“Remember when we used to say “brb” all the time when we were online? We don’t say it anymore. We no longer leave. We live here now”
This sarcastic meme says it all; we do have a whole life online. We go shopping, holding meetings, playing sports, working out, getting jobs, and even hosting parties with one difference that this place is not the small village or town you live in where you know everyone, it is the place where the whole world is your neighborhood!!
This parallel life we have and enjoy in the digital world needs also to be as safe and secure as in real life. Who would let their doors open for anyone? Who would not look through the magic eye before let anyone in? Who would not keep their precious things in a very airtight safe?
Surprisingly, people do these careless practices, but only in the virtual life we take lightly. The majority unfortunately underestimate the real danger of not being digitally secured, and the great harms that might end personal or career lives-even if the stakes aren’t quite so high.
Flaws in software and flaws in human behavior are two big reasons why people get hacked. While there’s not much you can do about coding vulnerabilities, you can change your own behavior and bad habits. You’re better off taking some steps to mitigate the risks of getting hacked in the first place. Here’s what you can do to protect yourself.
Create Strong Passwords
Let’s talk about passwords. It’s 2022. You shouldn’t be using “password” or “12345” for any of your passwords—even if it’s a throwaway account.
All the passwords you use for your online accounts should be strong and unique. What this really means is they should be long, include a mixture of different character types (Uppers and Lower cases Letters, Numbers, Special Characters,). I bet most of the websites recently prompt the user to take that in consideration when creating an account on their platforms.
Do not use the same password across multiple websites. Your Twitter password shouldn’t be the same as your online banking one; your home Wi-Fi network shouldn’t use the same credentials as your Amazon account. Eventually, change your passwords frequently which is quite a problem for the majority. However, here is the good news, you can use a Password Manager that create a difficult password for you and store them in case you forget them. According to Wired.com the best password managers out there, we recommend trying out LastPass or KeePass.
Stop saving your Passwords in Browsers
Now, this can seem very convenient to be able to quickly log into any website you typically access. However, on the flip side of this, this is also very convenient for hackers who have unauthorized access to your computer. All they have to do is simply browse to those same websites that you go to and they have instant access to any websites that you have saved your password into. This is especially horrible if you're doing this for logging into your bank or your personal email, or anything that could have sensitive information on it.
So when a website asks you to save your password in your browser? Just say no.
Use Multi-Factor Authentication
Arguably the most effective thing you can do to protect your online accounts is turning on multi-factor, or two-factor, authentication for as many of your accounts as possible. The method uses a secondary piece of information—often a code generated by an app or sent via SMS—alongside a password.
This secondary piece of information helps to prove it really is you trying to log in, as the codes are often accessed on the phone in your pocket. Even if you do have a password that’s easy to guess (we’ll get to that shortly), an attacker is unlikely to get access to an account with multi-factor authentication turned on unless they have your phone.
Update Everything
Every piece of technology you use—from the Facebook app on your phone to the operating system that controls your smart lightbulb—is open to attack. Thankfully, companies are always finding new bugs and fixing them. That’s why it’s crucial you download and update the latest versions of the apps and software you’re using.
Start with your phone. Navigate to your device settings and find out what operating system you’re using, and update it if you’re not on the latest version (iOS 15.3 is the latest for iPhones; Android 12 is the latest from Google). For apps and games, Apple’s iOS 13 and above downloads updates automatically, although these settings can be customized. On Android, auto-updates can also be turned on by visiting settings page in the Google Play Store.
Once you’ve updated your phone, you need to work out what devices to update next. Generally, these should be done in order of potential impact. Any laptops and computers you own should be high up the list, and then work back through other connected devices in your life. Remember: Everything is vulnerable.
Encrypt Everything
Protecting your communications has never been easier. Over the last half-decade, companies handling our personal data—including the messages we send and the files we upload to the cloud —have realized that encryption can help them as well as their customers. Using encrypted services means that what you're sending is better protected against surveillance and won’t be accessible if your device gets lost or stolen.
There are two main end-to-end encrypted messaging services, Signal and WhatsApp. Messages (including photos and videos) plus voice calls and video calls are encrypted by default within both apps. They both also let you use disappearing messages, which remove what you’ve sent after a set period of time. The practice can help keep your chats private, even from those that have access to your devices. Our advice is to use Signal where possible, as it collects less metadata than WhatsApp and isn’t owned by Facebook. But if you can’t get your friends to move to Signal, WhatsApp offers a lot more protection than apps that don’t use end-to-end encryption by default.
For your emails, encrypted provider Proton Mail can protect your messages, and there’s also the option to use burner email accounts for mailing lists and purchases where you don’t want to hand over your personal data.
Beyond your messages, encrypting the files on your devices can help reduce the chances of your data being compromised if you’re hacked or lose your devices. Both iPhone and iOS encrypt your hard drive by default. Just make sure you use a strong password or PIN for your devices. A little more effort is needed to encrypt the hard drive on your laptop or computer. Turn on Apple’s FileVault to encrypt your startup disk, and on Windows you can turn encryption on through the Settings menus or use BitLocker encryption. .
Stope Clicking Everything
Quickly clicking can be your worst enemy. When a new email or text message arrives, and it includes something that can be tapped or clicked, our instincts often lead us to do it straight away. Don’t.
Hackers launch wave after wave of phishing attacks and dumb Google Drive scams.
Anyone can fall for these types of scams. The main thing to do is to think before you click. Scam messages try to trick people into behaving in a way they wouldn’t normally—with, say, pretend instant demands from a boss or messages that say an urgent response is required.
There’s no foolproof way to identify every type of phishing effort or scam—scammers are constantly upping their game. However, there are several services you can use to verify a link. Google Safe Browsing is a good place to start. Type in this URL http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site= followed by the site you want to check, such as google.com or an IP address. It will let you know if it has hosted malware in the past 90 days.
What kind of pizza are you? Which Marvel character are you? How many children are you destined to have? What does your location say about you? If you are an active Facebook user, these kinds of quizzes might have caught your attention.
There’s no denying how compelling these games are. And sincerely, they seldom give you precise enough answers that keep you wanting more. At times you might not be interested, but multiple invites from friends might end up roping you in.
A major concern with taking online quizzes is unwittingly giving out sensitive information to unknown individuals not affiliated with Facebook.
These quizzes or personality test games usually request access to not just your profile, but everyone on your friends list who has played the game. Here is how it works even for some popular ones like WOW and OMG.
At the point of playing, you are notified of what the game will have access to, which when carefully observed, is far more than necessary for a simple online game/quiz.
Wipe Your Digital Footprint
The past can come back to haunt you. The old online accounts you no longer use and the login details that belong to them can be weaponized against you if you don’t do anything about them. Hackers frequently use details from previous data breaches to access the accounts people currently use.
Reducing the amount of information that’s available about your online life can help cut your risk of being hacked. A very simple step is to regularly delete your Google search history, but you can also use privacy-first Google alternatives.
Beyond this, there’s a lot more you can do to reduce your digital footprint. Find the old accounts you no longer use and delete them. It’ll reduce the amount of spam you get and reduce the number of ways hackers can target you. Use Have I Been Pwned? to find your information in old data breaches, use a VPN to boost browsing privacy, and download Tor if you really want to boost your online anonymity.
You might think your data isn’t worth anything. You might think because you're broke, no one cares about your data. You might also think that since you have nothing to hide, there’s no point in protecting your identity or information.
Think about it this way: All those free social media apps you sign up for – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat – aren't free at all. When you sign the Terms and Conditions, you're signing away your right to privacy, which lets the apps build a detailed demographic profile of you.
The companies turn around and sell this information to marketers; that means your information is making these companies millions of dollars. So why wouldn’t hackers want to cash in on that?
References
https://www.wired.com/
https://www.usatoday.com/
https://teamascend.com/
https://techpoint.africa/
