Cyber is an integral part of modern life.
Secure your cyber world.
Protect your reality.

Welcome to CHIRP

CHIRP, the Cyber Hygiene Information Resource Project aims to bring awareness about cybersecurity topics to individuals and small businesses. Everyday, thousands of businesses and individuals are negatively impacted by cyber criminals and scammers. Many of these incidents could be prevented by better application of cybersecurity fundamentals--what cybersecurity professionals like to call "good cyber hygiene".

Don't be intimidated: CHIRP is here to help you understand and apply the basics.

The resources CHIRP provides are developed to:

• bring awareness of important cybersecurity concepts and explain why they apply to you.
• provide understandable, achievable actions that you can take to address the concerns.
• teach you how to find more information on a topic that is relevant to your specific situation.

Cyber Hygiene Importance

Cyber decisions impact physical life.

Identity theft. Blackmail. Scams. Intellectual property theft. Impersonation. Loss of face. Sensitive data leak. Harassment.

Decisions you make in your use and choice of devices and services can facilitate or hinder these events. For you, your family, your business, and your community.

Resources

While the information here was primarily written for very small business owners and individuals, most of the information is applicable to other businesses as well. However, for businesses of more than just a handful of employees this information is just a starting point, they will probably find their situations more complex than is covered here.

None of the information here should be construed as any type of legal recommendation.

There are laws that govern concepts that are mentioned here. It is highly recommended that you get relevant expert advice if any cybersecurity or data privacy laws pertain to your situation. For example, you may need to consider

• state level consumer data protection/privacy laws (e.g. California Consumer Privacy Act, Virginia's Consumer Data Protection Act)
• national level citizen data protection/privacy laws (e.g. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act)
• payment processing regulations (e.g. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, money laundering rules)
• mandatory breach reporting requirements for when sensitive data is or may have been stolen or unlawfully accessed (each state has one, e.g. PA ST 73 P.S. 2302)

You also need to be aware that laws from outside your home jurisdiction may apply (for example, the EU's General Data Protection Regulation applies to all EU citizen data, not just data that resides in the EU).

Using the Site

Explore the topics from the menu options at the top of the page.

As you read, you will find links that will take you to related articles on the site, and web search terms that will help you search the internet for more information on your own.

You can also check out the cybersecurity checklists. These inumerate the basics of cybersecurity and scam awareness. These checklists are abbreviated statements about threat mitigations (things that make a threat less likely to succeed or cause harm) that should be implemented. Some statements have links to one or more related article pages that will provide the information necessary to learn how to check the item off your list.

NOTE: If you have questions about specific topics or would like us to prioritize writing an article on a specific topic, contact us at questions@askchirp.com.