Cybersecurity Lessons: How to Be Safe Online?

In the age of information technology, when the Internet has become an integral part of modern life, when many people work, communicate, make paris sportifs en direct and just have fun here, the issue of personal security on the Internet is becoming more and more relevant. Most users don’t care about their online safety because they simply don’t know how to do it properly and don’t think about the possible consequences, starting from scammers stealing their usernames and passwords from pages in social networks and ending with the bankruptcy of the company where they work.

In this article, we’ll talk about Internet security in a more extended way.

What Are the Dangers?

Let’s recap briefly what the main danger is if you don’t follow Internet security rules:

• Freud (fraud) is when an attacker pays with a stolen payment card.
• Account theft is when an intruder gets usernames and passwords from an online bank account, social network, or email.
• Data collection – collecting a person’s confidential information and transferring it to unauthorized persons.
• Penetration – an intruder gets access to a victim’s computer through virus software installed on it. Attackers can make the PC part of a botnet and use it for DDoS attacks or steal autofill data from it (logins, passwords, payment card data, etc.)
• Phishing – Clones of popular services: social networks, online cash registers, online shopping sites, online banks. Mailings on behalf of supposedly famous sites (Google, Facebook), calculated on human naivety and fear, by means of which criminals try to gain access to personal data – logins and passwords.

Deception is an offer in social networks, online stores, where the seller sells goods for a low price, demanding payment online or by card transfer. After that, the abuser does not get in touch. For this reason, it is important to know about the measures and methods of protection of your computer on the Internet and to be able to apply this knowledge in practice.

How to Protect Yourself on the Internet?

To protect your confidential information on the Internet, it is necessary to follow comprehensive security measures. This will reduce the chance of personal data leakage, and prevent cybercriminals from harming you.

Install Antivirus on Your PC, Smartphone, or Tablet

Antivirus is a program that provides security on the Internet, whose main task is to detect malicious software, phishing resources, dangerous servers, suspicious traffic. It is necessary to regularly update the antivirus, as well as the operating system because every day there are new variants of hacking in the network. Be sure to check the privacy settings of the applications and browsers you use.

Use Strong and Unique Passwords to Protect Your Accounts, Mailboxes, and Social Networking Pages

Imagine that someone has got hold of your apartment keys. After all, he can enter and take everything of value out of every room! The same goes for securing your accounts and so on. An intruder who gets hold of your username and password, or picks them up, can use your personal information for the worst possible purposes, from sending spam on your behalf to bankrupting the company you work for. An intruder can pick up a password in the form of your name, the name of your mother, spouse, or child, your date of birth, the name of your favorite music band, and so on directly related to you, and thus gain access to your social network account, mail and your PC. 

So 18031996 is a bad password. Alex 17071990 is too since they are tied to your identity. And Vy0@$e6#Omx 6 is a strong password. It is impossible to pick it up or collect data about you. Always use different passwords. Using the same password for all your email accounts, social networks and banking services is dangerous. Because passwords are hard to remember, install a password manager. There are a lot of them on the Internet now and you can find one that suits your needs.

Use Two-Factor Authentication (Two-Step Authentication)

First of all, let’s break down what authorization is. Authorization is logging in to the account you have already created. With normal authorization, you only need your username and password to enter the site. In two-step authorization, after entering the above-mentioned data, you receive a message by SMS or email with a randomly generated code, which must be entered exactly on the site, or a one-time password generator application can be used instead. The essence of their work is the following: the device generates a random sequence of numeric and alphabetic characters, which acts as a dynamic password.

This password is checked on the site and if it matches, the user is successfully authorized. It will not be possible to use such a password again. The methods described above allow you to minimize the risk of hacking your account and stealing confidential data because even if an intruder gets hold of your password, he won’t be able to enter your account without getting hold of your device.

Be Careful With Your Email!

Read emails you receive carefully, especially if you receive them from a person or organization you don’t know! If you know the sender of the email, make sure they are the ones who sent it. Set your mailbox to synchronize contacts of the people you communicate with, and you will always have them at your fingertips! If the email you receive makes you suspicious, ask yourself a few questions: does the sender have a suspicious email address? Is an impersonal greeting being used? Is the author of the email trying to create a sense of urgency? Is there no call for urgent, immediate action? Don’t follow links provided in emails from people you don’t know, online banking and unknown payment systems without checking them first, and don’t download attachments, suspicious applications from unknown sources, because malicious programs can masquerade as anything from a popular game to a support email.

Don’t forget to scan the file with an antivirus – what if the sender is spreading threats and is unaware of it.

Do Not Send Personal Data via Social Networks

By personal data, we mean bank card numbers, PIN numbers, passport data. Send them better to email and only to trusted people, and then delete the letter, so you do not keep it in your mailbox. You can also use messengers WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram for this purpose, as they use end-to-end encryption on devices. End-to-end encryption means that all information (photos, videos, messages) is encrypted when sent from one device and decrypted only when received by another device. Audio and video calls are also encrypted. No third party can get access to your information while it’s being sent.

Use a Secure Connection

Don’t use public Wi-Fi networks to transmit personal information. Free networks in public places are a great opportunity for intruders to intercept your data. Therefore, it is better to conduct important transactions only over a secure Wi-Fi connection or use a VPN.

Don’t save public networks, as criminals can take advantage of this to intercept your traffic. For example, they can create a network of the same name and intercept all of your data.

Always Encrypt Your Data

When going to a web page, be sure to secure your connection to the server. Such pages have “HTTPS://” instead of “HTTP://” protocol, which means encrypted connection (SSL certificate) and makes it difficult for intruders to intercept your data.

Modern browsers always warn you about the risk of an insecure connection. If the certificate check reveals an insecure connection, you will get a warning about it. Think about it before you ignore it and click “I accept the risk, go anyway.

To increase your protection, you need to encrypt as much of your Internet traffic as possible. The site you go to must have HTTPS (Secure Transfer Protocol).

Get Yourself an Electronic Wallet

An E-wallet is an application, which allows you to keep electronic money, pay for goods and services on the Internet, withdraw money to your bank account or plastic card or receive cash.

Today, e-wallets use two-factor authentication, which has already been mentioned above, and intermediary services save your data and you can make purchases online without fear of intruders.