Four cybersecurity resolutions to protect the digital you in 2023

Happy New Year everyone!

2022 proved to be a tough year in cyberspace, with heaps of data breaches, scams, cyberattacks and vulnerabilities putting companies and consumers on edge.

As we look toward the year ahead and ease back into our routines, it’s important not the let the post-holiday blues derail a good start to the year and your online security posture.

While you’re-setting goals and focusing on personal resolutions, why not sneak in some cybersecurity practices that will improve your privacy and safety.

Here are four cybersecurity resolutions for 2023 that you can surely keep:

1 - Stop using the same passwords for personal and business accounts

Use strong, unique passphrases to secure your online accounts against malicious takeovers and fraud. One-of-a-kind passwords are the first line of defense against hacking attempts and access to personally identifiable information and financial details found in your accounts.

Top off your password management policy by using a password manager and enabling 2FA or MFA whenever possible to prevent attackers from compromising your accounts and sensitive information.

Bitdefender Password Manager automatically generates passwords, saves your login details and auto-fills those complex passwords so you don’t have to, while the special module that identifies duplicate and leaked passwords helps you stay in the know and further deters security risks.

2 - Prioritize the digital you by monitoring your online footprint and staying on top of breaches

Increased digital activities lead to more revealing digital footprints that criminals can use to compromise your financial and physical security. The information found in your digital footprint sustains cybercriminal and fraudulent activity, so figuring out what information about you is easily available to anyone with an internet connection is key to thwarting security risks.

Begin your digital security journey by limiting the amount of data you share online, deleting old accounts you no longer use and reviewing your privacy settings regularly. Complement good cyber hygiene by considering a digital identity monitoring tool to help you fine-tune and enhance your privacy.

Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection helps you keep track of your online personal information such as your name, phone numbers, email addresses and URLs linked to your identity. Not only are you able to find out what the internet knows about you, but you can also discover if your personal information has been exposed in data breaches and leaks over the years. In addition to real-time data breach monitoring that helps you stay on top of privacy threats, the tool monitors all major social media platforms for impersonation attempts that threaten your online reputation.

3 - Commit to protecting your devices and data against cyberattacks

2022 brought some painful lessons in cybersecurity, reminding us how global events, no matter how devastating, help sustain fraud and attacks on organizations and critical infrastructures. A trustworthy security solution is vital to protecting your devices against phishing, spyware, credential-stealing trojans, ransomware and other attacks.

Bitdefender security solutions provide multi-layered protection to keep all of your devices safe from lingering cyberthreats. This includes complete real-time data protection, ransomware protection, web attack prevention and advanced anti-phishing and anti-fraud prevention filtering systems. Your online defense system also extends to your Android devices, with dedicated features such as Scam Alert and Chat Protection to alert you whenever you receive a suspicious link via instant messaging apps on your Android devices.

4 - Boost your online privacy with a fast and reliable VPN

A Virtual Private Network or VPN is an indispensable instrument you can add to digital toolkit to protect your identity and privacy by making you anonymous whenever you go online. A reliable VPN will encrypt your traffic, routing it through a dedicated server away from snoops and prying eyes, including your ISP, hackers and government agencies.

Bitdefender VPN does exactly this and much more, including enabling access to geo-restricted content, bypassing ISP limitations, protecting and against targeted attacks. Additionally, the newly added anti-tracking and ad-blocker features, help you fly under the radar of intrusive ads and stop invasive online trackers from collecting your information.