Everyman’s Cyber Defence

The following is my translation of “Jokamiehen kyberpuolustus”, Everyman’s Cyber Defence, a short snippet from publicly available document #kyberpuolustus : kyberkäsikirja Puolustusvoimien henkilöstölle (2019) by Laari, Flyktman, Härmä, Timonen and Tuovinen. Source material is encrypted in Finnish and free to download from National Defence University of Finland’s website. I intend no copyright infringement and share this as cyber security awareness material for public interest.

Good practices for personal cyber defence

• Be mindful about information you share about yourself publicly.
• Use long and complex passwords or take advantage of a password manager app.
• Use unique passwords in different services.
• Be cautious and use common sense when opening emails.
• Keep all your devices protected and their software updated.
• Keep personal devices separated from Defence Forces devices.
  • (My note: separating personal and work devices is good practice for all of us regardless of where we work. EDIT: I also covered this in F-Secure’s monthly threat report F-Alert March 2023.)
• Use a USB stick only if it’s absolutely necessary and even then run a malware scan on it first.
• Think before you click – shady links expose you to many threats.
• Use your smartphone as you would your computer, same guidance applies to both.