It is imperative for the Diocese of Paterson to provide robust security measures to protect its parishioners from the dangers of cyber threats and hacking incidents. Parishioners entrust their personal information, financial details, and spiritual interactions to the Church, making them vulnerable targets for cybercriminals seeking to exploit vulnerabilities for malicious purposes. By implementing small and simple but ultimately huge effective changes, your parish can become hardened against the a vast majority of attackers. Furthermore, educating parishioners about the dangers of giftcard scams, impersonations, and online fraud empowers them to recognize potential threats and take proactive measures to protect themselves against cyber attacks. We want your church community to feel safe and trust that their personal info and finances are in good hands, whether they're online or offline. By being vigilant against cybercrime, we're making sure our faith community stays strong and connected, without worrying about digital threats. We're here to protect and support everyone, so they can focus on what matters most: their faith and community.

• Don't trust thumb drives or cables from unconfirmed sources
• Don't trust public Wi-Fis and be cautious of locations that used to have low or no signal all of a sudden having good signal
• Don't trust anyone requesting Gift cards or changes to bank information
  • hang up the phone call the person with the number on file and have them fill out the official form
• If your computer slows down or there are weird noises/programs opening it's probably a virus
• Warn both the Diocese and your parishioners if scams start popping up
  • We at the Diocese are here to help!
• Set up automated scans for your ant-virus software on Friday at night
  • You won't even notice!
• Update your computer and all your programs/apps
  • Hackers have a who list of weaknesses of a specific program it's version and it's weakness. All that needs to be done is search the program with the version number and there is code already built for us to use or there are step by step instructions on how to execute the attack
  • See for yourself