Are you trying to make your online presence more secure? Are you looking for the perfect guide to make yourself more secure on the internet? Do you want to know the methods through which you can protect yourself from data theft? Are you looking forward to making your family more secure along with yourself? Are you trying to make your personal information more secure and private than usual? Do you want to learn the ways to make yourself as secure as possible from data thieves?
If yes, then you have opened the right door. What you want to do now is give us a few minutes to explain everything you want to know and by the end of it, you’ll possess the knowledge you’re looking for right now.
Let’s start by exclaiming that we’re all humans and that we all make mistakes. Many people go forward and share their personal information themselves with third parties or to people they clearly have no idea who they are. This is the worst thing you could do if you’re trying to be more private and secure about your personal information. What you need to do here is refrain from sharing any personal information follow the tips and tricks and help yourself get more secure and private in order to ensure that your presence on the internet is protected and no one can access your accounts or no one knows more than they actually need to in order to provide you with the service or the product you’re looking for. On that note, let’s start.
How to be more secure online
44.5% percent of individuals have said that they’ve been threatened by some type of digital attack. The home security that is more probable to being victimized of a burglary. So, we have that nature of physical life is you know important of course, but it’s also important to think about your digital life. But so much of what we have, these things online create all our identities when it comes to social media So let’s take some time and this could be part one of a three-part series of digital safety to help get you up this bead when it comes to digital security. For those who are not familiar with this concept, let’s begin with a definition.
What is digital security? Well, Security is protecting your computer or mobile devices, tablets and other devices from unauthorized access. Digital security is also designed to protect you from misuse. We’re talking about data breaches and things of this nature could potentially sell your personal information to people who are looking for it.
By corporations and governments, there are several ways to circumvent some of the dangers you might run into online, Because of the password managers and identity monitoring services. However, we think the most important thing is just knowledge of what can happen and how you can be victimized. So how can you be attacked? That knowledge will help you put two and two together when people are targeting you specifically, just to give you an idea, when it comes to cyber theft and crime online, over 10% of all people over 16 years old have had their identity stolen at one point or another.
So, let’s begin with maybe the most significant element of a cyber-attack, there are different types of hacking and even different levels of ethics and light comes to hacking. The first definition of hacking is practicing the knowledge of technology to exploit the vulnerabilities in their system and gain access to it.
Types of hackers:
The hacker performs the hack by deciding to access that system and gather data within that system, or they could even get to different devices that are in the same network, basically three different types of hackers. There’re white hat hackers and they are going to be hired by companies to ethical penetration tests and this is going to make sure that there aren’t some obvious vulnerabilities to be exploited. So, they’re working on your behalf.
Then come black hat hackers who are not in favor of your normal white hat hacking, they are out for information, and they gain it through illegal means, they victimize everyone through their skills and steal their personal information by violating their privacy and gain advantage of the system unlawfully. It is advised for you to beware of them and follow the tips to somewhat secure yourself from becoming a victim to their cunningness. in fact, they can take advantage of your own personal gains and goals, getting your identity, figuring something out about that company that makes it feel vulnerable, and a lot of different ways they go about doing it, but that’s what their intent is, and that’s what they’re doing.
And finally, you have gray hat hackers. They are kind of in this gray area, between, not necessarily being hired by the company but also getting into a system to compromise it in some way or another through illegal means, in short, they’re down for anything that benefits them, they majorly don’t care for the rules and go for anything that seems somewhat rewarding.
They might just be curious. Basically, they hack, which is something the company or the victim is not prepared for whatsoever. They don’t know it’s happened to them; the victims are going to have terrible repercussions when these types of hacks happen.
Tips on how to make your online presence more secure
We will now be telling you the different tips and tricks you can pursue to make sure your system is protected and what margins you can make yourself feel more secure and keep your personal identity secure from the risks of data theft, without any further ado let’s begin,
1. Do not reuse passwords:
Do not reuse passwords. It’s a basic and obvious tip that we think everyone is aware of, but please take it seriously and do not ever use the same password for two or multiple services. That is especially relevant with small websites or just, forms that you register on just to download one file or something to that effect, because those websites are very likely to get hacked at so really, your password will basically now be available to any 13 year old teenager who has enough Google skills and can just Google stuff like Password Database 2021.
Trust us, you don’t want to take that risk so please use password manager. We know that it can be tedious and annoying to just go through all your accounts and change the password everywhere. If you grew up with the Internet and didn’t exactly follow the best security practices but trust us here, it’s definitely worth it. You just don’t want to take this risk. We would advise against using cloud-based solutions or even just using a password manager that is built into your OS or your browser such as Chrome password storage or Safari.
Because A password database is a set of very sensitive information that you don’t want to put in the cloud. You want to have full control of it.
So that means you can store them locally. There’s a lot of good and open-source clients on basically every operating system imaginable. So, Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android, iOS, what have you. However, if you have multiple devices which you use to log into your accounts, it can be annoying to basically juggle the key pass file back and forth. So, if you have something like a home server for example, you can basically self-host.
There are many open source password managers and you can basically self-host it on the premises. And yes, that technically means that you will be storing your password database in the cloud, and this cloud will be your own home server in your own house, so at least you have some degree of control over that.
2. Use throwaway email addresses:
The next tip is using throwaway e-mail addresses and alternative emails. The reason is basically if you use one e-mail address to log in everywhere, you will be very easy to identify. For example, let’s say you use one e-mail to log in to any school like online platform, and the same e-mail to log into, any other website of your choice. And if your classmates have Someone can do if they have your e-mail address and you use this e-mail address for basically everything online. So don’t do that if you have an Apple account.
A lot of services now support logging in with Apple and basically Apple gives you an option of hiding your real e-mail address and replacing it with an anonymous, randomly generated e-mail so you can use that. Alternatively, if you’re not a fan of Apple ecosystem, there are many services you can use. You will have the option of creating many different aliases for all of your different e-mail and account needs, and they also provide an option of throwaway accounts.
In this throwaway e-mail address and not receiving anything on it ever again. It’s not free though, but we think it’s worth it considering you know the functionality that we just mentioned. So yeah, and then sometimes you just need to enter an e-mail once and you never want to be contacted by a company ever again. There are also many services that give you a random e-mail address which you can use to receive one or maybe a few emails and then just close the tab and it’s gone. There is no identifying information. You don’t have to supply your personal e-mail.
3. Cleanup your older accounts:
Our next tip is to delete your old accounts. Sometimes people don’t realize how much personally identifiable and sensitive information one can find about someone after just typing their nickname into Google. If you’re curious, just do-it-yourself, type your nickname into Google and you’ll probably see a lot of stuff from your teen’s accounts on gaming websites, forums and stuff and so on and so forth.
So, type your nickname or your full name only if you need to. but for everything else that you can control, just make sure you go over all the accounts, all your old stuff and just delete it. the Type of stuff that you don’t want other people to find. You might be very tempted to use a service which basically goes through your e-mail inbox, and see if there are any services, websites, or newsletters that you can remove.
But we would advise against those services because you practically give them full access to your e-mail inbox, all your messages. That’s just never a good idea because you don’t know what they’re going to do with your messages.
From now you should use a random nickname every time you can. Your nickname can obviously identify you and help detect or find more information about it. So, you should avoid using one nickname. For you know, every service online you can use a password generator. This will basically help you create a random rememberable string of letters that you can use as your nickname and then if you have trouble. And bring all your random nicknames. You can use password manager to put them all in. Very convenient.
4. Don’t give away your real phone number:
Our next tip is don’t give away your real phone number. Your phone number is something that you don’t change very often because it’s a pain and you usually keep A phone number for years to end. And because of that a phone number can easily be used to identify you. In some countries there are illegal services that basically give anyone access to a database which matches your phone number eventually. you can also pay with crypto so bitcoin, Ethereum or anything like that, there are also services that give you a phone number for a short time before removing it, but those numbers are basically one time use you can use them to verify your telegram accounts or your discord account but it’s not going to work for something like WhatsApp. You usually keep a phone number for years on end and because of that a phone number can easily be used to identify you.
So be sure you don’t give your phone number. Instead, we would recommend using a virtual number service. We need to have constant access to our numbers so in case you change your phone or lose it, you can reregister the account on the new phone. Also, if you’re using a virtual number for Telegram, make sure to set a newer password so that you won’t basically give full access to all the messages to anyone who tries to register with the same number. As an alternative to apps that you need number with often, for example WhatsApp or Signal. There are many companies that you can register to have full-time access. They are rather cheap, and some are more expensive than the others while giving you the features you might be looking for, so just roam around and you’ll find the best one out there easily.
5. Do not use SMS for 2FA (2 factor authentication)
Do not use SMS for 2FA because firstly, it will require you to give your phone number and second because SMS messages travel unencrypted and can’t be intercepted by police or a bad actor. And then third, in some countries the bad actor can pretend to be you, called the cell provider and basically request a new SIM card replacement for the same number. It is illegal, but not uncommon. Instead, you should use a two-factor authentication app on your phone, or anything similar. All these apps basically use the same protocol, so you can use them on any website that supports 2 factor authentication for apps. So, for example, Twitter, Google, Discord, PayPal, GitHub and so on. Adding a new server to the application is also very easy, you just use the QR code and voila you’re done. Make sure you save the backup code somewhere safe though.
6. Don’t expect too much from vpns:
Our next tip is to have realistic expectations about what VPN can and cannot do for your privacy. VPNs have legitimate users, but there are some companies out there that claim that their VPN is going to magically improve your privacy online and protect you from hackers and agents and everyone else. Those companies are obviously trying to get more reach. Most sensitive information leaks happen on the side of the website or service that you give your personal information to, not by hacking your personal phone or computer.
If Google, Facebook, or Equifax for that matter, leaves your personal info, A VPN is not going to help you here. Moreover, a VPN can sometimes introduce another attack vector. You’re basically redirecting your whole online traffic to one third party, which might or might not log into your account. If you absolutely must use VPN for location spoofing, Netflix, Roblox, or whatever, just make sure you pay with crypto if you can and don’t use your VPN 24-7 for all your network traffic.
A good solution might be to use a second computer or only using VPN when you need to, or for example using a virtual machine for your VPN browsing. Hiding your IP address from websites that you visit will also not make you magically immune to tracking and personalized ads. All those things are going to change your IP address, and often, there are multiple people in the same household using the same Internet connection with one IP address instead.
What A lot of websites and tracking and ad companies use these days is basically a thing called browser fingerprinting. Basically, every time you use your computer to visit a web page, your browser gives a certain amount of information about your system, and your browser to the webs, The extensions that your browser is using, defaults that you have installed, and so on and so forth. And the more unique this information is, the more identifiable you are online.
7. Compartmentalize:
Our next tip is basically to compartmentalize. Make sure your online personas are separated. Use different e-mail addresses and nicknames for stuff like schoolwork, your personal browsing and shopping. And if possible, also use different browsers or browser profiles. Firefox, for example, makes it very simple with an extension called Container Tabs. Basically, you can set some websites to open in containers which act as separate browser profiles. They can’t read each other as cookies, cache and so on. This is a very useful extension. Now we already said it earlier, but we’re going to say it again.
Use different e-mail addresses for different stuff that you do online. Make sure you have a separate address for work, school, personal stuff, sensitive stuff for companies that you want to hear from, and from companies that you don’t want to hear from. The more the better. An e-mail provider that has support for aliases can help with that. And then finally, there is a lot of stuff that you can do to improve your privacy, but it’s all going to be useless because you have that one friend or family member that doesn’t care about privacy.
Tell your family members to not share any personal information about you:
So, our tip here is to ask your friends and family members to never ever give any personal information about you to anyone online. Who would pretend to be your friend, your ex-schoolmate, your doctor, your lawyer, police officer and so on. Very often the weak link in your privacy is not you, but a friend or family member that is not very privacy conscious.
A bad actor who is interested in your personal information doesn’t have to break encryption on your device. It’s much easier to just create a fake Facebook account and text your grandmother and say something along the lines of, “I’m an ex-classmate of your grandchild (your name). You know, we went to school together, we wanted to meet each other, and we just came to town. But he won’t pick up his phone. We guess he slept through his alarm.
Can you please tell me his current address so we can go and check in on him now? This might be an exaggerated example. But we’re sure you know at least one family member or friend that might fall for this kind of stuff. So yeah, be careful and educate your friends and family.
Two major routes of violating cyber-security and how to protect yourself:
Now you must be wondering about the major ways you can get attacked, what are the ways that hackers pursue to get the information they need. Generally, there are three major routes by which one will engage in hacking. We will also be discussing the things and the red flags that you should look out for to be on the safe side.
1. Social engineering:
The easiest, maybe the most common is social engineering, which is simply making someone believe that this person is an authority within the system and therefore you give them your login credentials, your password, your username, any type of details that will allow for them to get into the system. A good example would be someone sending an email explaining where he works and then says, I need to get into your account, and they are about to take advantage of everything you have if you give them access, or any information about your company or organizations, technology, infrastructure.
2. Program-based Hacking:
Second, you have program-based hacking, and this is of course more advanced than social hacking. This requires the hacker to find various vulnerabilities within the system and exploit them and finally you have physical access. This is somewhat basically getting a hard drive, getting access physically to a computer where they can exploit something or anything to their advantage.
If you or someone else gave that credit card information, then it can be stolen this way too. Personal information can be stolen. Health information can be stolen. You can attack the national security of an entire nation. You can inject malware into various computers. So, all of that is something that’s kept in mind when it comes to the fallout from hacking experience.
How to protect yourself from this?
So, to talk about how you can protect your smartphone from hacking. Now this is important because for so many of us, smartphones are how we manage our data. And for many people, it’s how they pay for pretty much everything each day. So, we don’t want them to be exploited. And, on iPhones you have iOS, Your Android probably doesn’t want to take away your phone’s ability to keep itself safe.
You also must be aware of thieves who decide to steal your phones exactly when you unlock it or sometime after, they will be waiting on the side and stalking you in public, just waiting for the right moment, be careful. There have been many instances where the They steal someone’s phone on the bus or the subway, and you don’t have it locked up by snatching it and getting out at the last moment before the doors close.
You don’t have a hashtag on your face ID to open it. It’s going to be easy for people to exploit it and do a lot more than just having your $1000 phone in their hand. Additionally, you’re going to perform all software updates, so any software that is pushed to your phone, your app, or be it the phone itself, ensures that the exploits that were found. When you’re sending your passcode for your iPhone or Android, maybe make a six-digit code and don’t use your birthday or 111111.
That’s probably not a good idea. Now it’s incredibly convenient and we know that you sometimes have it on, but you may want to turn off the auto fill because auto fill or something at your front will allow them to get all your data quickly.
And they just have your phone, even for a little. It’s like 20 minutes, 5 minutes, whatever it takes to see everything that you have when it comes to autofill, like Chrome does that. Some of the other spaces inside of Safari will do that for you, so keep that in mind. Also, when it comes to your fellow, be sure to avoid, you know, phishing links and pop ups.
You don’t know where that link is going to take you. You don’t know what you know someone might be sending you and you know sites are giving you a ton of popups as ads each time so stay safe and don’t tap on them, they will most likely be fake ads waiting for you or someone else to tap on them. How do you know if a website is safe or not? Well, that question has been answered down below so make sure to check that out.
How to know if a website is safe
Statistics from early 2021 state that almost 37% of all websites are using non secure cookies. So, in this Digital Safety Guide we want to talk about using the web safely. So, what are some quick ways to know if a website is essentially safe or not?
- First, you want to see a padlock symbol next to the URL. So, if you don’t see that padlock symbol, maybe think about leaving it.
- Second, you want to see HTTPS in the URL, not just HTTP.
- Third, you want to see a privacy policy on the website and check to see if they’re doing these things correctly, so privacy policy on the website is important.
- And finally, you want that website to accept payments through all major payment transfer systems.
- Another thing to notice is that there are going to be many popups or redirects to other shady looking sites.
- Finally, there’s also no return policy on the website, so you don’t see anything about a return policy. Of course, you’re looking for privacy policy, you don’t see the privacy policy. That’s bad and you don’t see a return policy then that’s even worse. That’s a thing that could be a red flag when it comes to buying stuff or even just using something on the Internet.
In a lot of modern browsers, you’re going to find built-in tools for safety. We typically use Chrome. Chrome will block most popups. It will send Do Not Track requests to various websites to protect data. It disables unsafe flash content, it’ll stop a lot of malicious downloads, and it will make sure that we know exactly which sites can control our speaker, microphone, and camera. If you want to look at all these, just to make it clear for yourself, you can go into the privacy and security settings in your browser and check it out for yourself, or you could simply google what your browser does to make your information secure.
But this of course isn’t going to capture everything, because as we always know, people are always working hard to protect you and people are always working hard to exploit you. The big trick, honestly, is just to ask Google where there’s something to scan. So, you can go into Trustpilot or other review sites to ensure that the site that you’re looking at is real. But you can also just go into Google and say, is this website a scam? And Google usually tells you and shows you its reviews etc. Like everyone that has done this has been scammed and for some reason it’s still on the Internet.
So, we have of course the popups we talked about. Also, too many exclamation points, flash warnings, redirections to other sites. Look for bad spelling and grammar. if someone didn’t take the time to put it together, maybe they’re hoping you’re not taking the time to look at the site. You know there’s no space to leave product reviews and prices that are honestly just too good to be true. So, Be careful. Finally, when it comes to the fight against those bad actors on the Internet who are trying to steal everything from you, potentially you have some tools to make your information secure, you can ask google for the best software or tool that fulfills your demands and makes you feel smart and secure from the people trying to get information from you.
How to protect your smartphone from cyber-attacks
You should know that your smartphone can be a huge target for hackers. Smartphones contain a lot of your personal information, which can give someone else all they need to steal your identity or your digital data. We’re going to tell you how to stay safe while using a smartphone in this digital age.
1. Strengthen your password:
Some of us might look back at the good old days when having a password was a few characters long. It was easy to remember, and you didn’t need something that looked like it spilled out from the Matrix. Unfortunately, these days it’s too easy to guess a standard password, so it needs to be uncrackable. Here are some tips for making your password a little stronger.
- Combine old passwords with a new one to get better passwords security wise. You can add the name of your favorite animal or food with the year you first saw it. Add that on to the end of any password.
- Since most social media sites allow up to 15 characters for passwords. Keep your login original and lengthy.
- Characters and numbers are fine, but adding symbols and other special characters can really take your password up a notch.
2. Be smart on social media.
Social media isn’t nearly as private or protected as you may think. To maximize your safety, always click the settings that only allow your friends and family to see your posts and pictures. Unless you know someone, who wants to be your friend, be cautious about accepting friend requests. Fake profiles can fool you, a quick look at their friend list and recent posts tell you if they’re active in a group or not.
Never look at a message to a friend request with links that look and feel fishy. Some sneaky hackers can copy friends’ emails and send messages with links, hoping you’ll press the link. By the time you do, you’ll be sucked into giving up info you didn’t want to be stolen. Or worse yet, you could be locked out of your own profile account if they steal your password too. So always be on the lookout for suspicious messages.
3. Don’t use open Wi-Fi
It’s nice to get free Wi-Fi when you go to your local coffee shop, since you probably know the owner already. But if you start seeing ads and other things on your smartphone, you might be getting phished. This is when someone uses open Wi-Fi signals to push viruses and phishing schemes to your phone. Never click on a link that comes from free Wi-Fi sources, especially if you visit a place, you don’t completely trust. When in doubt, consider approaching the manager or owner to see if they intended you to see something on your smartphone.
It could be something that might seem harmless at first, but the risks of hacking software tools are too high. They can search for your private information, and you won’t even know your info is stolen until it’s too late. Identity theft is the most common smartphone scam and can ruin your life in too many ways. If your smartphone doesn’t come with its own service connection, don’t waste your time with any free Wi-Fi. Luckily, with so many devices that have 5G connections, you shouldn’t have any problems staying connected privately.
4. You can never get enough protection
Just like your home computer, you need a good firewall to protect your Internet connection. Luckily, new phones do a bit more than that. Every phone has its own firewall, though. You can always add more security apps to be double sure, and this is a measure. Business communications look better when they come from an e-mail address that includes your website.
Some apps work better for Android than they do for iPhone and vice versa, but there’s plenty of software available. A quick look through the Apple Store or Google Play app list will get you started. It doesn’t hurt to add this extra protection to your phone. Some firewall apps protect you from selecting. Features to help keep your ID and info safe while others just target viruses when it comes to overall coverage. Find an app that offers complete packages, choose what’s best for you.
5. Avoid answering unknown numbers calling out of the blue
The only scams we used to encounter before calling scams and online social media scams were e-mail scams that were incredibly obvious. Who would fall for that these days? Well, sad to say, it’s still happening to many people. Did you ever get a missed call with an area code you don’t recognize, while most of these get blocked by your phone automatically? Some can slip through. Chances are if you call back that number, you’ll be sorry you did. The trick to this is that your call is routed through an international premium rate number.
It’s called the wagering scam and it’s more common than you think. If you call back that number, the cost of the call gets paid to the hackers. This one missed ring call scams are the typical signs of this scam, so you’ll think you missed an important call. Don’t be sucked into losing your money, just erase or block the number. You won’t be called by that number ever again. Hopefully your smartphone will block other calls from that same area code as well.
6. Use cloud storage
Cloud storage allows you to store important information and files in a location that’s not on your phone. This can be smart because it means the files aren’t located on your phone. If your phone is lost, stolen, or damaged, you won’t lose any of the data in cloud storage. Most importantly, this means your information can be kept out of the hands of hackers. Cloud accounts are hard to crack, so even if you have an account on your device, it’ll be safe. These accounts often have double password encryption as well. You might need a second code sent to your mobile number to complete a cloud login.
This keeps hackers from getting the information you want to keep private, while it might seem odd to put private information into cloud storage. It’s not such a bad idea. Having a mobile device clutter free when you use it for business means you don’t have to worry about misplacing files or running out of storage. This also helps you travel light wherever you go and you won’t have to worry about losing your pen drive or an external SSD or an HDD that could fall into the wrong hands.
7. Check app permissions
All apps have settings that allow app permissions. This tells the app what it can and can’t do when it’s connected to the Internet. Some of the common options include whether an app can access your photos, contacts, or camera and microphone. This is important to know as you might not want your audio or visual gadgets to be used by other people. These settings also control the amount of info given about yourself and the information that’s stored on your phone. If these app settings are set up to your approval, then you won’t have to worry about that info being leaked.
Often some hackers target certain apps that don’t have secure Internet connections. Your live images could be stolen through your phone or tablet and you never know where they could end up after that. Worse is that your private info can be sold to marketing agencies and other agencies who buy this sort of data in bulk. You know it’s not just famous social media platforms that do it. Numerous third-party app pirates like to sell your private info too. This can be avoided by checking your app permission settings on every app you decide to download.
8. Watch out for phishing apps
By now you have a good idea what phishing means, and those who get hooked weren’t being careful. Online game apps look attractive and have lots of flashy advertising, which is a bit like a worm on a hook if you know someone who likes sport fishing you would know they use special bait to lure and catch their fish. The same works for game apps, which tempt you with flashy graphics before taking your information. You’ll know when you see these apps because they aren’t on the official app sites such as Google Play or the Apple Store. Often, they’re traps that show up on rabbit hole websites.
This is where you click on a link to a second website which takes you through a string of different websites. You never actually get to the website that you’re looking for. It can seem endless at times, and this is where you start to see very familiar app game links. These are usually copycat games that look just like the official ones, but they’re not. They can trick you into giving up all sorts of information to play the game. They can also hack your phone, giving them access to your private info for them to exploit. Don’t ever fall for this kind of fishing bait.
This is just one example of phishing, you can also be targeted through links, someone will send you a link that looks like its about something you’re interested in, take real estate, yachts, boats, cars as an example, it can be anything. Once you open the link it will ask for you to sign in using Facebook, Instagram, Google account, or any other social media account that they’re looking for to get their hands on. This can potentially lead you to losing your account and your information with it. This will cause you some real trouble so make sure you don’t sign in or open any links that are being sent to you from third parties.
7. Activate your phone security features
New mobile devices give you lots of choices to protect you from getting hacked. There isn’t a smartphone out there today that doesn’t have software filters that spot apps or files with dangerous malware. This system will prevent you from installing software that is detected to be unsafe. Antivirus blockers for apps are easy to turn on inside your smartphone settings.
They’re specifically designed to look for malware in apps and games installed in your device. If A game doesn’t download, chances are the app could be harmful to install. This is also great for kids who might not fully understand the apps they’re clicking on or downloading. Once again, if your device thinks it’s not good for your security and it could potentially compromise your data, then its probably for a reason as even Google Play and Apple Store apps can have malware that’s hidden somewhere, so always activate your virus app Blocker to be on the safe side.
8. Think beyond passwords:
Having your smartphone stolen is about the worst thing you can imagine. Then again, if they can get into your phone because you don’t have a password set up, you’re in real trouble. Fortunately, there are some innovative things you can do to prevent thieves from getting your information too easily. You can lock your smartphone by using the Fingerprint authentication feature that almost all smartphones have these days, other than that, you can also lock your apps through this feature if you feel the need to. Use this feature to lock your important apps that hold your private information, and no one will be able to open it with ease, this will most likely you ever get robbed or stolen from, this feature has potential to save your information from getting into the wrong hands.
If your print doesn’t match the exact image that’s stored in the phone’s memory, it simply won’t open. This can also be combined with a twostep authentication process that uses a fingerprint and a password. In addition, you should also install a mobile tracker. This can be activated as soon as you notice your phone is missing. An owner can then track their phone via the app and catch whoever is carrying your stolen goods. The info that’s stored on the phone must be kept safe so add hurdles in the way of the thieves who are out for your information and your device, however, if you can get your phone back in one piece, that’s probably the best solution.
What is cyber security and why do you need to indulge in it?
Cybersecurity involves techniques that help in securing various digital components, networks, data, and computer systems from unauthorized digital access. There are multiple ways to implement cybersecurity, depending on the kind of network you are connected to and the type of cyber-attacks you are prone to. So, let’s look at the various cyber-attacks that you can be exposed to.
Malware attack:
One of the most common types of cyber-attacks is a malware attack like Trojan adware and spyware to name a few. If you have downloaded any suspicious attachments online, you would know that system could have gotten corrupted by certain malicious viruses embedded within the attachments.
Phishing attack:
Next is a phishing attack, the type of cyber-attack which an experienced here. The hacker usually sends fraudulent emails which appear to be coming from a legitimate source. This is done to install malware or to steal sensitive data like credit card information and login credentials.
Man in the middle attack:
Another type of attack is the man in the middle attack. Here the hacker gains access to the information path between ANTS device and the website server. The hacker’s computer takes over Anna’s IP address. By doing so, the communication line between Ann and the website is secretly intercepted. This commonly happens with unsecured Wi-Fi networks and through malware.
Password attack:
Password attack is one of the easiest ways to hack a system here. Lance password could have been cracked by using either common passwords or trying all possible alphabetical combinations to prevent future cyber-attacks and sought to implement a few cybersecurity practices.
Cyber security practices you should do:
Let’s first reason on why you should practice cyber security, first of all, if you know how to carry yourself around the various different dangers that come at you in the form of cyber-attacks on the internet, and you want to help others know what you know, and understand what you understand, then you should first of all get yourself in to the field of cyber security,
even if you don’t expect most people to take interest or understand what you understand, and you want to implement the knowledge that you possess and you want to use it to protect the others from the threats and dangers that come to all of us in the form of cyber-attacks, this is the only field you would want to join if you want to do this.
What you want to in this case is, first of all, you should install a firewall, it is a virtual wall between your computer and the Internet. Firewalls filter the incoming and outgoing traffic from your device to safeguard your network, and they can either be software applications or hardware reinforcements. Secondly, just like how flowers attract bees, dummy computer systems called honey pots are used to attract attackers.
These systems are made to look vulnerable to deceive attackers and this in turn defends their real system. In addition to these, use unique alphanumeric passwords and you’ll decrease the risks of losing access to your data, or losing your data altogether by a whole lot. Let’s now discuss the impacts that a cyber-attack leaves on your computer.
Impacts of a cyber-attack:
Cyber-attacks are not just confined to individuals, but also to public and private organizations. The cyber-attacks carried out in such places are more deadly, and they result in colossal losses. The motives of such attacks are many, such as tampering with crucial data to monetary gains.
Let’s have a look at a few of the cyber-attacks that companies are subjected to. Various public sector organizations and large corporations face the advanced persistent threat APT. In this form of attack, hackers gained access to networks for a prolonged period. To continuously gain confidential information, companies also witness the denial-of-service attack where networks are flooded with traffic, which in turn leaves legitimate service requests unattended.
A variant of this is the Distributed Denial of Service DDoS attack. When multiple systems are used to launch the attack, when a hacker manipulates a standard SQL query in a database driven website, it is known as an SQL injection attack by doing so. It is indeed a challenge for organizations with several networks and servers to ensure complete security. This is not an easy task and to help with this, cybersecurity professionals are hired to work on identifying cyber threats and securing a company’s net.
There are multiple job roles in the field of cybersecurity. If hacking fascinates you, then the role of an ethical hacker is something to be explored. Such professionals try to explain networks vulnerabilities just like how a hacker would do, but only to identify those vulnerabilities and resolve them for protection against an actual cyber-attack. But if you are looking to design robust security structures, then the role of a security architect is more adaptable. A Chief Information Security Officer CIO plays a crucial role in enterprise security and is entrusted with the overall safety of the information in an organization.
How to get started in cyber security?
Did you know that you can get the IT experience needed for six figure cyber security career in a matter of few days? And if you put in the effort or if you’re a fast learner you can even learn the basics in a matter of hours! Now you’re probably familiar with IT roles being very technical.
You think that you need expensive training. Years of experience in the college group. You didn’t need any of that! Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, let us tell you that these positions are not only real, but they’re often overlooked. Now, let’s breakdown how to start your six-figure cybersecurity career.
We can teach you exactly what you need to do to start your cybersecurity career in the next few weeks. So, what we need to do is instead of focusing on the easiest way to get into the field, which is through desktop support and help desk. Those jobs usually pay 10 to $12 per hour, which is not even a living wage. We’re going to put you in a whole different trajectory. We’re going to look into vulnerability management. We’re going to bypass the help desk. We’re going to go straight into cybersecurity.
What is vulnerability management and why is it important?
So, before we get started in vulnerability management, we’re going to explain what it is and why it’s important. Cybersecurity is put together for vulnerability management so that we can get a level set on what it is and why it’s important. All right Enterprise application whether in cloud or on premises browsers, in end user applications and ongoing process, Vulnerability management seeks to continually identify vulnerabilities that can be.
Mediated through patching and configuration of security settings. The reason is that every company that has systems and applications need vulnerability management. So, In simple terms, vulnerability management is finding issues in operating systems and applications and then giving that information over to the people that need to fix it.
Oftentimes you are not going to be the person that finds a vulnerability and fixes it. There’s separation of duties. If you had the same person finding and fixing the vulnerabilities, who would audit their work? So what we want to do is focus our efforts and energy and somewhere where we know we’re going to be needed long term. This is where a lot of IT professionals go wrong. They focus on areas of IT that don’t have high impact and are not leaded needed long term tech support, help desk stuff, all that stuff could be outsourced in no time. But every company must have vulnerability management for the protection of their reputation for contracts for legal reasons, regulatory reasons, compliance reasons, they must have IT.
And so, when we can do is we can learn these skills so that we can add values to companies There are a total of three different roles in VMA and we’ll help you get started in them in no time as well, so keep reading!
Scanner operator:
So, the first role that we have is the vulnerability scanner operator and this is a semi technical role. But now the point of this is, there’s a couple ways you can perform this job. Number one, you could actually end up at an organization that already has a scanner in place. You don’t need to configure it, you just need to run the scans. Essentially what you would be doing is plugging IP addresses or systems into a tool. That’s called a vulnerability scanner, which runs around, it crawls around systems and applications, and it looks for vulnerabilities.
And how it does this is it looks for signatures and application versions, and it compares it to what’s called a vulnerability management database. And if there’s any hits on that, it’s going to give you a report back that says high, medium, low criticality. These items need to be configured. When you’re working as a vulnerability scanner operator, your responsibility is just to run the scans to make sure that they run successfully. They don’t time out, they don’t fail. You scan all the inventory and then you provide the data over to the next role.
Security analyst:
The security analyst is going to take this data, they’re going to analyze this data, and they’re going to work with different teams of business units to come up with a plan to determine how they can mediate the issue oftentimes when their vulnerability is found through a vulnerability scanner. One of those things like there’s numerous vulnerability scanners. What they’ll do is they’ll say, here’s the vulnerability.
Here’s the score of this vulnerability, and here is the recommended fix. Here’s the fix, whether that’s installed on the patch, changing the configuration, or updating the firmware. Sometimes, depending on how complex the organization is or how stable it is, or even the technical team, they may not be able to implement it.
This is where the security analyst is going to review the vulnerability and decide or at least make a recommendation on how the vulnerability should be addressed. Because truth be told, every vulnerability cannot be immediately corrected or rectified, the process takes time. If you want to go far in your career, you need to understand that vulnerabilities need to be addressed, that means that you need to put some type of control in place. So if that vulnerability is exploited, meaning if a hacker took advantage of what that vulnerability would allow them to do, you would minimize the impact. You can’t fix everything. It’s not your job. You need to minimize the risk.
Compliance analyst:
The third part of this whole vulnerability management lifecycle is the compliance analyst, and this is by far the least technical of them all. The compliance analyst is going to be a part of the IT compliance team, security team, IT assurance, governance, risk and compliance. All they’re going to do is make sure that the scans were run on time. Because there’s some requirements from different regulations that require vulnerability scans to be run.
So, they’re going to make sure, number one, this scan was run on time. They’re going to make sure that the vulnerabilities that were discovered were addressed within the companies’ policies.
So, let’s say that there was a critical vulnerability that was found in the company Policy and it says that critical vulnerabilities need to be addressed within 30 days. They’re going to review the reports and make sure they’re they were addressed within 30 days. If not, the compliance analyst is going to issue it. So, all the compliance analyst is doing is checking the work of the first two people. We’re talking about 6 figure roles. No tech experience required. This is how you slide your way into IT security.
Top 5 skills you must have to get into cyber security!
Now, we’re going to take you through the top five skills you need to be learning to get into cybersecurity. Doesn’t matter if you’re new to the field or looking for a career transition you’ll get valuable information about the field from here. There’s just so much info out there that it’s hard to even get started. While there’s some value going through the process of studying for certificates, what is important? Are your skills and experience more important than certificates? because in this field what you can do is make yourself so much more successful than now, and it’s only possible through knowledge. Solving technical problems is the way to earning trust and confidence from people you work with.
1. Building and using Virtual Machines:
Virtual machines, also called VMS, are operating systems that run on top of your existing or host OS. The virtualized OS is commonly referred to as a guest and is managed by software called a hypervisor. The hypervisor lets you manage and allocate resources like CPU, memory, and disk space on your guest. Popular hypervisors you may have heard of include Hyper V by Microsoft, VirtualBox by Oracle, VMware, and KVM. Oftentimes when you hear the term cloud, it usually just means thousands of VMS running on specialized hypervisors on someone else’s server farm in a data center somewhere.
Virtual machines let you become platform agnostic, meaning you’re no longer limited to any particular operating system and tools available for it. Many people spend all their time just on one OS and debate which ones are better. As a professional, you should be versed in all of them and be comfortable working with any platform. This maximizes the scope of your skills. It makes you effective in any situation.
Virtual machines also give you the flexibility to train and research in an isolated environment without affecting your main driver. You can quickly take snapshots of a guest OS and restore them to an earlier state, opening a suspected file you received from an untrusted source? Use VMS. Want to practice configuring a server? Use VMS, this is the answer to all your questions if they’re related to putting your personal data or confidential information into any kind of danger.
2. Learn the command line
The command line interface, commonly referred to as a shell, is the simplest and arguably the most efficient way to interact with an operating system, for example. Looking for an entry in the CSV file, Excel might freeze or crash. Running a lightweight shell command gets you what you need in no time. Did you know Why its called the shell? The important parts of an OS that actually make it run is called the kernel, because it functions at the center of the system.
The part that’s exposed to a user is called the shell. Since it wraps around the kernel. It’s just like a car, where the steering wheels and pedals and dashboards giving you control over the engine or transmission all exist in the Shell and the car. Command line gives you the control over your computer same as a steering gives you control over the car.
Many of the most useful tools don’t have a graphical interface to point to Click master in the command line expands your arsenal and lets you get more done with less. It lets you be able to use scripting and automation to tackle repetitive tasks that would otherwise waste lots of time automating your workflow by learning the command line. It makes you a tremendously valuable asset to the team. I recommend starting out with Mash or Born Again Shell since it comes default with almost every Linux distribution.
Mac OS used it in its Terminal app that has since changed to Zach or Z Show and has some nicer features. If Bash is like a Toyota, then Zach is more like a Lexus. Bash is so popular and effective. That Microsoft actually released the Windows sub. System for Linux or WSL. It lets you install several different Linux flavors. To use bash as a native app, this is sue. For convenience, as I can access all of my Linux tools without having to switch to a virtual machine. Now understand that PowerShell is actually the go to native shell for Windows.
It’s very different from how you would use the Linux command line, but gives you a ton of powerful Windows administration abilities. If you work in an environment where Windows is the primary OS, definitely learn PowerShell as well. I’m gonna start a series on the Linux command line very soon. Comment below to let me know what tools and concepts would you like to learn #3
3. System Administration:
System administration involves the configuring and maintaining of computers, whether a personal device or high-powered server. System administration is about knowing your platform in various tools. Inside and out to be able to help others who don’t. Whatever your skill, you must know how to fiddle around and learn by doing. Though, this is an emerging machine with tools in different OS’s like Windows to see what they do, try to extract files and passwords off the computer without knowing the login info, whatever it is. Push the limits of what you already know by reading guides out there and following along. Practice a little more each day and you will level up in no time
4. Computer Networking:
This is the heart and soul of this system. It’s understanding how devices interact with each other and how data gets from point A to point B. The strong foundation and networking will make you a professional troubleshooter. There are two conceptual models that govern computer networking, TCP/IP and OSI. They group all your different networking and telecommunication protocols into layers. TCP/IP is older and uses four layers, network access, Internet transport and application layers.
OSI stands for the Open System Interconnection which is developed by the International Organization for Standardization or ISO. These guys define everything from country codes to time and date formats. OSI is newer and uses seven layers, physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation and application layers.
All these layers are just a way to describe what’s happening there so, if you’re receiving a package from someone in a different country, it’s going to get passed between envelopes, boxes, vehicles, and planes, each with their own addressing method and operating procedures. The networking layers all have different functions, but as a whole, it’s to work together to let you stream videos from a server and a rack to a device in your hands. Knowing what’s happening at each layer lets you see the matrix and be much more skilled than your craft.
5. Personal Digital Security:
This one affects our families, friends and organizations. The cybercrime industry is thriving as of now. You don’t have to scroll far to see what the online black marketplace looks like. As technology becomes more intertwined with our lives, from Internet-connected cars to refrigerators, the vulnerabilities and attack vectors are going to increase more if you want to go deep into cyber security. There’s no better place to start than yourself. From password encryption to security, stay up to date with the latest security news and best practices.
You might just be the subject matter expert in your office that others go to for advice, and that advice might just protect your company from becoming front-page news. But most importantly, is living it out yourself as well? You wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve seen cyber intrusions originate from the security operations or IT department simply because people didn’t understand or practice basic digital hygiene.
Conclusion
By now you probably have some ideas on your own about how you want to start protecting your smartphones from hackers, viruses, potential reasons for data loss, phone stealing, and so much more. The people who are downright hungry for your information or your mobile device or other accessories you hold are continuously looking for new ways to get themselves around the system, and with that, the cyber security departments are working tirelessly in order to make sure your data stays secure, they are working hard to ensure the safety of your privacy and your personal information, but it doesn’t stop there, the more security you have the better.
So, make sure you implement the above-given ideas and make your data as secure as possible, and surely by now, you have an idea about what steps you can take to achieve security from data theft and other dangers such as losing your mobile. We hope you got the information you were looking for, and we wish you the best of luck in making your data as secure as possible.
