Clarksvillenow.com Reporting
news@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – A program to help educate consumers and businesses about protecting their digital life and securing their online activities was held Tuesday, August 5 at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center in Clarksville.
Around 100 people attended the event hosted by the Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky and the National Cyber Security Alliance and featured Tennessee U.S. Congressman Marsha Blackburn as guest speaker.
Blackburn talked about what she called “protecting the virtual you”. Once you hit the send button on an email, once you click through to a website, you don’t know where that information goes. How can you be sure you’re going to be able to protect that information about you,” Blackburn said.
The event is part of a ten-city tour to spread the word about activating security features available on many of the web’s most popular sites. There were also demonstrations on how to step up security on sites like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn and financial institutions.
Lack of consumer adoption of good password practices continues to create problems online. A recent Pew Research Center study indicated that last year 21% of Internet users, 18 years and older, have had an online account compromised and only 23 % think their accounts are secure.
Consumers are being warned to be vigilant about using strong passwords and should follow the basic security advice to have long, strong and unique passwords. The good news is more and more Internet sites are implementing additional security features that can help computer users add another layer of security to their accounts.
To learn more about staying safe online and to find links to websites that offer additional account security visit www.stopthinkconnect.org/twostepsahead.