The fact has always been made that there are a lot of cyber rouges on the internet, simply referred to as hackers. Their main aim is to steal your sensitive information and hard earned money, hence, you need to stay secured online. Here are some guidelines to keep you stay away from the bad guys. Follow these online security suggestions in order to stay secure online.
Use Strong and Unique Passwords for All Your Accounts
Strong passwords mean the passwords which are not effortlessly guessed by a human or computer. You should use more than 8 characters and a combination of letters, numbers and special symbols like @, #, $, etc, while setting password. Make certain to use distinct usernames and passwords for your financial accounts and for any other accounts like Facebook or Twitter that you use online.
Do not use Sensitive Data as User ID or Password
Never use any part of your sensitive data, like your birthday or those of your relations as username or password or personal identification number (PIN). If someone gets access to these kinds of data, it will be the first thing they will use to try to get into your online account.
Split Your Emails
Instead of linking Twitter, Facebook, forums, newsgroups, shopping and banking websites to one email address, use multiple addresses. At least, use one email for social activities and another email for financial activities.
Be Aware While Using Email
Do not click on links in emails or texts that claim to be from your bank, the IRS, or any other company. If you believe the message may be valid, log in to your account directly, without clicking on the supplied link. Never reply to emails that request you to provide your account details.
Install apps on your Mobile phone with care
Be more careful while installing apps and give special focus on what permissions the app is requesting. For example, it does not make sense for a weather application to demand access to your photos, does it?
Use 2-step Verification
Many websites now permit you to enhance password verification with a minimum of one secondary authentication method. For example, Facebook’s or Google’s Login Approvals that use a token sent to your mobile phone by SMS or quick call.
Be Careful what you Download
Nowadays we can download almost anything we wish to watch, listen to or use and have access to it almost instantly. Although you will find hundreds of genuine websites from which content can be downloaded, there are thousands more that provide fake, and dangerous content, full of malware and viruses created to grab your financial and other personal information. If you, therefore, have to download the latest movie or song, think carefully about which website you are downloading it from.
If you follow the above security guidelines properly, you can help protect your sensitive information from getting into the hands of online hackers.
If you think data associated with your bank account has been compromised, contact your bank instantly for help to address the problem.
