What are the "5 steps of information security" (the 5S awareness model) for protecting a personal device?
Back up, protect, monitor, prevent, and pay attention — the German "5 Schritte" (5 steps, hence "5S") of information security: four tools plus one habit.
* Four technical steps you set up once, then the fifth — your own behaviour — that runs continuously. *
| # | Step (DE) | Step (EN) | Concretely |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sichern | Back up | regular backups (3-2-1 rule) |
| 2 | Schützen | Protect | up-to-date antivirus |
| 3 | Überwachen | Monitor | active firewall |
| 4 | Vorbeugen | Prevent | install software updates/patches |
| 5 | Aufpassen | Pay attention | careful personal behaviour |
Why this framing works: it turns abstract "be secure" advice into five concrete, memorable actions a non-expert can actually do. Four are technical-ish (backup, AV, firewall, updates); the fifth — behaviour — is the one that ties back to awareness and is usually the deciding factor.
Tip: Remember it as Back-Protect-Monitor-Prevent-Watch. The first four are tools; the fifth is you.
Go deeper:
eBanking – but secure! (Lucerne University awareness platform) — the Swiss public-awareness source these five steps come from.