About This Lesson
Information technology is all around us and with the growing number of computer and portable devices connected to the Internet every day it is important to understand how to be safe online because cyber criminals can steal personal information from their victim and turn around and either sell it or use the information to harm the victim. Today even children can have access to the Internet and many of them do not understand anything about information security so they are usually the victim of a cyber attack. Senior citizens are also victims of cyber attacks because they did not grow up with technology so they do not understand what is a cyber attack as much as the young people. As a result, they tend to fall for attacks such as social engineering, phishing and scamming.
Staying Safe On The Internet
Staying safe on the Internet can be quite difficult, but a few tips and tricks can help a person to stay safe while they are online.
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Creating complex passwords for everything that requires a login - The more complex your password is the harder the attacker will be able to steal your credential and login to your account so make sure to have long and complex passwords. Long and complex password should have a lower case, an upper case, a number, and a symbol.
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Boost your network security - Making sure that the Internet connection one is connected to is secure is another way to prevent a cyber attack. If one is connected to a public WiFi, one must understand and take precautions when signing into account with personal data because any one of the people using public WiFi could be a cyber-criminal.
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Use a firewall - There are many software firewalls one can purchase for their personal computer and they will need to turn on when connected to a public network. A strong firewall will protect the victim from malicious code injection on a public network.
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Click smart - Look at the link carefully before clicking on it. Many attackers hide the true link behind a fake one to convince the victim to click on it, but one can see the real link by hovering the mouse over the fake link and look at the bottom left of the browser to reveal the real link.
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Be a selective sharer - Share information only to people you know you can trust online is the perfect defense against cyber-attack because the attacker will always try to convince the victim to give up personal information so they can use it to harm the victim.
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Protect your mobile life - With the growing number of mobile devices, hackers are starting to target the mobile platform much more because the screen of these mobile devices are small and very difficult to see everything so it is very easy to trick the victim into clicking on something they are not supposed to.
In conclusion, staying safe online although it can be difficult, a few tips and tricks should help a person stay while surfing the website or shopping online. All they have to do is willing to learn some of these tips and even if they just apply one of the tips, it should reduce the risk of a cyber attack by some degree. Also, it is a good idea to never click on Home when connected to a public network as this will open the computer to everyone on the public network and they will be able to see one personal data simply by searching for a computer that allows sharing. Remember to always check your privacy settings to ensure that you are not sharing anything you do not want the public to know.
