National cybersecurity awareness month

Safety is declining on the internet

Protect+your+personal+information+online+because+hackers+lurk+for+it.

Illustrated by Juan Cortez / Times Staff

Protect your personal information online because hackers lurk for it.

Every 39 seconds there is a cybersecurity attack on the web, according to a recent report by Norton, a cybersecurity company. That means there are more than 2,200 cyber attacks happening everyday.

According to the CyberSecruity and Infrastructure Security Agency, some easy tips for online safety is to create a strong password with different numbers, letters and symbols.

It also mentions that it is very important to update internet-connected devices and to get rid of suspicious emails and online posts.

The FBI website also recommends double checking if a site is secure before you put any credit card information on it. One way of doing that is by looking for an icon of a tiny padlock in the search bar.

This doesn’t guarantee anything but it does give the consumer some assurance of the website’s safety.

Vice Chancellor Escobar, of the Tech Department, also wanted to emphasize these tips. He said to always use an email provided by the district for school activities, never provide your personal information or your password, make strong passwords with a mix of 10 characters and for students to get educated on cybersecurity.

The San Jose City College community might ask themselves is our internet at school safe?

“I feel safe using the school internet because I haven’t had problems with it,” said Jasmine, 24, cosmetology major.

Supervisor Young, of the Tech Department, said, “The school’s network and computer systems are protected by antivirus software with SPAM filtering.” He also said that “Students may login into their personal emails on school computers but they should always remember to logout of their personal email account when done using the computer.”

Once again it is very important to think about cybersecurity in the world that we live in. But it is even more important to be educated on the subject.

For more information on CyberSecurity visit Stay Safe Online and STOP. THINK. CONNECT.