Dorset Digital Champion and cyber security expert releases new book to help protect you from crime

A useful guide to help people take steps to protect themselves from cyber and identity crime is released this month from the British Computer Society.

The guide has been co-written and edited by Andy Taylor, a volunteer Digital Champion with Dorset Council who also works full time as an independent information security adviser following a career in the Royal Navy.

Photo Caption:  Role Reversal:  Alan Turing cracked code for good – now it is criminals doing it.  Dorset Digital Champion pays homage to the father of computer science, image is part of  ‘The Sherborne Community Mural’.

Andy is based at Sherborne Library on a voluntary basis, providing free support and advice to anyone needing help with basic digital skills. He is one of 75 Digital Champions volunteering in Dorset libraries to help people with computers, tablets, phones and more. Most have gained experience from their professional careers.

As Andy explains in his new book, information security fraud has evolved more rapidly than any other crime with the onset of computers and the digital world.

Andy said: “We mitigate against crime and injury everyday by following set rules and best practice.  As an analogy, we drive vehicles and take a lot of risk going from A to B but we follow the rules of the road to stay safe. We can’t take the risks away, but we know where they are and take steps to avoid injury.

“The same applies to information security. Paying by debit card on a reputable website, carries a risk, but it is very small so we take it. The risks increase significantly though when connecting to an insecure Wi-Fi where the credentials are unclear.”

Take steps to protect yourself against cyber and information crime

• • Consider using Paypal, it is very secure – https://www.paypal.com/uk/home
• • Never put any financial information including banking or credit card details in an email, it is not secure.
• • Be quick to install the latest versions (patches) in software. Criminals look for the weaknesses in the old versions to exploit.
• • Always use websites with https:\\ the ‘s’ actually stands for security and will generate a padlock, make sure it is not crossed out. If the website does not have the ‘s’, do not shop there.
• • Protect your documents. Always shred all discarded documents that contain personal information (including name and addresses).  An advantage that identity and cyber criminals have on their side is the time to sift through and pull together information from everywhere.

To buy the book called Information Security Management Principles 3rd Edition go online to the BCS bookshop (https://shop.bcs.org) or visit any good bookseller including Winstone Books in Sherborne.

To get free help from a Digital Champion simply call 01305 221048 and we will match you with a friendly volunteer in your own area who will help you feel right at home in the digital world.