Your safety is in your hands!!
Protecting yourself from hackers and cybercriminals is becoming necessity. You need to take every single precaution, you can against hackers as they can cause serious damage to your life. Some steps you can take to prevent hackers from accessing your online accounts, social media and another important documents are…
1. Never click on a link you did not expect to receive-
The golden rule. The main way criminals infect PCs with malware is by luring users to click on a link or open an attachment. “Sometimes phishing emails contain obvious spelling mistakes and poor grammar and are easy to spot.
You should learn how to spot a fake or breached site.
2. Use different passwords on different sites-
With individuals typically having anything up to 100 online accounts, the tendency has become to share one or two passwords across accounts or use very simple ones, such as loved ones’ names, first pets or favorite sports teams.
But this is wrong , password must be contain some special characters and should be long . Any word found in the dictionary is easily crackable.
for ex- T#o!S!a#n and for another account you can simply add on your first and last alphabet of your name so that it becomes easy for you to remember and your account password is also secure .
3. Update Your Passwords-
You can keep yourself safe from hackers by updating your old password regularly and using a password remembering service. If you’re using Google’s password service, you can use the password checkup feature to keep your passwords safe.
You should use strong passwords containing special characters as I discussed above.
4. Never reuse your main email password-
This is the most important one..
A hacker who has cracked your main email password has the keys to your [virtual] kingdom. Passwords from the other sites you visit can be reset via your main email account. A criminal can trawl through your emails and find a treasure trove of personal data: from banking to passport details, including your date of birth, all of which enables ID fraud.
5. If in doubt, block-
Just say no to social media invitations (such as Facebook-friend or LinkedIn connection requests) from people you don’t know and you find something offensive just go report and block to that person. It’s the cyber equivalent of inviting the edgy guy who looks at you at the bus stop into your home.
6. Only shop online on secure sites-
Before entering your card details, always ensure that the locked padlock or unbroken key symbol is showing in your browser, cautions industry advisory body Financial Fraud Action UK. Additionally the beginning of the online retailer’s internet address will change from “http” to “https” to indicate a connection is secure. Be wary of sites that change back to http once you’ve logged on.
7. Don’t Use Public Wifi-
We should avoid using online services through public Wi-Fi. Accessing sensitive information while on a public connection makes you vulnerable to hackers.
If you have to access online services away from home, use a VPN or your mobile data
Most Wi-Fi hotspots do not encrypt information and once a piece of data leaves your device headed for a web destination, it is “in the clear” as it transfers through the air on the wireless network. “That means any ‘packet sniffer’ [a program which can intercept data] or malicious individual who is sitting in a public destination with a piece of software that searches for data being transferred on a Wi-Fi network can intercept your unencrypted data. If you choose to bank online on public Wi-Fi, that’s very sensitive data you are transferring. We advise either using encryption [software], or only using public Wi-Fi for data which you’re happy to be public — and that shouldn’t include social network passwords.”
This is a very common mistake that we all do, due to which we fall into the trap of hackers. So we must be very careful while using public wi-fi.
8. Keep Your Phone Secure-
You should work to protect yourself from hackers in the real world, as well as online. Some hacks have gained access to people’s unsecured phones remotely, so you should always use decent security on your lock screen.
The best options for securing your lock screen are fingerprints or face ID. These methods are harder to fool, and you don’t need to remember a pattern or password. Even passwords, PINs, or lock patterns are better than having a completely unlocked phone.
9. Don’t store your card details on websites.
10. Add a DNS service to protect other devices-
A DNS or domain name system service converts a web address (a series of letters) into a machine-readable IP address (a series of numbers). You’re probably using your ISP’s DNS service by default, but you can opt to subscribe to a service such as OpenDNS or Norton ConnectSafe, which redirect you if you attempt to access a malicious site, says Sian John. “This is helpful for providing some security (and parental control) across all the devices in your home including tablets, TVs and games consoles that do not support security software. But they shouldn’t be relied upon as the only line of defense, as they can easily be bypassed.”
11. Enable two-step verification-
If your email or cloud service offers it — Gmail, Dropbox, Apple and Facebook do — take the trouble to set this up. In addition to entering your password, you are also asked to enter a verification code sent via SMS to your phone. In the case of Gmail you only have to enter a fresh code every 30 days or when you log on from a different computer or device. So a hacker might crack your password, but without the unique and temporary verification code should not be able to access your account.
12. Remember you’re human after all
While much of the above are technical solutions to prevent you being hacked and scammed, hacking done well is really the skill of tricking human beings, not computers, taking advantage of our trust, greed or altruistic impulses. Human error is still the most likely reason why you’ll get hacked.
Originally published at https://inferius.in.
