Cybercrime can affect anyone who uses the internet and is digitally connected. When we talk about them, we don’t just mean malware and hacking to steal your financial, personal, and other information; we also mean a wide range of online actions that might affect you, such as harassment, stalking, and cyberbullying.
To stay safe digitally, stick to measures that will protect you and your loved ones from becoming victims of cybercrime. Let’s look at the best practices for staying secure online this new year.
How To Stay Digitally Safe in 2022
1. Password Hygiene: Avoid repetitive passwords. Create complex ones, and make them strong with a combination of uppercase, lowercase characters, numbers & symbols. Don’t forget to save them in a password management software.
2. Software Updates: If you get a notification to update your software, do it!. Updating your software gives you the most-up-to-date security patches, which prevent fraudsters from exploiting known flaws in the system.
3. Social Media: Staying secure online requires you to keep your personal information to yourself. Because hackers only need a few data points to obtain your personal information, the more you reveal publicly, the more likely you are to be an easy target to abuse. This data can then be exploited to take advantage of you.
4. VPN: When using public Wi-Fi, utilise a VPN (Virtual Privat Network). This helps encrypt data leaving your device and anyone who tries to access your information will only get hold of encrypted data. You should utilise the VPN even for your home network to benefit from the encrypted data transfer.
5. Educate kids: Familiarise your kids to the concept of cybercrimes to prevent harassment, bullying or stalking online. You should also be approachable to your child if he or she is the victim of any form of cybercrime.
6. Identity Theft: When sharing personal information on the internet, be cautious. To prevent hacking and misuse of your identity for unlawful purposes, keep track of your personal email addresses and social media accounts.
Even though the number of cyber-attacks worldwide has increased by 29%. It’s tough to know when someone is attempting to deceive you all of the time. This stuff may seem scary, but it’s important. The digital world is not a safe space to use if you don’t take precautions. Any one, at any age can fall victim to a cyber attack. However, if you follow the guidelines mentioned, you and your family can stay safe. What matters most is that you and your family’s connected devices are secure – security and preparation have no price – individuals save much too much sensitive information on their digital devices to leave them vulnerable to criminals. This New Year do not forget to start fresh and establish new cybersecurity habits.