Today, every organisation uses the internet to save time and store their confidential data online. Cyber Security is important for protecting laptops, programmes, payment information, personal details, bank accounts, customer and client information and networks from damages, attacks or unauthorised access. It is a broad term that covers the different measures that defend computers and networks from mischief and starts with the individual’s security from the internet. The necessity for security stems from the keystroke logging programmes, virus threats and spyware that exist today. Some of the popular cyber-crimes are phishing, cyber stalking and espionage.
Phishing seeks to extract your important information. Here, an attacker makes a user visit a website which in turn asks for a password, username, credit card details and so on. To secure yourself from phishing attack, never enter the correct password in the first attempt. Always check the link of the site in the browser. If possible, Google the website link. HTTPS links are secured so never input the credit card details without checking the SSL certificate in the browser.
In cyber stalking, the stalker anonymously stalks and harasses a person with the help of email, messaging or online discussion groups. It differs from spamming because spammer targets many recipients at random but stalker targets a specific victim. Stalker encourages others to harass the victim, imposes false victimisation and posts defamatory and derogatory statements. The best way to guard against cyber stalking is to stay anonymous. Use primary email for trusted contacts only and for other communications use email with an anonymous name. Your online name must be gender neutral and make it different from your original name. Espionage refers to gathering of information of any organisation or any individual illegally.
Smartphones and other mobile devices can be at high risk to cyber-attacks and other bullying acts. Today’s smartphones have the ability to do so much more than what a normal mobile phone did a few years ago – but this intensely extended range of potentials also exposes the user to increased security risk. Today, everyone is using their phones for a much wider range of activities – from online shopping to social networking, online banking, paying bills and surfing the web. We need to take sensible safety measure to make sure our phones and our sensitive information is kept safe from cyber criminals and malware attacks.
Eight Cyber Security Tips to Stay Safe and Secure
Cyber-attacks are a big problem for companies large and small. Here are some tips to help you secure your sensitive information from attackers.
Regularly evaluate responsibilities and access to sensitive data. Always verify 3rdparty access and security. Most frequent form of insider misuse is privilege abuse., which accounts for over 80 percent of all incidents. So monitor and verify privileged use. Apply encryptions to PCs and USB drives and encourage the employees to keep devices with them. Enable auto-update to the 3rd party addons such as Acrobat, Java, and Flash as these are the common malware infection vectors. Remember, data on a personal computer and removable storage is most at risk (47%).
Enable email scanning by your antivirus, disables automatic previewing. Never respond to the email requests which demands the personal and company account information. 91 percent of the advanced cyber-attacks begin with email.
Do not share your password with anyone! Try not using the same security questions across multiple sites and change your password on the regular 90- days basis at least. According to some reports, more than 1 billion passwords are stored in Russian databases already.
Your password must be 12 characters long, include numbers, symbols and uppercase and lowercase letters combination. Stop using passwords such as mobile numbers, patterns as “password”, “QWERTY” or “123456”.
Malicious software or malware can make its way from the downloads, email, social media onto machines. One such malware is the Key logger which tracks the keystrokes of the user. Every input from the keyboard is stored and lately, it allows the attackers to see passwords and other confidential information. Frequent update of the software will help to avoid such malicious software activities.
Recognise the social engineering. Social engineering can be used both offline and online by the criminals. It is also known as pre-texting. Many criminals with the help of social engineering make the users install malicious software such as fake antiviruses. Secure the Wi-Fi: Encrypt the Wi-Fi for security purpose. There were flaws in the older wireless forms of encryption. Your company should employ the WPA2 encryption i.e. Wi-Fi-Protected-Access 2.
With the increasing number of successful cyber attacks against highprofile targets, it’s important to stay alert and responsible. Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. There’s no magic wand, obviously, but taking the above precautions reduces your risk.
