5 Effective Ways to Protect Yourself Against Cyberattacks – 2024 Guide
While the internet can be a fun place where you can explore lots of new things, it can also be a place of absolute horror where you can face losses that you would have never expected. Such horrors include cyberattacks as well and if you are not careful enough, you might even fall prey to such attacks. However, using certain internet providers such as WOW! Internet keep you safe by a lot through the strict security that is embedded into their system.
Coming back to cyberattacks, there are quite some ways through which you can make sure that you keep yourself safe while you are using the internet. All you need is a bit of vigilance and responsibility so that you can make sure that you are protected. Here are some ways you can make sure that you are safe while you are using the internet:
1. The First Thing to do is to be Sure
The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that you are already not involved in a data breach. You can find websites online that can help you figure out if your accounts or data have been breached online. All you need to do is to head to these sites and check for a breach. If it suggests that you have been subjected to a data breach, make sure that you change the passwords for the accounts that the website may be unsure about.
This way you can prevent further breaches of your data and if you have already been subjected to one, by changing your password you can make yourself even more secure and can prevent further breaches too.
2. Be Sure to Keep an Eye out for anything that may be Suspicious
People usually send in links through emails that might look legitimate but once you open them, they end up giving attackers access to your essential information. You may install software such as McAfee which can tell you beforehand if a link is safe to open or if it is suspicious. You may even use your own observation to see whether or not a link is legitimate or not.
Similarly, hackers can send you malicious links through attachments and downloads as well, so be sure that you don’t download everything that you find on the internet and that you don’t open suspicious attachments with emails. Once you are sure that the link is safe, you can then proceed to open it. You might remember there was a time when people used to send you emails saying they needed help or that you had just won the lottery, those are some prime examples of spam and fraud, the kind of emails that you should never open.
3. Use Online Banking as Safely as you can
There have been multiple cyber attacks that have involved online banks and people have lost huge amounts of money in these scams. Some of these attacks make use of malware and that is exactly what you need to keep yourself safe against. Since malware is a type of code, it is capable of extracting essential information from your bank account. The first thing that you can do is to make sure that you change your PIN code regularly.
At the same time, also make sure that your computer is as safe as possible. You need to be the only one who has access to your computer otherwise someone else could tap into your account. Try to use a credit card more than you use a debit card because credit cards are known to be a lot safer than debit cards. Don’t access your online banking on a public WiFi connection and make sure that you keep an eye on the amount accumulated in your bank account. Let your bank know if you experience anything that might be suspicious to you.
There are also certain banks that allow you to deactivate your card while you are not using it, you can use that feature to make sure that your account is secure and so that no one attempts to use your card or your account.
4. Make Sure that all your Software is Kept Up to Date
If you don’t update your software in time, it would leave your devices vulnerable to attacks since the security patch isn’t up to date. Since cybercriminals have an idea as to how coding works, they can exploit the weakness of your security and can easily attack your system. Once you update your phone, your patch is updated too and that helps keep your devices even more secure, so make sure to have your devices up to date at all times. Updates also make sure that your devices run as smoothly as possible and it fixes any glitches or bugs that your device might be facing, making it a lot more reliable.
5. Your Passwords need to be Strong Enough
It is essential that you keep passwords that are nearly impossible to guess. This is because people usually use passwords that are easy to guess such as birthdays and that results in a breach of their data. Make sure you use an alphanumeric password and use symbols as well, making the password as strong as it could possibly be.
Also remember to not keep the same password for multiple platforms. If someone figures out your password and tries using it on other platforms, it is very likely that you could be hacked in multiple places. This could lead to a greater breach of your data and the consequences could be severe. This is why it is important that you keep a unique password for everything that you use.
Wrapping Up
Using the internet is a bigger responsibility than you think it would be. You need to be responsible for your own protection and need to be observant enough to know when something might be going wrong. Just be sure to keep all these points in mind and you will protect yourself as much as you can.
