WHY YOUR INTERNET ACCESS MAY NOT BE SAFE

You must surely have a device or a gadget connected to the internet at home. You must also have numerous social media accounts. If NO? Then, you’re probably either nearing your end or too young to be reading this article. To others with social media accounts, have you EVER, maybe even once bothered or even thought of reading this boring, consistently annoying thing called privacy policy for the accounts you make. We know the answer even before you’re saying it. It’s a big fat NO.

The rise and domination of internet services and applications have also given rise to cyber-crime and created business for hackers and scammers, all with malicious intent to tamper with, destroy or use your personal data and information. Now you might think of a hacker as a geek with huge, thick rimmed glasses, typing lines and lines of code on a black screen and stealing your information. While that might be true, the real hacking starts with YOU. Yes, you, and your careless ways of surfing online.

Here are a few threats that your computer is always in danger of receiving.

VIRUS

Nope, this certainly isn’t biological, this is the virus that replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code. Now this ‘insertion’ of code can either destroy or tamper with your important data. In the form of.exe files, YOU yourself run the application and well, you invite the monster and it enters and kills. Avoid downloading files from untrusted sites on the internet and make sure you scan the USB your friend gave to you because that’s how most viruses spread.

PHISHING

Ever received an email claiming you have won an iPhone while you don’t even remember entering the scheme? Yep, that’s phishing. Hackers gain your sensitive information such as passwords, data and credit card information by disguising as a trustworthy entity. Don’t fall for the emails claiming they’re offering you billions of dollars for just clicking a link. And don’t ever download or click on any link sent by such untrusted senders.

PHARMING

OH this one makes even us shudder! It is a cyber-attack intended to redirect a website's traffic to another, fake site. There isn’t much you can do about this one, hence making it a very harmful threat. You get redirected to a site without your knowledge and unknowingly enter your sensitive data. Pharming meddles with your local DNS cache and the DNS entries. You may be a victim of pharming if you visit a website and it looks slightly different. Always check the domain in the search bar to make sure you’ve landed on the correct site.

We know we’ve given you quite a scare. So here are a few ways you can protect yourself against such threats.

Firewalls are one way you can secure your online access. Monitoring and controlling incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules, it protects your system against unauthorized access. Anti-virus software is created to prevent, protect and remove harmful viruses in your system. So take the following safety measures and keep your data safe and secure.

Happy surfing!

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