With consistent and never ending improvement in technology, there’s a rise in cybercrime as well! It’s high time all of us pay attention to this matter and safeguard ourselves. There are many kinds of cyber crimes; identity theft, phishing scams, credit card fraud and much more! As hackers and cybercriminals come up with more and more ways to rob you off of your personal data and information, you need to take some serious steps to ensure your security as you browse online. While these frauds take place almost every day and everywhere, here are we to help you protect yourself from cyber criminals with 6 simple steps!
6. Create Strong Passwords
It’s always best to create strong and secure passwords in order to ward off the hackers and cybercriminals from getting your personal information. If you don’t make hard-to-crack passwords, then it will become a piece of cake for the hackers to crack your password and steal your information. Have a look at the following tips to make a secure password.
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Always create a password using a combination of lower and upper case letters along with numbers and symbols.
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Use a mid length password, ideally between 8-12 characters.
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Create separate passwords for different accounts.
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Add additional email id associated with your account for backup purpose.
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Make extra strong passwords for your bank accounts and other such accounts.
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Always take backup of your passwords, but in a protected place with encryption.
5. Update Your Devices With Antivirus & Antimalware
Cybercriminals create viruses and malwares in order to break into your system and steal your personal data. This is why internet is full of these kind of threats, and if you detect your system to be infected, then through the malware and other viruses, cybercriminals can easily steal your information. To make sure your computer isn’t infected with keyloggers, virus, worms, Trojan horses and other kinds of malware, its recommended to install an effective antivirus and antimalware in your system and update them timely.
4. Secure your Social Networking Accounts
There are many social networking websites, who rely on using your personal information. Websites like Facebook give option to users so that they could share their personal information on their accounts. Its best not to share any of your personal information on any websites, and in case if you have already posted sensitive information such as email, phone number, address etc, then remove them asap! Also check whether people in your friend list are the people you really trust; don’t be friends with strangers!
3. Beware Of Social Engineering/Manipulation
Its pretty common for people to befriend strangers on social networking websites, and since you never know the person you’ve been talking to, might be a pro cyber criminal. Even they are humans, and this is how they can use their human traits and manipulate you into getting your personal and sensitive data through chatting, emails, calls etc. What these criminals look for is bank details, passwords and any other information that will help them get through to get your data! Always make sure you don’t put up your information on any suspicious website, don’t click any pop ads, and don’t respond back to mails which look like spam.
2. Protect Your Data On Smartphone
Smartphones are powerful and capable enough to be used instead of a PC or laptop, thanks to the evolved technology that lets us do much more than just calling and texting! But with this advancement, we need to make sure that while we use smartphones to simplify our tasks, we should be able to secure our personal information over them. Go through the following tips in order to protect your data on smartphone:
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Install antivirus and antimalware in your system, make sure your operating system is updated always.
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Create a secure password on your smartphone.
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Don’t download apps from uncertain and suspicious sellers!
1. Use A VPN Software
If you want to ensure that your information and internet browsing session is fully protected everywhere, then make sure you connect with internet using a VPN service. Especially while using internet at public WiFi hotspots such as hotels, airports and shops etc, you become much more vulnerable and insecure.
As for the hackers, its quite easy to get your passwords, username, bank details and other kinds of personal information. But when one uses a VPN software, it heightens your security by encoding all the data that flows to and from your device. So when the internet traffic gets encrypted, you get all round safety!