NYCHA ResidentsTechnologyTop Story

October Is Cybersecurity Awareness Month 

Vincent Echavaria

Cybersecurity Awareness Month at NYCHA presents the opportunity to share a few practical steps you can take to protect yourself and your household online. 

More everyday activities for residents happen online now: paying rent, completing recertification, requesting repairs, banking, and staying in touch with family. That convenience can also make you a target of cyber criminals, unfortunately. Scammers don’t need to be clever – they count on you being busy, trusting, or in a hurry. 

Being more secure doesn’t require technical skills. It just takes a few routine habits: pausing before you click, using strong passwords, turning on two-step login, and keeping your phone updated. Each one makes you a harder target. This month, take a few minutes to protect yourself, your family, and your neighbors. 

Four Habits That Protect You 

Each of these takes a few minutes and makes your accounts harder to break into: 

  • Use strong, different passwords. Use a long password for each account and never reuse one. A phrase of several random words is easy to remember and hard to guess. A password manager can store them for you. 
  • Turn on two-step login. Also called multi-factor authentication, it asks for a code or approval on your phone after you enter your password. Turn it on for your email, bank, and social media accounts. If someone steals your password, this extra step makes it much harder for them to get in. 
  • Keep your phone and computer updated. Updates fix security weaknesses, so turn on automatic updates. The City’s free NYC Secure app can also alert you to threats on your phone: The NYC Secure App From NYC Cyber Command 
  • Stop, check, and report. Before you click a link or open an attachment, ask yourself two questions: Is this person who they say they are? Are they asking for money or personal information? If something feels suspicious, don’t respond. If it claims to be from NYCHA, report it to the NYCHA Inspector General at (212) 306-3356 or ig@nycha.nyc.gov. 

What If You Never Had to Type a Password Again? 

  • More companies, including many banks, email providers, and online stores, now offer passkeys. A passkey lets you sign in with your phone’s fingerprint, face scan, or screen lock PIN instead of a password. 
  • Passkeys are safer because there’s nothing to type, so there’s nothing for a scammer to steal. A passkey works only on the real website or app it was made for. A fake login page can’t trick you into handing it over. 
  • When a website or app offers to set up a passkey, say yes. It usually takes less than a minute.  

Remember, scammers count on you being in a hurry, so slow down. Before you click on a link, take a moment to check that the request is real. Cybersecurity Awareness Month ends October 31, but staying safe online is a year-round job.