Concerned about internet safety? The majority of us rely on the internet for our daily lives, whether it’s for communicating with friends and family, furthering our education, conducting business, or simply passing the time with videos or social media. In spite of this, however, using the internet a lot doesn’t always mean people have a good understanding of how to stay safe when they’re doing so.
The good news is that there are several methods available for protecting yourself from potential dangers while using the internet. Read on to find out what some of them are so you can have complete peace of mind when you’re online.
Use Your Privacy Settings
The more information they have about you, the happier the marketers and the more valuable the information to the hackers. Both can gain useful information about you through your online activities and social media profiles. On the other hand, you have the power to control the data about you.
As pointed out by Lifehacker, it is possible to safeguard your online anonymity by adjusting the security settings of both your web browser and mobile operating system. Large social networking sites like Facebook also offer privacy options. These options can be deliberately buried because businesses covet your private data for advertising purposes, but they are there if you look. Make sure you have enabled these privacy measures, and keep them active.
Use A Strong Password
Passwords that are difficult to guess or, ideally, impossible to guess are essential for safe internet use. Strong passwords should contain at least twelve symbols and incorporate a blend of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and special characters.
Passwords with fewer than ten characters were cracked in under an hour in a new study on cybersecurity. Passwords with twelve or more characters, however, will take hackers around a year to crack. Amazingly, it will take a cybercriminal one thousand years to hack their way past a password that has fifteen characters in it.
You can also use a random password generator if you’d rather not come up with a secure password on your own.
Have A Secure Connection
When you use the internet in a public setting, such as a coffee shop, you have no direct control over the security of the connection. IT security professionals are concerned about “endpoints,” or the points where an internal network communicates with the wider internet. Your local internet connection is the weak link in your security.
Verify the safety of your device and postpone giving sensitive information like your bank account number until a more convenient moment or after connecting to a secure Wi-Fi network.
For Internet Safety Check Links
A good practice for internet safety is to be wary of clicking on unknown links while browsing the internet, whether it’s email or social media.
Rolling the mouse over a link might help you determine its legitimacy. When you do this, the entire URL will appear in your browser’s status bar. Verify that the preview link leads to the correct site by doing a search for the company’s name to see if the results match.
If you receive a login request by email, it’s best to check in directly on the company’s website rather than via a link provided in the email. Visit the site’s official URL by either typing the brand’s name into a search engine or, if you already know it, by clicking the real link.
Any links supplied to you through chat programs are included in this hint. The truth is one of your close friends could accidentally infect your computer by sending you a malicious link through a chat program by accident. If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of a link, it’s best to avoid clicking on it.
If you do click on one of these links, it’s best to run a security check on your computer and use the right tools to remove spyware on Mac if you need to.
Only Buy From Secure Sites
One of the requirements of online shopping is the disclosure of financial data like a credit card number or bank account details, which is gold dust for identity thieves. When entering this information, make sure the site has a secure connection.
Look for an address that starts with “HTTPS:” to find a secure site (the S means “secure”) instead of just “HTTP:” You might also see a lock icon next to the address bar.
Use A VPN
A virtual private network (VPN) encrypts your connection to a server on the internet, making it impossible for anyone to see what you do online or access the information on your device. It’s a fantastic (and perfectly legal) method for protecting your online privacy at home and when utilizing public Wi-Fi.
The one drawback of using a VPN to protect your data is that it may cause your Internet speed to decrease. Theis plays a larger role in internet safety measures, but because the VPN uses a different server to transmit your data, it increases its security. However, this seems a fair payoff for great peace of mind.
Be Careful What You Post
There is no delete key on the internet. If you post a comment or picture online, it might stay there forever because deleting the original doesn’t get rid of copies that other internet users made. Before you realize it, your image or comment could have gone viral, and there will be very little you can do about it.
The rule of thumb to stick by is that because you can’t undo a comment you regret making or delete an awkward photo you snapped at a social event, just don’t share anything on the internet that you wouldn’t want your mother or a potential employer to see.
Turn Your Bluetooth Off
According to the findings of one research group, Bluetooth signals are vulnerable to interference and can even be manipulated. By taking advantage of a loophole in the Bluetooth protocol, they were able to eavesdrop on and modify nearby Bluetooth transmissions.
Although Bluetooth is convenient when coupled with another device, it is recommended that it be turned off when not in use. Doing so could perhaps help you extend the life of your phone’s battery too, so that is another benefit.