have some knowledge about how they really work and how we can make it work to our advantage and the way we want it to work. And also to keep it going. We have seen some evidence of most people adjusting their settings on a regular basis, but still not nearly as many as it should be.

What about when it comes to that password? It seems that everything is online from our credit cards to other bills we need to pay, our bank accounts, we have access to everything online. What can we do to make sure we have a strong password that won't be something along the lines of 123456?

Yeah, so it's really a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. And I think the biggest burden for people is having a password they can remember. But there are devices out there to help you safely store your passwords. Having a couple of words together though is not bad as long as you add some numbers and symbols in the mix. So maybe there's a couple of words they start with and then they use that and add extensions to that as they change their accounts on different services.

So something they can remember, and something that makes it harder to crack which really includes those numbers and symbols. And make sure to have a more random nature to that. Then if they can they can ask if the service they're using offers another factor for verification. Maybe it's a one-time password that's generated through text or something like that. That's actually becoming more and more common and by adopting that it makes your authentication for the service much stronger.

And one example that I can think of is Gmail. They allow you to set it up so that it's like a two-step password where you input your password and then you get a text sent to you for what's almost like another password that changes every time.

Yeah and that's where the world is headed. So that's called the two-step verification, but many other sites have that as well. Facebook has log on approval. People have to opt in to it, it's not automatic, but even the fingerprints on phones like Samsung and Apple have an added that verification step to authenticate yourself before you start using it.

Right, now is there any way that someone can try and hack that or is that pretty foolproof?

Well, nothing is 100% foolproof. You should always remember that, but it is A LOT more secure. The bad guys are smart, and every time you set up a new security system they will try and break it. So you have to remember that's always a possibility. But certainly it does add an additional layer of protection that keeps the password protected.

That's definitely something where we want to make sure we are staying that step ahead of those people are going to try to hack through the security systems. Is there anything else we can do to make sure we are staying a step ahead?

Yeah, I think the key is to keep learning and keep educating yourself. Take the time to understand how new technology works and make sure that you are aware of how to use them and utilize them safely and securely.

Where can people go for more information about being safer online from protecting that personal information to even what we say?

Yes they can go to www.stopthinkconnect.org, and they will find information about all our programs and also how to keep others safer. So we can make it an easy effort and we can all play a part in making the online community safer.