Cybersecurity 101: What You Need To Know To Keep Your Data Safe

Whether you are using the internet to stay in touch with friends on social media, buy the latest must-have gadget, or watching an entry from you favorite vlogger, security is a big deal. After all, if your security is composed at best, it can make your device unusable, and at worst it can provide location, payment, and personal information to unscrupulous undesirables! With that in mind, check out our guide on what you need to know to remain safe online below.

Antivirus software

A computer virus is a simple but clever thing. It is capable of replicating itself once it has breached your system's defenses and can cause untold havoc, even wiping hard drives and destroying data completely. This bad news for anyone that has anything important on a computer they use to access the internet with. You know, things like person or professional documents, family photos, or even your latest business idea.

With this in mind, it is vital that you protect your computer's system from virus attacks as much as possible. You can do this in several ways; the first is that you can monitor the site that you visit and ensure that they have https in the address rather than http. The reason for this is because https stands for hypertext transport protocol secure, which means that an added layer of encryption and security is being used to keep your data safe.

Also, it can be useful to use antivirus software and keep this as up to date as possible. However, with so many different types on the market picking the right one for your system can be tough, to help with this check out posts like Error Solutions' antivirus guide before you make your decision. Then you will be armed with the right information to buy the antivirus software that will be most effective for your particular needs.

Secure wireless networks

Next, to keep your data safe it's important that you only use secure networks. What this means is that public networks and free wifi are a bad idea. This is because other people can ‘overhear’ the data you are sending if they have the rights tools. Sadly, many people do not realize this, and it can create a lot of problems for them concerning the security of private payment information and business data.

Also locking your wifi network can stop others using it for their own surfing. Something that you don't have any control over and can cause an additional security risk.

Too good to be true?

Lastly, a high proportion online security risks still come from simple phishing scams where victims are enticed to open emails from unknown senders or download pdf or HTML. A good rule to avoid being caught in this type of security risk is to ask yourself whether what the email is offering is too good to be true, because if it seems that way it usually is.

Also, consider who is sending you the email and whether you know them personally. Remember that big companies and delivery services do not ask for personal details or request that you download information from them over email, so be aware of these phishing tricks to stay secure online.