by Blake Marek, NERC Reliability Specialist

The major belief is the IT Department is solely responsible for cybersecurity. While the IT Department does play a big part in securing the networks and end devices, every employee also has a part to promote cybersecurity.

Employees are using end devices that are connected to the internet on a daily basis. This can include laptops, PC’s, cellphones, etc. All of these devices have a cyber risk because of the way we use them in our daily work.

How can you help to stay cyber secure?

1. Email

a. Don’t click on links or attachments unless you are 100% sure they are legitimate.

b. Contact the sender and ask if you are uncertain.

c. Open up a web browser and go to the site instead of clicking on the link.

2. Web

a. Be careful clicking on search results.

b. Just because Google or Yahoo displays a search result does not mean it isn’t malicious.

c. Clicking on a malicious search result can infect your device.

d. Use a 3rd party search tool like Norton Safe Search, etc.

3. Patching/Antivirus

a. Install security patches monthly.

b. Make sure your devices are set to update automatically.

c. Make sure you have an Antivirus program installed and is up to date