Be Cyber-Secure During Disaster Preparedness Month

PEMA reminds citizens to safeguard important physical and digital information

September is National Disaster Preparedness Month. The Providence Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) & Office of Homeland Security is offering tips to safeguard your physical and digital information in the event of a natural disaster, man-made event, or even a system failure.

"Being cyber secure and protecting your most important digital and paper assets play an important role in emergency preparedness," said Peter Gaynor, PEMA director. "It matters most when or if you and your family need to recover in the aftermath of a disaster. Taking stock of your assets now could help you maintain better financial stability later on."

What are some steps to safeguard physical forms of information?
Store all important documents in a secure and preferably fireproof, waterproof and portable container, as well as maintain a copy at an off-site location. Below is a list developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of important documents:

• Insurance policies, wills, contracts, deeds, stocks and bonds
• Photo IDs, passports, social security cards, immunization records
• Bank account numbers
• Credit card account numbers and companies
• Inventory of valuable household goods, important telephone numbers
• Family records (birth, marriage, death certificates)
• Photocopies of credit and identification cards

Also available online is the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Financial First Aid Kit, which can be downloaded here: http://pvd.me/2jb. Or, you can also check out the Red Cross' Financial Planning Guide at: http://redcross.org/preparedness/FinRecovery/FinPlan/records.html

The Center of Internet Security has also provided tips and best practices to make information security part of emergency preparedness:

What about your digital information?
This includes items such as any family photos, electronic billing and account information you maintain on your computer, list of contact information for family and friends, and any important projects you are working on your computer (such as family budgets, retirement planning information, construction plans, and other items that are difficult to rebuild or replace). You may be saving these pieces of information to your computer's hard drive, but if there is a flood or a hard drive failure this information may be lost forever. It is important to back up this same information, however you can choose different methods. Some methods include:

• Flash drives and portable hard drives represent a way to back up important information on smaller and more portable devices. These can be stored in your fire proof, waterproof and portable container or at a separate location (safe deposit box, etc.).
• You may consider using an email or online service to store some key documents.
• Consider backing up your phone as well. Most major phone providers and email services offer free or low cost contact backup services.

How to ensure your information is always protected?
It's important to make saving and storing your information a regular habit. Keep in mind that you may not be able to store everything, but make sure you save critical information with regularity. Below are some tips for making sure you are keeping your information protected in the event of a disaster:

Physical forms:

• When you change your insurance policy or update your identification, make a copy and place it in your emergency storage that day.
• Twice a year inventory your emergency storage and remove out-of-date or non-relevant information and add updated information.
• Once a year, check that all documents at off-site storage are up-to-date.

Digital forms:

• Save all files to your external storage (or online service) on a regular basis.
• Back up your hard drive frequently (daily, weekly, or monthly).
• Annually, review all files on external storage; remove ones that are no longer needed.

For more resources, visit us regularly at www.readyprov.com