In the ever changing world of cyber crime we need to take measures to counteract and protect ourselves from potential threats. A question frequently asked of us is, "how can I protect myself online?"
There are many different things you can do and by employing a combination of these, (or even all of them!) you can safeguard yourself.
This is our Top 10:
Install Anti-Virus/Malware Software - This might be an obvious one, but there are so many people out there with no protection software installed! We recommend Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Protection and Managed Antivirus
Keep Your Anti-Virus Software Up to Date - Having protection software is the first step; maintaining it is the second.
Run Regularly Scheduled Scans with Your Anti-Virus Software - For most anti-malware or anti-virus softwares, they have the ability to schedule scans to start in the background. Once you have set them up, you can tick this one off.
Keep Your Operating System (OS) Current - It doesn't matter whether you are running Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, or any other OS, keep it up to date. OS developers are always issuing security patches that fix and plug security leaks, just make sure you update them!
Keep Your Applications Up to Date - We're all guilty of ignoring that little red dot on the App Store, but it just takes two minutes to accept the update and keep yourself protected.
Secure Your Network - Keep your WiFi safe by using a strong password (check out my blog for tips), Use WPA or WPA2 encryption. WEP is no longer strong enough as it can be bypassed in minutes by experts.
Think Before You Click - Avoid websites that provide pirated material. To protect your emails do not open an email attachment from somebody that you do not know. It is worth noting that sometimes hackers can pretend to be someone you know via email, so if you weren't expecting an attachment from someone, or their email sounds different to normal - give them a call to check it's a genuine email.
Keep Your Personal Information Safe - Protect yourself with strong passwords, only share personal information with legitimate sources, and make sure you read everything you sign up for.
Don’t Use Open Wi-Fi - Yes, even when you're stuck on the Underground with no music to listen to! If you can access it with no issues, what could a hacker do?
Back Up Your Files - To prevent loss of data, we reccommend you have backups in the place where you work on the files most (e.g. your PC), an external storage device (e.g. an external hard drive), and a final backup completely offsite (check out our Managed Online Backup or our Cloud Network Drive as solutions to this one)
There you have it! Our top tips for keeping safe online - see you next time!