Computer security for individuals : A simple question of education ?

In the collective unconscious, the security of personal data on an internet-connected device takes only a secondary place in front of the potential risks, emanating from multiple sources. All too often neglected, however, this principle is fundamental in order to avoid being naked and to take the risk of disclosing information that is private. If there's one thing I notice around me, when I talk about the subject, it's that most of the users have no idea about the potential dangers we encounter on the web. Of course, the popular belief, reinforced by software developers' mercantile bludgeoning, is that firewalls and other anti-virus software are responsible for dealing with this notion in their place. Serious mistake! Aside from overloading your computer's memory and thus increasing its performance, an antivirus program is not enough to protect against possible intrusion. Worse, some of these softwares are nothing more or less than gaping accessories that have little use.

The average user, feeling safe and confident about something that brings only the feeling, finally knows very little about the methods used by malicious hackers and has a foolish approach to his online behavior. Let's deactivate these anti-virus programs that are useless and apply them literally, simple gestures that will save you time and money.

Mania of the useless click

One of the most important things is to stop this habit of clicking on anything and everything, which could eventually attract your attention. Whether it is a tempting advertising insert or a link, received by email, inviting you to enter a contest, this use can inevitably lead to unscrupulous people getting sensitive information about your identity and habits on the web. By doing so, you may inadvertently collect cookies that track each of your actions. Commercial companies act in this way, hoping to approach you later, either by increasing the number of ads on the screen or simply by means of e-mails or telephone numbers collected. In this respect, it is important to know that as soon as you transmit this type of information to a trading platform, it takes a malicious pleasure to resell these data without your knowledge. This is how you will be drowned under the flood of phone calls, in order to sell you completely useless items.

Phishing also uses this method to steal your banking access or passwords from certain websites. Before you click on a link that appears to be related to your bank or service provider, please check the content of the address and the title of this e-mail.

Be careful what you download too! Some archives can be spoilt and other executables may contain scripts that install, without you noticing, keyloggers, backdoors and other joyous features that jeopardize your integrity. This allows you to interfere with your machine for several undefined purposes. (Taking personal data, retrieving information, spying, or simply destroying your system) On Windows the infection is imperceptible, whereas it is impossible to achieve such a feat on Unix-like distributions (Linux, BSD, MacOS). Not only because of the smaller installed base, but also thanks to its repository system, which securely and officially centralizes the operating system's software.

Stop using remote services / Use complex passwords

The cloud, a wonderful, practical and magical tool for mirroring your sensitive data, is not fantastic. it is simply a remote server that provides the user with disk space to store various and varied things. Only, the servers are just as vulnerable and it is more than possible to make a gigantic harvest of what you deposited on them, through several practices. Including the sad tool that is bruteforce, using all possibilities for character generation to detect passwords. In this regard, it should be noted that the creation of your passwords is of paramount importance. Because the fact of using a word long enough, including special characters, will allow you to protect yourself from possible intrusion. Keep in mind to avoid too familiar terms, such as birth dates or the region name of your own home. A simple social engineering operation will blow this lock!

In addition, your photos, texts and other contact files belong to you! This one must not, in no way appear on devices owned by a company that could at any time, for an ill-intentioned purpose, know a little more about you! Make sure you have an encrypted hard drive dedicated to this purpose only and that will not leave your home!

Maintain and keep your system up to date!

We will keep telling you: Update your operating systems as often as possible! The vast majority of malware uses known flaws that have not been plugged. Empty its history and your cookies is to be carried out, generally at the end of each session. Don't hesitate to use the services of an online anti-virus/spyware, from time to time, to take stock of your computer. Have the right reflexes and your journey in the net will be serene!

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Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors

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