No company or organisation is immune to Cyber Attack. While nobody can guarantee a 100% protection against any attack, you surely can take many steps to further tighten the security of your computers. Taking just few steps will ensure you are ready to defend any Cyber Attacks.
Today we will look in to some of the precautions you can take to ensure a better safety of your computer devices.
- Backup!
There is no alternative to backup. It takes little time and you can back up your data on a physical hard drive or dvd and keep it safe somewhere. Get a portable hard drive (cheap from ebay) and copy all your important data to that drive then put it away in a secure place. Repeat this backup to keep the hard drive updated on a regular basis. - Install a complete security software, not just Anti Virus.
Install a good Anti Virus program that has a full Internet Security option. This will install a strong firewall on your system which will prevent attack. I personally use and recommend Avast. A state of the art, light weight yet one of the strong Anti Virus and Internet Security suite. Keep it updated. Whatever software you use, keep it updated regularly! - Keep your system up to date!
A lot of us don’t bother updating our operating system. If you are using Windows, make sure you regularly install and update your PC by downloading and installing them as soon as they come out. These mostly contain security patch and other updates. On most cases, Windows update is automatically turned on by default but if not check it yourself. Also, a lot of us to this day try to hold on to previous versions of Windows such as Windows XP, Windows 7. Remember, updating to the newest version of Windows means you will be updated and protected against the most newest of security threats! Start using Windows 10! - Beware of clicking on any links in an email. This is phishing scam.
We get a lot of emails these days. Some of them try to trick us in to clicking those links. You MUST NOT click on any email link unless you are 100% sure it is from where you think it is. For instance, sometimes you may get an email saying it’s from paypal and needs to verify your account. Although it may show it’s from Paypal, you can actually click on the name to see actual email address, in most cases you will realise it’s from some other account calling it Paypal. If you get an email about your account activity, separately go to their website and login to see. Do not do this by clicking the link in the email. A lot of junk email these days doesn’t get filtered because of their sophisticated techniques. - Be careful when installing software
Do not install software from unknown publishers or with an unknown certificate. If it asks to make changes to your computer and you have the slightest doubt, do not install it. - Beware of fake websites and what you download
Some websites can pretend to be something they are not. Look in your address bar and do not sign up to just any website. Make sure you know what you are doing. Do not download pirated software, they have been modified. Spend some money and get a legitimate one! The same goes for accepting files from strangers or individuals that you haven’t met in real life. Do not accept any file from someone over the internet who you hardly know!
If you have ensured the above, we are confident this will significantly increase your security protection to deal with any future Cyber Attacks.