What to Know:

• Use strong, unique passwords to protect your accounts.
• Turn on multi-factor authentication for an extra layer of protection.
• There’s a new FTC rule you should know about to help protect consumers from deepfakes.

ORLANDO, Fla. Our financial lives are increasingly digital – from banking and shopping to paying bills, managing investments, and even storing sensitive personal information. That convenience also gives criminals more opportunities to try to get inside our accounts or convince us to hand over the information they need to do it.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, making it a good time to check digital habits that can help keep you and your family safer online.

Our friend and CBS News Business Analyst Jill Schlesinger says some of the most effective protections are also among the simplest: stronger passwords, multi-factor authentication, and a healthy dose of skepticism when an unexpected email, text, or phone call asks you to click a link or provide personal information.

And as artificial intelligence makes scams increasingly sophisticated, knowing what – and who – to trust online is becoming even more important.

Here’s our full transcript of an interview we did with Jill last week.

WKMG-TV: October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and with so much of our financial and personal lives now online, it’s a good reminder that protecting your money also means protecting your information.

CBS News Business Analyst Jill Schlesinger says it’s the perfect time to make sure you and your family are doing what you can to stay one step ahead of hackers and scammers.

Jill, where do you want to start?

Jill Schlesinger: We’re going to start at the very beginning, strong passwords or a password manager.

The FTC is recommending passwords of at least 15 characters. You want to mix uppercase, lowercase letters, numbers and of course symbols. Now that said, even a great password, it can be stolen. So, to protect yourself, turn on multi-factor authentication. That requires a second piece of proof before anyone can get into a website. That way, even if a crook does have your password. That crook would still hit a wall.

WKMG-TV: And Jill, what’s the most common way that data is compromised?

Jill Schlesinger: It’s still kind of old school. It’s those weird phishing emails and texts and calls – that is how criminals are prying information away from us.

So, that’s a good reminder not to click on a link or open an attachment in a message that you were not expecting. Instead, if you do get something – it looks like from your bank or your utility company – find that phone number independently, make sure you understand if it’s real and contact the company.

Now, remember, also, this is like a little bit of a next phase of scamming. They’re following the calendar. So, let me give you an example.

Right now, health insurance scams are ramping up because we’re just on the eve of Medicare and Marketplace open enrollment period. These fraudsters – they are getting much more sophisticated. They’ve got lookalike websites and official-looking logos; they even pay to land at the top of search results. So again, please be very careful before you cough up your vital information.

WKMG-TV: Jill, the last question, and I know this is a really big one: are there new precautions in the AI era?

Jill Schlesinger: I mean, it’s pretty murky out there, but one specific alert from the FTC is urging parents to talk to your kids about deep fakes. And the reason is that there are apps that are creating fake, explicit images of real people. Now, you are protected because we’ve got something new. It’s the Take It Down Act. That requires social media messaging and photo and video sharing platforms to remove those images and any known copies. Within 48 hours of a request, go to takeitdown.ftc.gov if you want to report an issue.

WKMG-TV: Jill, thank you very much. You can see Jill regularly on CBS Mornings and the CBS Evening News. For more analysis, go to JillOnMoney.com.