According to Exploding Topics, one in three Americans has been a victim of identity theft, which is saying a lot when you consider the sheer size of the U.S. population. You will be doing yourself a great disservice if you tell yourself it cannot happen to you, especially when you consider over $400 million has already been lost to scams in 2023. Consequently, knowing how to keep yourself safe on the internet becomes crucial to avoid being just another statistic.
Every hack happens in one of two ways: you hack the person (social engineering) or their device. This translates to a need to protect yourself and your device from online hacks, and you can do that in the following ways.
Stay security conscious
A large part of being safe online is staying security conscious when using the internet. The following are some ways to keep yourself from being hacked or, worst case scenario, detect a hack.
Review privacy settings and policies
Most of us are guilty of this; we accept privacy policies without reading the fine print. If you want a safer online experience, this needs to change. The information we willingly share often finds its way to marketers who could use it for targeted ads. The worst-case scenario is that it becomes a cheat sheet for someone trying to hack your account or system.
The solution is to take advantage of the privacy settings available on most applications that manage your data. It also becomes important to take some time to review privacy policies before clicking “accept.”
Stay anonymous
One of the most important tips is to stay anonymous. You want to leave as little of a footprint when browsing the internet as possible. It starts with using operating systems like Tails OS or Whonix, among others, that are privacy-focused. If you can not change your OS, you can get similar results using privacy-focused browsers like TOR and Brave, to name a few.
Staying anonymous does not stop there. You want to implement cryptocurrency as your payment method of choice. This is because it does not require you to share your personal and financial information before you can purchase goods or services online. Crypto is readily accepted by many ecommerce sites, trending anonymous casinos and even many major brands, and it’s a great way to keep your data safe.
Stop clicking links
You don’t always need to know where that link leads; it might lead you somewhere you cannot return. It is nearly effortless to embed links on social media, random internet pages or your mail inbox. This is why scrutinizing the message or the link is important before mindlessly clicking.
Do you remember subscribing to a baking newsletter? So why are you receiving messages that make it seem like you did? It can be a weird message about a package from Amazon or a PayPal refund; whatever it is, if it does not make sense, it might be a desperate attempt at email spoofing.
Confirm the websites
Confirming the links before you click is not enough. You want to make a conscious effort to confirm if the website you are on is secure. Check this article’s URL, which starts with “HTTPS.” This is an acronym for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. When the URL has this, it means that the interaction between your browser and the website is encrypted and, as a result, secure.
But if the URL starts with only “HTTP,” it means your interaction is not encrypted, not secure and can be intercepted by no-do-gooders.
Close unused accounts
It is one thing to stop using your social media apps and a completely different thing to delete the accounts. If you are convinced you no longer have use for any application or account, it is in your best interest to have them permanently removed. Leaving them active gives would-be-hackers low-hanging fruits to go after in the hopes that something sticks.
Monitor bank statements
The above are ways to prevent a hack, but it is also equally important to be able to tell if you have been hacked and checking your bank statement is as good as any place to start. You want to scrutinize the statement for unusual payments. They do not need to be sizable payments; they could be small payments that are recurring. Chances are they would be masked as payment for a service, and you want to check with your bank to see when it was initiated and narrow down the root cause.
The Right Password Habit
While choosing the right passwords falls under protecting your device, it is such an important part of online security that it earns itself its header. Your mobile phone, tablet, iPad or computer, whatever the gadget, is very likely protected by a password. And that choice of password can single-handedly jeopardize your online safety if not done right, which is why it is important to become familiar with some password habits.
Choose Strong Passwords
You would think everyone understands this point until you discover that people still use the two most common passwords, “123456” and “admin”, when setting up their device security. Choosing a strong password is an intentional process that starts with eliminating the obvious guesses like your first, last, partner’s and pet’s names, and you also want to avoid using any birthdays.
A strong password should have at least 12 characters or much more if you want it that much safer. The password should be alphanumeric and should feature special characters. You want to avoid numbers or letters of the alphabet in sequence, for example, “ABCD.” One great tip is to think of two absolutely random words, or you could trust a reliable password generator.
Don’t Repeat Passwords
Passwords, no matter how long, are not impenetrable. 10-character passwords would take an hour to crack, and 12-character passwords could take a year. But one thing is certain: if anyone has the time to spare, any password can and will be cracked.
So, the last thing you want to do is make the hacker’s job easier by giving them only one password to crack. If the one password accesses all your emails, social media accounts and every other account, it is pretty much game over before it starts.
The solution is to avoid repeating passwords and have your passwords as unique as possible. This way, you can quickly control a breach before it becomes a DEFCON 1 situation.
Don’t share your passwords
Under no circumstances should you have to share your password with anyone on the internet. As a rule of thumb, it is best to believe that anyone who asks you to share your password is being malicious and up to no good. Even when chatting with a service agent, they are not required to ask for your login information. Anytime you are in doubt, ensure you only seek help through the appropriate channels.
Don’t save your passwords on your computer
If people other than yourself, even a partner, can access your computer, you will need a different hiding spot for all your passwords. If you have run out of alternatives, you can check out any good password manager options to keep your passwords secure.
Secure your devices
The last piece of the online security jigsaw puzzle is securing your device. All the efforts put in would be futile if you cannot. The following are some of the ways you can secure your devices:
Software updates
Devices these days would notify you when there’s an update, and some would automatically install the update. This is good practice, as having your device with the most recent software update means it would offer the most protection from any loopholes that may have been present in the previous software. It is important to always check to see if your device has its software updated regularly.
Multi-factor authentication
Like it was pointed out earlier, passwords just are not good enough. Anyone with the will and means can crack a password. This is why it is crucial to use multi-factor authentication. Just past the password, you would be required to enter a hardware token, provide a code sent to mail, answer a secret question or even provide biometrics.
Careful with Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is everywhere, and that is not always a good thing. Most outlets would advertise free Wi-Fi to attract customers, but hackers can piggyback on this free ride to access devices with very little pushback.
It is best you refrain from using public Wi-Fi entirely, but if you cannot help it, say you are in a foreign country and can’t quickly set up your mobile data, you should ensure you use a VPN service. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can help encrypt your data and serve as a go-between between your device and the server to make it difficult to intercept your information.
Backup your data
One common scam is the use of ransomware on a device to look the information away from the user and request that they pay some amount of money before access is restored. You can go around this by regularly creating offline backups of your device so you can do a hard reset and restore your information.
Voila! Normalcy restored.
Good Antivirus
Lastly, there’s only as much that you can do yourself. Whenever you take time off, you need quality antivirus software that can keep up the good work round the clock. It helps you detect and remove malicious software on your device.
