Jim Douglas has joined over 48 Governors from states across the country in declaring October as Cyber Security Awareness month. The US Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance have teamed up to provide a wealth of resources about staying safe online in a new web portal.

Lyndon State College Chief Technology Officer Mike Dente says that the latest and largest web-based scams are called phishing scams. These involve the creation of realistic looking emails or web sites which are actually fraudulent. They ask for personal information such as a bank account number or a password. Many companies stress that they will never ask you for this information in an email.

Some of the proper precautions you can take are backing up your data regularly, changing your password often, and never sending personal information while using a public Wi-Fi connection. To lean more ways that you can keep your cyber activities safe, visit StaySafeOnline.org.