In the 1990s, the World Wide Web was born, bringing with it the promise of a new era of possibilities and dangers. Spam affected email accounts, computer viruses created destruction on company networks, and hacking became a problem. Hackers could take your personal information and access your credit or banking online account, and sell your personal information on the dark web for large amounts of money.
Today, your online life is more complicated than ever. You’re using a smartphone, shop online, bank online, log onto Facebook and even your IoT devices and internet-connected appliances monitor and report on your activities. Hackers are able to access all of this information, whether they’re part of a criminal gang or just a random person with an agenda to influence the political scene.
To guard against hackers, create strong passwords on each of your online accounts and make use of a password manager that is secure to keep on top of the passwords. Consider activating two-step authentication. This adds an extra layer of security by requiring you to enter a code that is sent to your email or phone address in addition to your password each time you log into. Secure your hard drive, so that hackers cannot access your data even if you are able to gain access to your device or computer. Also, be sure to disable “run as administrator” on your computers, do not jailbreak or root your phones and shut down your computer instead of running all day long (all-time running slows down your device’s performance and opens it up to cyberattacks). With the right software tools for malware-screening as well as uninstalling and data encryption, you can reduce the risk of being a victim.