As more people become active on the internet and spend more time on it doing different activities, the risks you face increase. You need to take steps to improve your safety while online and protect yourself from cyber crimes, and the following are some of the ways in which you can do that.
Know the Different Scams in Existence
The first way in which you can stay safe from online crimes is to be aware of the different ones you may encounter. This way, there will be a lower chance that you may fall victim to them as you know what they are before you’re presented with them. Since the COVID-19 crisis started, the FBI shares that cyber crimes in the United States have gone up by a whopping 300%. It’s, therefore, more important than ever to keep yourself protected from potential scams and crimes online. Take time to read up on the different methods cybercriminals are trying to get to people online and share them with your family, and you will be more secure.
Invest in Good Anti-Virus Software
Another must-do in this age is to have good quality anti-virus software on your devices. The amount it will cost you to get one will be a lot lower than what you could potentially lose if your system were to get hacked by criminals online. Therefore, shop around for one and always make sure that it’s up-to-date and functioning as it should, so you can be sure of your safety while online. You should also try to stay away from public wi-fi as this presents another way for potential criminals to get into your devices where they can wreak havoc.
Always Use Strong Passwords
As far as passwords go, you need to ensure that you always come up with a strong one that’s hard to guess. This means that you should steer clear of obvious prompts such as dates and names that are significant to you, places you live or have lived, and other things that may be easy to get. With researchers believing that data breaches exposed more than four billion records in the first half of 2019 alone, it’s important to ensure your passwords are always strong enough to be secure. If you’re informed of a potential data breach, it’s important to change your passwords immediately as well as any other compromised data for your continued safety.
Always Use Up-to-Date Software
The software on your devices should also be kept up-to-date at all times. This is especially important for operating systems on your devices and internet security software. Criminals in cyberspace will often try to take advantage of known flaws and issues with these two major software classes. This is why you should ensure that you’ve installed the latest security updates as this will have patches for these errors. You will become less likely to become a victim of cybercrime.
Avoid Browsing Unsafe Websites
Finally, it’s important to avoid browsing websites that don’t seem safe. You can tell whether a website is secure by checking the tab with the website’s address for most browsers, where you will see an icon implying security, a closed padlock in the case of Google Chrome. With more than 200 factors being used to determine a website’s search engine ranking and security being one of them, this is a helpful note to make. If you happen to land on a suspicious website by clicking on a pop-up, don’t click on anything else inside it, but close the window right away.
When you put these tips into practice, you will improve your safety from cybercrimes. Make sure that your family is also well-informed on these tips so that there’s no weak link through which a criminal can find their way into your home’s devices.
