Life hacks to stay safe online

Life hacks to stay safe online

 

With the Internet impacting all aspects of our daily lives, our smart devices always at hand, we have unwittingly become major players in the cyber world. That said, personal data surveys over the last 12 months dramatically reveal that we are compromising ourselves 24/7 through our failure to adhere to even the simplest of rules for online protection. Even the most IT savvy millennials fail to take precautions whilst virtually living their lives online. Our desire to be constantly online combined with our laissez faire attitude to security has turned us into prime targets for cyber crime. Conducting our cyber lives, we easily forget and probably ignore the dangers our careless online behaviour can cause.

Here are a few fundamental personal IT life hacks which will help you to remain safe online:

• Be mindful of your passwords, as they are the keys to your personal life:
  1. Try not to reuse the same passwords for everything;
  2. Use a combination of Upper and Lower case and numbers;
  3. Don’t share your passwords online or in the real world;
  4. Change your passwords regularly.

• Use security monitoring devices on your phone or tablet. Check regularly if your data was accessed by third parties without your consent. For example, Android users can use one of the application analysis sites to see exactly what permissions an app has.
• Use a secure backup solution to protect your files from ransomware, and back up regularly.
• Don’t ignore prompts to update an OS or important app.
• Check your financial accounts regularly for unusual activity and report any suspicious movements.
• Remember to unsubscribe from services you no longer use because some companies resell old customers’ data. It is also an easy way to clear a lot of space. All promotions have an option to unsubscribe, meaning you can mass delete quickly.
• Be cautious when connecting to public wi-fi. Speak to an employee of the hotel / café etc. to confirm the network you want to connect to is legitimate and if in any doubt then don’t use it.

 

Enjoy the connected world in 2016 without compromising your personal security.

 

-Written by Mayya H.