7 Cybersecurity Tips To Keep You Safe

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Identity theft, the misappropriation of huge amounts of money, or the destruction of sensitive data after being hacked makes headlines every day. Therefore, serious organizations invest in talent, IT security systems, and complex protocols. But why are there still problems? Therefore we will discuss cybersecurity tips that are useful for you.

Because there is only one fact – the weakest link in a healthy cybersecurity chain is the human factor. Your employees are the most vulnerable element, and you shouldn’t be offended by this.

Cybercriminals know that the easiest way to gain access to secure networks is to target people who have such access and clever ways to obtain credentials. This is much easier to do than hacking serious server protection.

Training your employees is extremely important

Safety training programs should be in every large company, and each employee should be periodically trained, followed by a short exam. This always has a positive effect. But still, if you think you are protected, this is not entirely true, threats in the cyber world are constantly being updated. Hackers are constantly evolving their approaches and technologies, so your company should always improve its security training in order to reduce the level of vulnerabilities.

Cybersecurity training is often tailored to the work of employees. Some companies make the mistake of doing extensive security training and then think they’ve protected everything with one course. But it should be a constant investment – threats emerge from nowhere, new malware is encrypted, and new types of phishing are developed.

More than 90% of cyber attacks are the result of phishing, so awareness training is essential. But traditional methods like social engineering or the art of lying to naive employees should not be underestimated. Hackers use psychological manipulation of victims to convince them to voluntarily or unwittingly transfer information. Apart from these two methods, another constant threat is malware, adware. Because people download an app or software.

Basic Rules For Safe Surfing on The Internet

This information is also suitable not only for organizations and employees, but also for ordinary PC and Internet users. You can also have a conversation with the older generation and explain all the precautions.

• Always think more seriously before sharing your personal information with a website or unknown person on the internet. It’s also a good idea to use security software to prevent constant monitoring of sites and to get a better guarantee that names, addresses and other, even more confidential information will not be transmitted from your computer without your knowledge.
• When you need to use wireless internet in a public place, do not share important information because you do not know who can see it, and if necessary, always use a VPN with encrypted traffic. Be sure to use WPA2 encryption, or an even more secure authentication method for your home router. Never use sites that do not support a secure https: // connection – they do not guarantee your security.
• If you are installing new software, always review its terms and privacy settings.

• Never follow links in social networks, letters or chats from users you don’t know!
• Do not open attachments from strangers. This will prevent redirects to a site that automatically installs malware on your computer and starts stealing information.
• Do not collect information and advice from questionable sources. Otherwise, you are more likely to become a victim of fake news.
• Do not trust random people on the network – in any case, do not give addresses, phone numbers, photos or even other personal information to those you do not know.
• Update your operating system and software regularly to make sure there are no security holes.

Iron Rules For Passwords

• Never write passwords on sticky notes on your monitor or desk!
• Use longer and more meaningful passwords, even whole sentences – for example, instead of the short, but hard-to-remember password Ks48% #, use the much safer and easier to remember babasvaridvekokali.
• Do not use frequently used birthdays, PIN codes, family and friend names, or passwords such as 123 or a phone number.

• Do not let your browser cache important passwords unless it uses a more secure service.
• Don’t use passwords to access your bank or main email account anywhere else! Do not use the same password on two or more devices.
• Learn to use software to manage and create passwords, or combine a strong password with a biometric fingerprint reader.
• Always block your computer screen when you are not sitting in front of it! This is a basic and key rule in many companies – do it without exception, even at home.

Encrypt Important Information

If information on your computer has not fallen into the wrong hands, it is recommended that you consider encrypting it. It helps if a machine or its hard drive is physically accessible to an attacker – even if he tries to copy or read them, they will look unrecognizable to him.

Also, you can encrypt any type of information and upload it to the cloud or to flash drives, it is better not to do this if it is not necessary. Large companies necessarily use full encryption of the hard drive of each computer, especially laptops, so even if they are lost or stolen, it is almost impossible to extract information from them.

Encrypting an entire drive on a Windows computer can be easily done with BitLocker. (FileVault on MAC). There are also separate software packages such as VeraCrypt and TrueCrypt for complete hard drive protection. But if you don’t want everything to be protected in real time, you can also use the encryption (EFS) features of the NTFS file system. Or some free software like AxCrypt.

If You Are Hacked, Act Quickly!

Hacking your computer is actually a universe of different events. It can be hindered by the work of an ordinary worm, its files are blocked by a cryptovirus or deleted. It is entirely possible for an attacker to gain full access to the system and do whatever he wants – to steal information, use the computer as a host for DDoS attacks on download sites, even use it to store child pornography or unlicensed software. There are a lot of scenarios, but still, if any of them happens, here’s what you need to do before calling a specialist:

• Disconnect your computer from the Internet. It is best to turn off the power before help arrives. Disconnecting from the Internet will stop the data leak, but the activity itself will continue (for example, the crypto virus will continue to block your files).
• Be sure to change all of your passwords. Start with the operating system, then email, social media, banking applications. It is best to change all the services, but if you cannot, change the most important ones for you.

• Tell everyone you know that you were hacked. You may be ashamed, but it is better to do this to warn of possible spam attacks.
• Check with the banking institution you use and ask if you need to change codes and credit cards.
• It’s best to reinstall (clean) your operating system and antivirus software and then be more careful. Try to figure out where the problem is coming from.

Backup

Anyone who has never lost important data does not know how scary it is. Such an event can happen once in a lifetime, but the consequences can be catastrophic not only for your business, but even for your future. When you’ve already been hacked or a crypto virus has permanently locked your data, then the last resort is backup. If you have not done this, then you have already lost the war. But at least keep one thing in mind and prepare well for the next.

1. Use more than one backup point (two or even three in different geographic locations).
2. It is good to use different media for different backups – different servers, disks, magnetic or optical media.
3. At least one of your backups must be using a cloud service (private or public).
4. Centralize backup operations as your infrastructure grows. Otherwise, you will be confused by the multitude of machines, policies and rules.
5. For small office users who have never had a backup, even a simple NAS or external drive will do. But better combine this physical backup with some cloud services like Backblaze, Acronis or even Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive.

Physical Access

If you have a server room and expensive equipment that you have protected in the best possible way, but it is not locked or guarded according to special access rules, any villain with access to it can do a lot of damage relatively easily.

Therefore, if you are interested in real security, you will find that the physical layer is actually the most important. If someone can easily touch your computers with their hands, nothing prevents them from doing whatever they want with them!

I hope you enjoyed the article on cybersecurity Tips and you will like it! Write in the comments what methods do you use?