Compact IT security tips

1Do you use different identities?
Do you do your private mail on your employer’s stationery? No! Then why not get several addresses for your private e-mail? You can then use different e-mail addresses for the competition on the Internet and for communication with your bank advisor.

2Don’t type something everywhere you can type something.
A second browser window pops up on the screen asking for the password, PIN, TAN or address? Think before you enter something. Especially if you have never been asked such questions in such a situation.

3Do not click on every O.K.
Before you click on an OK button, read the question or text first. Otherwise you’ll give your O.K. for a subscription you don’t want, or you’ll delete your holiday pictures from your hard drive. – Watch the video against online fraud! (created by SECUSO, TU Darmstadt)

4What you do not want to write on a postcard, you should not send by e-mail.
An e-mail can be read by many administrators, just as a postcard can be read by the postman. Anything you would not write on a postcard, you should not send by e-mail. Just as you put a letter in an envelope, you can encrypt an e-mail.

5Be as careful with other people’s data as you are with your own.
I would never enter my address there! Then don’t do it with the address of friends, neighbours or colleagues either. After all, you don’t want others to enter your data anywhere.

6No company has anything to give away.
Whether in magazines, on TV or on the internet: Many prize competitions are organised just because of your data. Your good name with address does have value. Be aware of this and do not “sell” your data below value.

7Use different passwords.
Although it is sometimes stressful when we forget the house key, we do not do without locks in the front door. And that’s why we should also use good passwords and log off before we close programmes and shut down the computer. After all, we lock the front door too. You can create secure passwords with our password generator.

8I have nothing to hide, do I?
You have nothing to hide? Everyone is allowed to know your income, your medical history, your little secrets, likes and dislikes? No! Then you also handle this data carefully and don’t leave it lying around.

9No grass grows over the internet!
As soon as data, pictures or texts are on the internet, you have lost control over them. It is almost impossible to delete something completely on the internet. Think about that before you put something online. You cannot get it back.

10

Refresh computer vaccination.
Flu protection must be refreshed every year. The virus scanner on your computer must also be refreshed daily(!). “Just a quick trip to the Internet” – never without virus protection! You never know where you might get infected.

Within the framework of the working group and in many discussions with DP coordinators and IT administrators, these tips on IT security used at the Max Planck Society were considered so concise that we are adopting them with the kind permission of the authors, Heidi Schuster and Prof. Dr. Rainer W. Gerling. Source: https://www.mpg.de/datenschutztipps

https://www.mpg.de/datenschutztipps