I haven’t covered the topic of Cyber Security for a long while, so I thought it might be a good time to do it now!
As it turns out, the National Association of REALTORS®, via RealtorMagazine, recently published a VERY good article which I strongly urge you to read!
It was published on August 28th, 2020 so it has the latest info on the topic that is currently available.
You can find it here: https://magazine.realtor/technology/feature/article/2020/08/13-ways-to-step-up-your-defense-against-hackers
The article contains 13 steps and or tips to help you protect your clients, your company and yourself from data breaches and hacks. There is also a 4 minute and 42 second video there that I recommend that you watch as well. The video covers some of the more important legal issues that you want to be aware of too.
I have heard MANY people say that their computer doesn’t have anything of interest to a hacker, so why do they need to be concerned? I hope that you aren’t entertaining such a thought! But, if you are, ponder this for a moment. Do you have your contacts on your computer? Do any of those contacts contain first and last names? How about home addresses? Phone numbers? Of course you do and of course you have some of that info on your computer too. Hackers love to gather that kind of info to use on attacks on other people.
One more thought, have you used your computer (or phone) to do any online banking? If so, the computer has probably saved your login info. It may not be readily apparent to you that it has done so, but if someone is able to hack into your computer, they probably have the skill set to find those hidden files and act upon them.
Do yourself, your clients and your company a huge favor and take a few minutes to review the article and then take the time to shore up the weak areas in your own cyber security!
