The activity on the internet keeps ballooning each year. From music to computer parts, from books to even the groceries, online shopping has never been this widely used before. The past decade has also the growth in the flow of money online, with Bitcoin channels and PayPal is the most popular ways to pay.
With this increase in online activity, personal data is more vulnerable to exploits than before. With just one click, a hacker can do damages to you and your personal data, especially your banking information. Computer security has never been important than this generation. Here five things you can do to always make sure that your computer is not compromised by hackers.
5. Apply for Security Services for home and businesses
Applying for IT security services is not common for household computers.IT Solutions like Throttlenet.com are far more common on the enterprise level networks because of how important data is in the corporate world. However, there are also good reasons why one should acquire IT services and one of these is if your home PC is connected to your work PC. Someone might use your home PC as a backdoor to your work network. Using IT solutions improves PC security on a large scale. Remember to make your home PC secured to prevent complications.
4. Always check the browser URL when browsing
This habit might not be easy to grasp at first, but it will save you a million times from malicious URLs that are lurking on the Internet to steal your data. When surfing a site asking for your critical data, make sure to look into the URL. If the site does not have the “lock” sign and is not labeled as “secure”, you must rethink before inserting your credit card information. If the site is something like x3ihae3.com or a link with random numbers and letters, you must rethink before making the purchase.
There are also secured sites that are taking your information behind the hood. Malicious sites often copy the aesthetics and website design of the real thing to confuse the users. For example, there are malicious sites that look and feels like the Facebook login page, but when you check the URL, it shows facebooks.com or facebook.tk. Tricks like these are the reason why you should check your URL before typing your credentials
3. Use a firewall
Just by using a firewall, you can save a lot of time avoiding exploitations. Firewalls can significantly reduce your chances of getting victimized by hackers because these apps that run in the background prevents you or the hacker to allow malicious codes and software. There are also times when your own firewall blocks malicious computers even before you notice that you’re being attacked. Windows, Mac, and Linux users all have firewalls available and packaged. Switch the firewall app before searching the Internet for added protection.
2. Update your apps and operating system
Windows 10 updates might be the most annoying thing in the world (especially if you’re a tech guy that installs windows from time to time). However, keeping your apps and operating system updated keeps your PC safer and more stable.
For Windows users, the Windows Update will take care of the download and installation of the updates. For MacOS users, the Software Update will do the task to keep you updated. For Linux users, you can either go to the Update Manager (depending on your distro) or make the update from your good old terminal.
1. Don’t rely too much on anti-virus software
This does not mean that anti-virus and anti-malware software is not needed. The first defense against internet malware and attacks must be the person using the computer. Just by avoiding malicious sites, avoiding opening malicious files and emails, and avoiding installing software from unknown sources can save your precious files from being encrypted, stolen, or destroyed.
Another reason is that anti-virus and anti-malware software can only do what they can do when it comes to security. They cannot fight against attacks and malicious codes when those codes are not in their databases. Although the fixes are quite fast, there is still a possibility that you might be one of the victims before the fix is made. The best anti-virus is the user himself. Keep vigilant and when it doubt about a site, it is better to take your money and run.
