October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Strengthen Your Cybersecurity Awareness

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which is a great time to strengthen your online accounts. One of the easiest steps? Make your passwords longer. A long, unique passphrase can be harder for cybercriminals to crack than a short password packed with special characters. Choose something memorable but difficult for others to guess—and never reuse passwords across multiple accounts.

Scammers want you to act before you have time to think. Before clicking a link in an email or text, stop and look closely. Is the message unexpected? Does the website address look legitimate? Is someone pressuring you to act immediately? When in doubt, go directly to the company’s official website or contact them using a trusted phone number—not the information provided in the suspicious message.

The latest utility impersonation scams are increasingly convincing. A scammer may claim Dawson PPD is about to disconnect your service, then demand immediate payment through an unusual method. If you ever receive an unexpected payment request, pause and verify it. Contact Dawson PPD at 308-324-2386 to verify.

Even strong passwords can be compromised. Multifactor authentication adds an extra layer of protection by requiring an additional way to verify your identity—such as a code sent to your phone or an authentication app. Turn on MFA for important accounts whenever it’s available, especially for email, financial and utility accounts.