Five Ways To Protect Your Personal Information Online
The internet has made our lives easier in so many ways over the years. Using the World Wide Web, we can get access to unprecedented amounts of information in just seconds and access all sorts of entertaining, engaging, and useful content.
However, the phenomenon has also opened us up to new dangers, as various malicious individuals scour the net looking for easy targets.
Some of the biggest threats we face online include the risk of identity and money theft. We use our personal information to sign up with almost any website out there, but the risk becomes even greater when we use our banking information online. For example, when using online casinos operating in the Philippines, users are often asked to share their banking info. While the sites themselves may be safe, there are potential threats from the outside to consider.
We take a look at the top five ways you can protect your personal and banking info while using the internet and keep yourself safe while enjoying all the perks of the online world.
1. Careful What You Click
One of the main ways that hackers access private data of individual users is by using a method known as phishing. The hacker will send you an email or another type of message with a link or an attachment in it. Accessing the link or downloading the attachment will download some type of malicious software onto your device, without you knowing.
The best way to protect yourself against this kind of intrusion is to never click on links or even open emails from unknown senders. Promotional emails will be sent from email addresses that will clearly show the website they belong to, but if you have not signed up for offers from one company, you should probably just ignore their emails just the same.
2. Make Strong Passwords
When using the internet, you will need to create passwords to protect your various accounts, whether you are just using email or social networks or accessing your banking accounts. In either case, using a strong password will prevent potential hacking attempts into that account.
More and more sites these days require users to use passwords with capital letters, numbers, and special symbols, but some will still let you use an extremely simple password. Using simple passwords is an invitation to hackers, so we recommend using more complicated ones and never using the same password for your sensitive accounts and less important ones.
3. Enable Two-Step Authentication
As the internet is becoming more sophisticated, numerous companies are giving users an opportunity to further protect their accounts by using the two-step authentication process. This process makes it harder or nearly impossible for hackers to access your information as the password alone is not alone.
The two-step authentication requires that you choose a phone number along with your password. Once you enter the password, you will be sent an access code via SMS to that phone number. Only once you have entered that access code will you get logged in, adding a physical element of security to the mix, as you need to actually have access to the phone in question to get access to your accounts.
4. Install Antivirus Software
In this day and age, antivirus software is not as effective as it once was, or as necessary. The internet is a lot safer today than it used to be some years ago and the chances of your device getting infected by random viruses are quite low. This is especially the case if you only visit sites you trust.
However, if you are surfing the web, it is still always a good idea to have some protection in terms of antivirus software. For private users, getting a simple license from one of the major antivirus providers should be enough to protect against most threats.
5. Only Visit Trusted Websites
One of the most important things you can do while surfing the internet is to pick and choose which websites you access. There are millions of websites out there today and many of them are either malicious or simply not safe.
For starters, you will want to always use websites whose address starts with https instead of http. This signifies that the site is secure and uses modern security measures like the SSL certificates to protect and encrypt any private data that you share on it. Using big name sites for everything you can will ensure that you are never in doubt in regard to the website’s safety.
There you have it! These are just five basic ways that you and your loved ones can protect your personal information while surfing the internet and remain safe from evil-doers online. I'm sure you have already seen or read about these steps before -- but hey, it's always good to be reminded, right?
However, the phenomenon has also opened us up to new dangers, as various malicious individuals scour the net looking for easy targets.
Some of the biggest threats we face online include the risk of identity and money theft. We use our personal information to sign up with almost any website out there, but the risk becomes even greater when we use our banking information online. For example, when using online casinos operating in the Philippines, users are often asked to share their banking info. While the sites themselves may be safe, there are potential threats from the outside to consider.
We take a look at the top five ways you can protect your personal and banking info while using the internet and keep yourself safe while enjoying all the perks of the online world.
1. Careful What You Click
One of the main ways that hackers access private data of individual users is by using a method known as phishing. The hacker will send you an email or another type of message with a link or an attachment in it. Accessing the link or downloading the attachment will download some type of malicious software onto your device, without you knowing.
The best way to protect yourself against this kind of intrusion is to never click on links or even open emails from unknown senders. Promotional emails will be sent from email addresses that will clearly show the website they belong to, but if you have not signed up for offers from one company, you should probably just ignore their emails just the same.
2. Make Strong Passwords
When using the internet, you will need to create passwords to protect your various accounts, whether you are just using email or social networks or accessing your banking accounts. In either case, using a strong password will prevent potential hacking attempts into that account.
More and more sites these days require users to use passwords with capital letters, numbers, and special symbols, but some will still let you use an extremely simple password. Using simple passwords is an invitation to hackers, so we recommend using more complicated ones and never using the same password for your sensitive accounts and less important ones.
3. Enable Two-Step Authentication
As the internet is becoming more sophisticated, numerous companies are giving users an opportunity to further protect their accounts by using the two-step authentication process. This process makes it harder or nearly impossible for hackers to access your information as the password alone is not alone.
The two-step authentication requires that you choose a phone number along with your password. Once you enter the password, you will be sent an access code via SMS to that phone number. Only once you have entered that access code will you get logged in, adding a physical element of security to the mix, as you need to actually have access to the phone in question to get access to your accounts.
4. Install Antivirus Software
In this day and age, antivirus software is not as effective as it once was, or as necessary. The internet is a lot safer today than it used to be some years ago and the chances of your device getting infected by random viruses are quite low. This is especially the case if you only visit sites you trust.
However, if you are surfing the web, it is still always a good idea to have some protection in terms of antivirus software. For private users, getting a simple license from one of the major antivirus providers should be enough to protect against most threats.
5. Only Visit Trusted Websites
One of the most important things you can do while surfing the internet is to pick and choose which websites you access. There are millions of websites out there today and many of them are either malicious or simply not safe.
For starters, you will want to always use websites whose address starts with https instead of http. This signifies that the site is secure and uses modern security measures like the SSL certificates to protect and encrypt any private data that you share on it. Using big name sites for everything you can will ensure that you are never in doubt in regard to the website’s safety.
There you have it! These are just five basic ways that you and your loved ones can protect your personal information while surfing the internet and remain safe from evil-doers online. I'm sure you have already seen or read about these steps before -- but hey, it's always good to be reminded, right?
.jpg)
No comments:
Let me know your thoughts on this TechPinas article.