Think Before You Click: Five Cybersecurity Habits That Matter More Than Ever

A password isn’t always enough. Multifactor authentication, or MFA, adds another layer of security by requiring a code, authentication app, fingerprint, or other verification before allowing access.

The 2026 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that credential abuse accounted for 13% of breaches, while exploitation of software vulnerabilities had become the leading way attackers gained access.

Do this: Turn on MFA for your email, financial, banking, shopping, and social media accounts. Start with the accounts that would cause the most trouble if someone else gained access to them.

A sense of urgency is one of a scammer’s favorite tools. “Your account will be closed.” “You have an unpaid bill.” “I need you to send money right now.”

AI is making these messages harder to spot. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report documented 22,364 complaints involving AI-related information and more than $893 million in reported losses. The FBI also reported that businesses lost more than $30 million to AI-related business email compromise scams.

Do this: Don’t click, reply, or send money simply because a message looks legitimate. Verify it independently. If someone asks for money or sensitive information, contact them using a phone number or website that you already know is legitimate.

And remember: a familiar voice isn’t proof of identity. Voice cloning can make a scammer sound like someone you know.

Visit our Security Center for more tips on recognizing scams and protecting your accounts.

Using the same password everywhere is convenient, but it can also give criminals a shortcut into multiple accounts.

Use a different, strong password for each important account. Strong passwords often include uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols and are not easily guessed. Avoid repeating letters or sequential characters like “abc” or “123” when creating a strong password.

Do this: If you haven’t changed or reused a password in a while, start with your email and financial accounts. Never share passwords or give your password to someone who contacts you unexpectedly.

AI can help us write, research, summarize, and solve problems. But convenience can come with a privacy cost.

The 2026 DBIR found that 45% of employees were regular users of AI on corporate devices, up 15% from the previous year. The report also found that unauthorized “shadow AI” use had become a growing data-loss concern, with sensitive information (including source code and other structured data) being entered into unapproved AI services.

Do this: Before putting information into an AI tool, stop and consider whether it contains anything private, confidential, or sensitive. If it does, don’t upload it unless you know the tool is approved for that type of information.

Those software update reminders may be annoying, but they’re important.

According to the 2026 DBIR, 31% of breaches began with exploitation of vulnerabilities, making it the leading initial access method. Even more concerning, organizations fully remediated only 26% of critical vulnerabilities tracked by CISA in 2025.

Do this: Install updates promptly and replace devices that no longer receive security updates. If you notice an unfamiliar transaction, compromised account, or suspicious activity, act quickly. Contact us, change affected passwords, and report suspected fraud.