By Heather Ryce

Phil Taylor of Palo Alto Networks and Steven Wallace of FullProxy visited UWS campus in Ayr to talk to students about the importance of cyber security in a digital world.

Phil Taylor speaking to students at UWS

Palo Alto are leaders when it comes to cybersecurity, working with tens of thousands of organisations and customers across more than 150 countries to ensure network protection. They are partnered with elite leaders such as Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft. FullProxy, too, are seizing the opportunity in the UK cyber security market offering advice for digital safety to both public and private sectors.

“Quite often threats and adversaries will go after low-hanging fruit – they’ll go after the weakest link in the chain. Don’t be that link.” Phil Taylor

With businesses and organisations spending thousands on protection from hacking and malware, what can the average person do to keep themselves safe online?

• Change passwords regularly
• Use complex 25 character passwords
• Don’t use the same passwords
• Don’t accept people on social media you don’t know
• Update software on devices regularly

To watch the full interview click here:

Malware is cheap to purchase and easily accessible, but the consequences of it being unleashed on unsuspecting victims can be grim. It can cost hundreds of pounds to retrieve information encrypted by a virus, security details can be breached and data lost if devices are attacked. The risks of these attacks can be lessened if people make themselves aware of what to look out for and follow simple cybersecurity rules.