10 Critical Tips To Stay Safe Online

It’s A Jungle Out There

Cyber crimes and hacks have been on the rise during the last couple of years. We have all seen it on the news, the Yahoo 500 million stolen accounts, Apple Ransomware, Hilary Clinton emails and even the most recent voting system hack. These are the type of news that you see on TV or read about it but you never think it’ll happen to you. What if I told you that 30,000 websites are infected every single day with some type of Malware. Over 73% of Americans have fallen for some type of scam or hack before. 48% of Americans had their personal information exposed to the public by hackers. 28 million Americans were victims of identity theft within the last 5 years. These are scary statistics and the worst thing you can think is that cyber criminals will only go after big corporations. Here are 10 critical tips to stay safe online:

1. Safe Shopping

Before you start shopping on any site make sure the site is “https” and has a padlock icon. This means the communication is encrypted and can only be read by the recipient. Always use a credit card instead of a debit card. Credit card charges are easier to be reimbursed.

2. Think Before You Click

Don’t ever click on links from sources you don’t know or vaguely know. These links will usually lead you to phishing websites that trick you into providing personal information. Other links will download Malware into your device infecting it. Even if the message comes from a known source, contact the person if it looks suspicious.

3. Use Strong Passwords

This one is well known yet many people still use weak passwords. A 6 character, all letters, lower case password can be hacked in just a couple of minutes. Adding an uppercase, numbers and a symbol will increase it to 400 years. Try using passwords that have 12 characters minimum.

4. Use Website Reputation Plugins

A website reputation plugin will keep you away from clicking on infested websites as you browse using a search engine. Web Of Trust or WOT is a popular plugin that will indicate the rating next to the site on the search results.

5. Familiarize Yourself With Online Scams

Keeping up with recent scam news and informing yourself is half the battle. If you know what it is you are less likely to fall for it. Some occasional reading will go a long way.

6. Keep Your System Up To Date

Keeping your system up to date guarantees that you have the latest security patches. Hackers usually take advantage of system weaknesses known as vulnerabilities in order to hack into your device.

7. Use Common Sense

Some say that common sense is not so common. You don’t need to be a computer expert to know that an email from the Prince and his inheritance is a scam. Same logic applies for opening attachments.

8. Install A Firewall Other Than Windows Firewall

A firewall is a great tool against cyber attacks. There are many free firewall solutions out there up for grabs. Do your research and install a second line of defense by using a firewall.

9. Configure Your Home Wi-Fi

Leaving your home Wi-Fi with the default configuration is one of the worst things you can do. Change the routers default settings and password protect the connection.

10. Don’t Believe Who You’re Talking To

Social engineering is a common psychological technique to manipulate a user into providing personal or financial information. When you are online never assume or believe who you are talking to.