6 Simple Measures to Observe to Stay Safe and Secure Online

Hacks, scams, malware and other related threats have made the Internet feel like a dangerous place to go these days. Lately we have had computers, mobile phones and other internet-enabled devices attacked, and these have opened us to greater risks than we have known.

Going online is not hopeless, with small stay safe measures that could be taken to reduce our exposure and vulnerability to the threats.

Here’s What to Do!

Use Strong Passwords. The starting point is always to create strong, unique passwords for all critical accounts. As often as possible, try using different passwords for different accounts because a breach could leave all your accounts compromised. You can use a password manager to help store and create your unique passwords.

Also, check if your online accounts have multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication requires multiple pieces of information to verify your identity before access.

Use a Firewall. Consider using a firewall on your devices. A firewall is an electronic barrier that prevents unauthorized access to your devices. It ensures that all devices connected to your network is secured and this reduces their vulnerabilities.

Click Smartly. We often expose ourselves by carelessly clicking everything clickable on the internet. Most threats we are exposed to are based on phishing or social engineering. A situation you are baited into giving out personal or sensitive information. All of us receive spam emails, see click baits, online quizzes and other phony offerings that entice to click on harmful links or give personal, we need to be careful of these offers.

Share Responsibly. Opportunities abound in our current world and we always encouraged to share the opportunities to create a better world. But, we need to share responsibly or be selective while sharing, especially personal information as these could be used to impersonate you, or used to guess and expose your online account information.

Surf and Shop Securely. While shopping online and visiting websites for financial or other sensitive transactions, always make sure that the website’s address starts with “https” instead of ordinary “http”, and that a padlock icon is visible in the URL field. These offer increased assurances, as they indicate the website is secured and encrypt your data, thus reducing your vulnerability to threats. Another thing to watch is websites with misspellings or bad grammar, as they are often copycatting the original websites.

Stay updated. Update all your software so that the latest security patches could be applied. You can turn on your automatic updates so you don’t have to keep check manually, also enable your security software to regularly scan your devices.

Much could be done by individuals to ensure their safety by following the measures above and others like being watchful of the latest scams, staying informed of threats around, ensuring backup of data on a regular basis in case anything goes wrong. Be responsible, stay safe, stay connected.