Computers are vulnerable to attacks and malware. When pc security has been compromised, hackers can get access to your personal information. Data recovery service may restore information that has been damaged or deleted, however, the threat of data breaches goes beyond losing data.
It is important and a must, therefore, to protect your pc from attacks such as malware and viruses.
Activate Your Firewall
A firewall is your computer’s first line of defense. Firewall monitors and filters incoming information through network traffic and connections to prevent malicious software and hackers from penetrating and accessing your information.
A firewall can be a software that you install, as a part of a hardware, or a combination of both. Computers come with built-in firewall in the operating system. Third-party firewall software are also available; many of these offer free versions or trials. Hardware firewalls incorporated in routers add another layer of protection for devices being connected to the internet.
Keep Your Browsers up to Date
Web browsers are not exempt from bugs and hacker capitalize on these flaws. Often they would use fake websites or infect a legitimate website that if goes through undetected can monitor and steal your information such as passwords and credit card numbers. While most browsers have automatic-updates feature enabled in them, it never hurts to check and make sure that you have the latest patches installed in your computer.
Install Antivirus
Installing an antivirus is another way of protecting your pc and your data from attacks. Antivirus is a software utility that guards your computer and quarantine or remove harmful software or malware such as trojans, worms, adware, and keylogger. that can slow down your computer’s processing speed, access your personal information, and delete files from your computer.
Most antivirus software have automatic-update feature that enables them to protect your pc and data against new viruses. Having an antivirus running alongside your firewall adds security and peace of mind.
Create a Strong Password
Fact, 73 percent of online accounts use duplicated passwords; on the average, there are only six unique passwords used to protect 24 online accounts. That means, a hacker only needs to crack one code to access multiple accounts.
The following are the characteristics of a weak password according to SANS institute:
- Eight characters in length or less.
- Contain personal information such as birth dates and phone numbers
- Contain numeric or alphabetic patterns such as “qwerty.â€
More than ever, a good and strong password is needed for each individual account and its importance should never be overlooked. Whenever possible, enable two-factor authentication to make your password code harder to break.
Be Careful of Phishing Emails
Since it was first developed back in the 70s, email has continuously evolved and been a major part of modern day communication. In fact, over 239 billion emails were sent each day in 2017 alone. It does makes sense that emails have been a constant target of hackers that wants to steal information to unsuspecting victims.
Cyber criminals use phishing emails to lure recipients into giving their personal information such as credit card numbers and account passwords. Some tell-tale signs of phishing email include:
- Grammatical and spelling errors. Legitimate emails, in general, are grammatical and spelling error free.
- Email is not addressed to the recipient. “Dear Customerâ€, definitely sounds suspicious.
- Hover your mouse over to the link. Does the link address looks suspicious? If so, then don’t click.
Keeping you computer protected is an important part of data security. Installing and activating firewall and antivirus helps keep your pc healthy and data secured. Also, no matter what the circumstance or how urgent sounding the subject line is (e.g. “Account has been suspended!â€), don’t ever give your personal information via email.
