Digital security is important – but not many people know that errors of judgement or failure to take proper care can mean you are held accountable for any losses you suffer. With cyber-attacks on the rise, staying safe is a priority. Barclays Digital Eagles are there to help you do just that, providing advice and guidance on how you can protect yourself online.
Barclays Digital Eagles started four years ago with just 18 colleagues with a passion for all things digital. The team has since grown to 18,000 Digital Eagles across the UK, who are there to help customers and the wider community – whether they bank with Barclays or not. The Eagles host free Tea and Teach sessions in libraries, community centres and Barclays branches, offering practical, helpful advice about getting online and staying up to speed.
Earlier this year, the Digital Eagles added staying safe online to the Tea and Teach sessions. Staying Safe in Cyberspace security awareness workshops are rolling out across the community. For families, there’s Cyber Space Cadets – an interactive workshop for kids aged seven to 11, which teaches coding, game building and staying safe. There’s even a free online learning tool – sign up to Digital Wings and win points as you pass modules such as Online safety, security and fraud, and Avoiding online scams, in association with Get Safe Online.
“The first job is to make sure people understand cyber crime,” explains Ross Martin, Digital Eagle. “We break down everything from the hacking landscape to the motives of different kinds of hackers and run through the most common forms of attack – from phishing emails to malicious software, ransomware, invoice fraud and data theft.”
In the How to catch a phish lesson, Martin and his team talk through what to do when you receive unexpected emails – even if they seem to come from a trusted source. “Check out the sender carefully,” he says. “Modern phishing is far more sophisticated than it used to be. If it seems to be from your bank, open a new browser window, go to the company homepage and log in that way. Be careful of poor quality company logos, bad spelling and grammatical mistakes. If you have any doubts, don’t click on any links in the mail.”
As well as helping install internet security software, the Digital Eagles also offer advice, for instance, to ensure you buy software only from reputable companies and exercise extreme caution when downloading free software. They explain how to keep security software automatically updated and offer help switching on macro protection in existing software, such as Microsoft Word. In addition, Barclays offers free Kaspersky security software to customers.
They’ll even give advice on passwords – how to choose easy-to-remember passwords that are difficult to break, such as lines from songs, other people’s mother’s maiden names or taking easy-to-remember phrases such as “Flash, I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the Earth” and using the first letters – Filybwoh14htstE.
At the free workshops, Martin explains, staff also talk through the tricks and traps of social engineering hacks, for instance, where criminals target individuals by picking up information from social media or stolen contact and account details from breaches such as the recent Wonga.com hack.
“Always check requests for payments independently – using the contacts you’ve always used,” Martin explains. “If a call seems suspicious, hang up and call the organisation to check it’s a real employee. The best advice, just like the National Cyber Security Strategy suggests, is always to take five minutes to step away from an email or a phone call before giving away any information. You only want to pass on the kind of information you’d happily leave lying on a park bench.”
