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 Owning Your Connected Devices is Much More than Simply Possessing Them 

Welcome to Week 1 of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.  The theme this week is “Own IT”.

At the end of 2018, the  number of devices connected to the internet reached 22 billion worldwide. That’s an incomprehensible inventory of PCs, wearables, smart TVs, connected cars, smartphones and mobile devices. That said, it is more critical than ever to better understand the connected devices and applications we use daily in order to help keep our personal information safe and secure.

During this first week of CSAM, we will focus on what everyone needs to do to “own” – basically to keep their devices and online lives safe and secure  – both at home and in the workplace. If you think about it, inter-connectivity touches almost every aspect of our daily lifestyle whether at home with family and on go at school, work or out and about. While this constant connectivity offers countless possibilities for innovation and modernization, it also presents opportunities for potential cybersecurity threats that can compromise highly sensitive personal data.

Over the course of this week we'll have a number of items for you that will help you with securing your home and assisting the young people in your home with being more cyber security aware.  As always, you are free and in fact encouraged to share these materials with others, including your family, friends and neighbors.

If you have any questions about our activities in October or suggestions on how to improve our cyber security efforts, please contact us at: securityawareness@royalroads.ca

Suggested Links:

“Stay Sharp on Internet Safety”   An entertaining introduction to internet security, suitable for the whole family, put together by Microsoft.

Safe On-line Surfing.  This is a great safe surfing game site for kids in grade 3 to 8 and it’s lots of fun.  Unfortunately, the school participation / exam features are not available in Canada.  ** This site is occasionally  showing an error message and not responding.  Apologies for the inconvenience.

Mad Lib #1.   Here's a fun game / video  or "Mad Lib" on how attackers get into our network.  Kids will have fun with this one.  Look in the right column for the PDF answer sheet.

Great Reading:

Recruiting Recruiting Spies with LinkedIn. Those of you who attended Wednesday's Lunch & Learn session led by the speaker from the Canadian Intelligence Agency will remember the discussion about how LinkedIn is being used to recruit spies, sources, etc.  The following is a New York Times article on the very same subject.

"Internet of Things" Tip Card.  Heard of the "Internet of Things"?  By now I think we all have.  Here's a few tips on managing your IoT devices.

Securing Your Kids.  Some (hopefully) helpful information for parents.  We do have additional material on this topic - pop us an email if you're interested.

Cybersecurity Crossword Puzzle. Have fun with this one.  You can email us for the answer key when you're ready.

Managing Mobile Apps. Helpful tips on safely managing the apps on your mobile devices.

 Search Yourself.  If you’ve never done an Internet search on yourself, you may be in for a surprise.  This is a good way to understand just how much of our personal information gets out onto the Internet.

Social Media Guide. Some helpful tips for social media users.

Scamming You Through Social Media: Cyber criminals are everywhere...and they don't limit themselves to Phishing emails.  Here's a few thoughts on social media scams.