Protecting yourself from online threats and improving your overall online security sounds easier than you might think. Preventive measures can be done within the comforts of your own home; you won’t need to buy a solid router, additional security devices, or anything like that.
Let’s face it, we have grown too dependent on the internet and corresponding devices that we trust them with all our important and sensitive information; bank or financial details, personal data, and everything in between. And so, you need to secure all your online accounts as well as the hardware you use when making transactions.
Get a password manager.
A famous and effective rule in the online world when you want to be extra safe is to have different random passwords for each and every account. The strongest passwords are random, contain uppercase and lowercase characters as well as numbers; when we say random, we mean you shouldn’t use an obvious one like your birthday.
The reason we advise you to use different passwords for all your accounts is to avoid getting all your accounts hacked at the same time; let’s say that one account was compromised, the other accounts won’t be hacked as easily because they have different passwords.
Since it’s difficult to remember all those random passwords, we highly suggest that you install a password manager and use the most difficult password for your manager.
Constantly update information on your accounts.
Take time off and thoroughly go through important information found in all your accounts and make sure that they are all correct. Double-check the email address that you use, the phone numbers and in case you feel like your password is weak then it’s time for a stronger one. If all the information in your account is correct and updated then it’ll be easier to recover accounts in case something goes wrong.
Double-check privacy settings.
Accounts should be kept private and viewable only to those you give permission to. Better review the privacy settings of all your accounts on social networks as well as other sharing sites; these would include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Check out hardware security for crucial accounts.
For the extremely important accounts that you have, investing in a hardware security key as an additional blanket of defense is worth the hassle; better to be safe than incredibly sorry. Consider getting one for the main email address that you use, the password manager that you installed as well as your recovery email.
Have backup data for valuable information.
Files and that that you need and are dear to you should have back up on the cloud or an external device or even both; these files include documents, photos, and videos. Having back up on external devices and the cloud will save you from the heartache of unwanted deletion, hardware damage, and failure as well as crypto locker malware.
Regularly update the operating system of your devices.
It’s obvious that if you want a secure computer, you need to update the operating system of your device whenever it’s available. Turn on the automatic update option if available; Linux, Windows, and OS X support this option.
Developers are always looking for ways to improve the security and features of their operating systems. Whenever they developed something great, they would include it in their updates.
So if your operating system is incredibly outdated, then it’s basically unsecured.
Update all your software.
Be sure that all your important software, specifically your browser, is updated in order to ensure that your browsing is secured. If you have the option to get better and more secured software then why wouldn’t you? Updating Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox browsers have different steps but all of them offer auto-update options.
Have your computer well secured.
The most obvious way to secure your laptop or computer is to install antivirus and firewall. If you already installed them, always check if they’re updated and working properly. Numerous antivirus and firewalls are available online. Each and everyone varies in features, brand, and such.
If you can’t decide which one to install, then reviews would be the answer to your problem. But do keep in mind that the best one in the reviews won’t mean that it would be the best one for you.
Listen to browser security warnings.
The security warnings that you get from some websites are there for a reason, so pay close attention. Though they’re there to protect the user from dangerous files, we always overlook these warnings.
All the modern browsers will always warn you whenever you visit doubtful websites. Never ignore these warnings. If you really need whatever is on the website, you can come back another time when the website has been cleaned up. The same goes for programs and applications which are labeled as dangerous by the antivirus.
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