If you think that it’s only organizations and companies that hackers target, then, think again.
- What does an organization run on? Well, it’s the information/money of their customers – that’s you. So, if a company gets hacked, it means your information is being put at risk.
- The kind of identity theft that is happening isn’t limited to only big organizations anymore. Hackers use spear phishing nowadays. If they’re targeting you, they’re going to have such crisp and accurate information about you that the emails they will send will look extremely credible.
- Clicking on malicious links via a credible looking email will release the malware in your system. The hackers will then either lock you out, or steal your login credentials and your card details, or both.
And the worst is, organizations have an entire fleet of cybersecurity experts working for them if they suffer from security breaches to limit the damage, but you, as an individual, do not have that privilege.
Hoping that you’ve gotten a reality check, we would like to take you through certain cybersecurity practices that you should adopt in order to keep out of the radar of hackers as much as possible.
- Be Aware
If you come across the news that a website you had an account on was hacked, change your login details immediately.
- Password Protect Everything
Not just your social media accounts, not just your computer and laptop, but even the router at home should be password protected.
Here’s what the password practice should be like.
- Don’t try using one single password for all accounts/devices.
- Don’t use foolish passwords like your name or your dog’s name as your password. That’s the first thing that hackers will try.
- Use words that have no emotional connection in your life. The random, the better.
- Complicate random words by mixing them with uppercase letters, symbols, numbers, and lowercase letters.
- Don’t limit the length to 8 characters. Try going beyond 12 characters. Hackers usually try breaching systems with smaller passwords. So, having a longer password would mean extra protection.
- Debugging Will See You Home Safely
Your operating system, your google documents and even the cloud you use for backup, your firewall and antivirus, and any and everything on your computer is a software. So, whenever an update is released, install it the minute it pops up. Why?
- Software developers keep monitoring their software. They keep checking the code and when they find a bug, they remove it and release a new version for customers.
And for the software that does not show notifications, check for updates manually.
On a closing note, your security on the internet is your responsibility. Take it seriously if you want hackers to not steal your data.