Cybercrime is big business these days, and hackers are getting more and more sophisticated all the time. While cybersecurity is a major concern for all businesses these days, it’s not something anyone can really afford to neglect. Every time you connect to the internet, you’re vulnerable to cybercrime, with hackers now able to steal your credit card information, tax records, or even disable your home computer altogether. A little re-cap never hurts, so here’s how to stay safe online.
Keep on Reading
From Max Pixel
The first and most simple tip we can offer is to keep on reading, and learning about the various cybersecurity threats that we’re living with these days. While certain scams and threats have stayed pretty universal over the years, cybercrime never sits still. As you read this, hackers all over the world are developing new software and techniques to get around even the toughest of defenses. You don’t have to be an expert, but making a habit of checking sites like Secure Thoughts and the blogs of major security providers will keep you up-to-date on the way modern threats are heading, and anything you should be doing to keep your personal devices secure. Find a few blogs and journals with a style you can understand, and start filling your bookmarks bar!
Shop Safe
From Flickr
Like pretty much everyone these days, you probably do a lot of your shopping through online platforms. While sites like Amazon certainly have a lot to offer, you’re going to branch out every now and then to get a wider selection of products. When you’re buying from any online store that you’ve never used before, you need to make sure that the site maintains decent standards of cybersecurity. When you come to the checkout screen, this can be done fairly simply, by looking at your address bar and ensuring that the URL begins with HTTPs. You can also look for a little locked padlock symbol that appears in the bottom right corner of the checkout page. There may also be a statement added in by the company, covering the security measures that have been taken, and citing the cybersecurity vendor in question.
Keep an Eye Out for Phishing Scams
From Wikimedia
As you’re probably already aware, phishing scams make use of fraudulent emails and web pages, masquerading as the materials of a legitimate business, to lure people into giving away their private account and login information. Recently, one of these scams has been sweeping Google Docs, one of the world’s most popular cloud storage services. Whenever you receive an email from a business or find yourself on a page that’s asking for login information, go out of your way to determine whether the source is actually legitimate or not. If you were expecting the email, but something doesn’t seem right, don’t click on any links. Instead, open another tab, visit the site directly, and do whatever actions you have to do. It may be worth contacting the company in question, voicing your concern, and forwarding the suspicious email so they can crack down on the scam.
