Personal data protection and maintaining privacy on the internet should be one of the prime concerns of both individuals and organizations. There have been increasing reports of data breaches in recent times, and keeping your data secure is becoming harder because of the recent advancements in technology.
Once your personal data has been breached, you are at a much higher risk of identity theft. But don’t worry, as it is quite easy to keep yourself safe by following a few simple security measures on the internet. In this article, you’ll get to know about some of the basic tips and tricks that are essential to keep your privacy and data safe from cybercriminals.
Take a look at these tips that we have curated after extensive research on cybersecurity measures that can keep your data safe.
One of the most common mistakes people make that leads to a data breach is using the same password for all of their accounts. When one of your accounts gets breached, the hacker gets access to all of your other accounts too. This can lead to widespread data leaks and can have serious consequences.
The best way to avoid this problem is to set a different password for all your new and existing accounts and remember them. But if you consider remembering many different passwords to be a problem, then you can always use a password manager.
Use a Virtual Private Network
VPN or Virtual Private Network acts as a bridge that encrypts the data that goes back and forth between the server and your device. This is one of the best ways to keep your data safe from getting breached by hackers. As an added benefit, using a VPN can also spoof your location so that you can access the internet without any geological constraints.
You should also make it a rule to use a VPN when connecting to public Wi-Fi. Without a VPN, your data can be easily accessed by hackers snooping on the data that is transmitted to the router. Using a VPN encrypts the data so that the hacker can only access jumbled bits that are impossible for them to use for malicious intents.
Getting antivirus software should be one of your primary concerns whether you’re an individual or a big organization. Antivirus provides data security protection for your phone or PC. A good antivirus software can track and eliminate existing malicious programs on your device, and prevent new ones from infecting your data.
Also, most popular antivirus software come with their own firewall solutions that can keep you safe while browsing the internet.
Whatever antivirus solutions you may use, an important thing to note is that you should update it regularly. There are new types of malware surfacing on the internet every day, and keeping your antivirus updated is essential in order to avoid these.
Use Multi-Factor Authorization
When logging in to your accounts, having a single layer of security is not enough. Most popular websites provide you with an option for either two-factor or multi-factor authorization when logging in. This implies that you have to enter additional data apart from your password when signing in to your account.
This can be either a personal question, verifying the login from an email or SMS, OTPs, etc. When using multi-factor authorization, even if your passwords get leaked, your data would be safe as the hackers can’t access it without getting through the second layer of security.
New types of malware surface every day on the internet, and these mostly target loopholes in operating systems or software to infect your data. Fortunately, these loopholes are discovered rapidly by the developers and these get patched in the form of updates.
Hence, you should not ignore OS software updates and updates to other third-party applications installed on your device. The list of devices that you need to keep updated includes your phones, computers, and even IoT devices in your homes.
Most popular browsers give you the option to save your sign-in details on the browser, so you don’t have to enter them repeatedly. Using this feature is quite lucrative, but you should be aware that this can lead to your passwords getting leaked in case your browser is compromised by malware attacks.
The best way to avoid this is to use alternatives like password managers that can keep all of your account information stored in a secure place, unlike your browser. There are many different password managers to choose from, and most of them have exceptional levels of security to keep your data safe.
There are several varieties of malware that can infect your device just by a single click on a malicious link. The best way to avoid these kinds of attacks is to glance over the actual address of the webpage in a link. You can identify malicious links by checking if they contain any unnatural syntax, the web protocol they use, and general spelling mistakes.
Also, you should not click on links from random emails that you receive, as this is one of the most common forms of attacks that unsuspecting individuals may face. The links often look like they lead to some useful webpage, but in reality, they can be links to malicious websites waiting to inject your device with malware.
Despite all cybersecurity measures, if your device still gets infected by malware that encrypts your data, the only way to get it back is to restore a previous backup. It is always a good idea to back up your data on either a physical device like an external hard drive or make a cloud backup.
In cases of severe malware attacks, often the best way to remove it completely is to start anew. You need to format your previous data and restore a clean backup after taking the necessary security measures in order to keep your data safe from future attacks.
With just a little attention to your activities on the internet and awareness about malicious attacks, you can keep your data safe in most cases. Data breaches happen mostly due to lack of awareness on the user’s end, and this guide should help you to understand the basic security measures that you can use to browse the internet and store your files without constant worries about malicious attacks.
