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Safety and Cybersecurity at Home 101 with
SecurityStudio and S2Me

Part One – Introduction

Technology use has exploded. In the United States, there are more than312 million internet users, each spending an average of four hours online each day. There are more than 130 mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 people, and the average U.S. household owns more than 11 connected devices (including seven with screens to view content).Sadly, online protection for the average consumer has not kept pace. All the new technology is exciting, but it’s also extremely dangerous if it’s not used securely. Increased cyberattacks aimed at people in their homes has led to disastrous outcomes for many. The facts are:

  • Cybersecurity and safety cannot be separated. For instance, there are an estimated500,000 online predators who are active each day and more than 50% of the victims of online sexual exploitation are between the ages of 12 and 15.
  • Your protection is your responsibility. Nobody else cares more about your cybersecurity and safety more than you, and nobody is more responsible for your protection either.
The sooner we all learn that informationsecurity is a life skill, the better off we’ll all be. The information securityexperts at SecurityStudio created S2Me as a free tool to teach good cybersecurity habits and help youmonitor your online health.The simplest advice is don’t usetechnology if you don’t know how to use securely.

Part Two – Starting the S2Me

Cybersecurity can be confusing and complex, but it shouldn’t be. The S2Me is conveniently organized into 10 areas (or Topics) of protection. Prior to beginning this session, we encourage you to sign up for your free S2Me account here: https://S2Me.io
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‍NOTE: The S2Me is completely free and will always be free. SecurityStudio does notuse the S2Me for any purpose other than to help people form better cybersecurity and safety habits, meaning you won’t be bothered by marketing emails or anything else.

In this session, we’ll cover the first three topics in S2Me:

  • Topic #1 - Household Desktop and Laptop Use
  • Topic #2 - Safe Practices for Internet Usage
  • Topic #3 - Choosing and Protecting Authentication
Issues such as patching, anti-virus software, safe internet browsing, passwords, and multi-factor authentication(MFA) are all covered (and more).
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Part Three – Continuing the S2Me

At this point, you’re probably starting to get more comfortable with how the S2Me works. If you’ve sped ahead in the S2Me tool and gotten ahead of the video content, that’s just fine! Maybe you’re the ambitious type. Even if you’ve already completed your S2Me, we encourage you to keep going through the video content. You might pick up a key point or two.
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In this session, we’ll cover the second three Topics in S2Me:

  • Topic #4 - Securing Mobile Devices
  • Topic #5 - Securing WiFi
  • Topic #6 - Secure Gateway
Most of us have mobile devices that we carry with us wherever we go. We’re constantly connected to the world around us, but this connectivity can come with a dark side. Issue we discuss in this session include proper configuration of mobile devices, how to secure wireless networks, how to use public wireless networks securely, and protecting your home network better at the perimeter (where your home network connects to the internet).

Part Four – Continuing the S2Me

Businesses received a ransomware attack every 14 seconds in 2020. This is a staggering, but it’s less often than individuals which is hard to believe! The best protections for you are good habits and good backups. Without these things, you might be forced to pay the average ransomware payment of $1,000 to get your treasured family pictures back. We’ll cover backups, how to protect yourself from all the new “smart” devices we put in our homes, and simple, but important physical security protections.

By now, your more than halfway through theS2Me. You know that the S2Me isn’t going to make you an information security expert, but you probably don’t want to be one of those anyway! S2Me covers the basics of cybersecurity and safety at home. This is good news, because more than 90% of all successful attacks are due to missing basics (by our estimate).

In this session, we continue with the third set of three S2Me Topics:

  • Topic #7 - Backing up Data
  • Topic #8 - Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Other Devices
  • Topic #9 - Physical Security

Part Five – Finishing the S2Me and Next Steps

You’re almost done with your assessment. Well done! We hope you’ve learned a few things along the way, but we need to caution you. You ARE NOT done for (at least two) reasons:
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  • Good cybersecurity and safety habits are not formed immediately, they are formed through repetition.
  • As the world changes (new technologies, new threats, etc.), so must your habits and protections. We’ll continue to update the S2Me by adding new features, updating content, etc., but you’ll need to come back to keep up with everything.
In this final session, we’ll cover the lastS2Me Topic (#10 – Breach and Incident Response), how to review and interpret your S2Me results, and what you can look forward to in future revisions of the tool. The topic of breach and incident response is a very important one by the way. The truth is some day you or someone close to you will become a victim of a successful attack. Simple preparation will go along way towards minimizing the damage.

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