Learn Exactly How Security Matters In Today’s Era

Who doesn’t have an iPhone or an Android smartphone in their pockets? Most of them also have personal computers for various purposes. Nowadays, we spend most of our time on the internet. So, being cyber-educated is more important nowadays than ever before. A lot of personal information is on the cyberspace which you don’t want to be hacked or accessed by others. To be more secured and unsusceptible to malicious attacks, go through the whole article.

Phishing

Most of the users think that they won’t fall a victim to various schemes of social engineering. Hackers are not resting. They always find a way to breach security. You may have heard about phishing. But we are sure that you have faced this. Phishing means any attempts done to collect users’ personal information such as files, pictures, debit or credit card information by disguising as a trustworthy source on online communications such as email, social media etc. There are two more terms: Vishing and Smishing.

• Vishing: It means voice phishing. Here, frauds try to impose phishing through voice calls so that you transfer your personal information to them. So, you should be always careful about any unknown phone calls because the frauds know how to be extremely persuasive. They always find a way to be believable.
• Smishing: It means SMS Phishing. This type of phishing is done by sending a text message to the victims asking to pay money or click on suspicious links. As soon as you click on the links, your personal information is sent through the link or viruses/ malware is downloaded.

Pharming

Did you ever click on a link to enter to a specific link but it redirected you to an unwanted link? If you surf on the Internet often, then you have already faced this type of thing. This is another type of phishing. This is a cyber attack done to redirect a website’s traffic to a bogus link. This can be done in two ways:

1. The host file is changed on a victim’s machine.
2. A flaw is exploited in DNS server software. This happens generally like this: you type a correct URL on the address bar. But it will take you to a fake website or link and can harm your computer or personal information.

Ransomware Encryption

Recently, this became the most dangerous among all kinds of viruses on the internet. Ransomware can be in your system just like other viruses. But most of the users are not aware of ransomware during surfing on the internet. Simple ransomware can lock your system which is not hard for a knowledgeable person to reverse. But more advanced ransomware are introduced day by day. They use various encryption algorithms to encrypt your files and information. Most of the time, hackers demand a handsome ransom payment to decrypt them.

But security engineers are always seeking different ways to protect their products. Many anti-ransomware protections are developed and others are on the developing process. A list of free anti-ransomware tools are given below:

1. CryptoPrevent
2. Alert
3. BitDefender Anti-Ransomware
4. Kaspersky WindowsUnlocker

Vulnerabilities and Exposures

The vulnerability is a software mistake that let the hackers/ bad actors to directly attack a system or network. Vulnerability generally permits the bad actors to perform as an admin or a super-user of a system which grant him full access privileges.

But exposure is a different type of vulnerability which allows the hackers to indirectly attack a system or network. This type of vulnerability is known as a hole in software which the developers and vendors are not aware of. This hole is the key to the hackers to hack the system or network.

Actually, hackers are very much talented that they can find a hole in software to enter into your system. So, you should always use the updated software because vendors always update software security. If you find any system software or any type of software update, we highly recommend you to do that update. We also recommend you to use at least one anti-virus software.

Risks of Computer and cybersecurity issue

The most common security issue users are facing nowadays is malware. This term refers to either a virus or worm that seize your personal computer. It can also steal information from your computer. Personal information from your accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, different cloud services etc. can be stolen and exposed on the Internet. Malware can be found on bad download links as well as faulty programs.

You may surf the internet freely, do your jobs unconsciously. But the viruses on the internet are becoming more sophisticated than ever before. The viruses/ malware can be a link from a trusted source or looked like a genuine program which can function as a web application. This type of program can gather information from your various accounts or computer without asking for your permission.

Effects on individuals and Business

As malware can affect users’ machines, there must be some business concerns. You may have heard or seen a lot of news about personal information, pictures exposed from celebrities personal cloud account or computer. Just think about all of your personal information stored in your cloud accounts such as cloud services, a personal computer. Can you imagine what will happen if your personal information, files, pictures leaks? We are very much sure that it will be a nightmare for you.

How to Impose proper security

As you already know that you must have anti-malware software installed on your computer. But it cannot ensure proper security to your system. To be more secure in cyberspace, you should follow the procedures given below:

1. Use additional firewall protection. There are plenty of excellent solutions both free and paid on the internet.
2. Make sure that you have given less administrative power to the programs you use.
3. Always use a stronger password. Never use a simple password.
4. Always be careful during file sharing.
5. Always update the security patches given by the vendors.
6. At last, have a powerful anti-malware protection software to prevent your system from being affected by viruses/ malware.

Summing Up

After reading the whole article, now you may be too much tensed that you can be hacked in a lot of ways. Yes, that’s true. Days are passing and we are becoming too much depended on the computer and the internet. We spend most of our time on the internet, especially on social media. So, we should be more conscious of our personal information as we always remain connected to the internet.

We hope, by reading this article, you’ll be more benefited by imposing more security for your computer and cyber networks.