When it comes to cyber security, everyone is always concerned. In today’s world of technology, we are connected to the whole world using the internet. We share lots and lots of important, confidential and personal information over the internet and there is always a potential threat that our important documents may get tracked down by the hackers and eventually the hackers may even threat us or hack our systems. Since a lot of important information is always shared over the internet, it has now become a common practice for many companies and organizations to employee professional hackers so that the companies can gain access to confidential information of other people. So, nowadays, it is very important for people and companies, especially who are always sharing important documents over the internet, to learn the Cyber Security Basics.
But what are Cyber Security basics?
Cyber Security Basics are basically the security of the web where millions and millions of people are connected. A few years back, many hackers began to emerge who were really good at their work. Those professional hackers began to perform many cyber-attacks. They wanted illegal access to the systems of organizations in order to steal, damage and use the important information which were stored in the systems of the organizations. But many organizations wanted to promote Cyber Security Basics as they were very important. Cyber Security is the protection of many confidential and important documents which are continuously being shared over the internet by various global companies and networks. Cyber Security prevents the hackers to access these devices and systems so that no information goes to the wrong hands. There are many ways to Cyber Security Basics but the hackers are always trying to out different ways so that they can break through the Cyber Security and gain access to the important information.
These were some information about Cyber Security Basics but what are the ways to Cyber Security Basics? There are many ways to Cyber Security Basics which needs to be followed carefully.
1. The most important way to Cyber Security Basics is to back up the files. In fact baking up your file is really very useful as all your important files and information will be safe. To back up files, various soft wares and tools can be used. Nowadays many operating systems provide a backup tool.
Other backup devices such as USB storage drives, External Hard Disks, CD’s and DVD’s should be used to back up important files and documents. For storing large documents, External Hard Drives must be used as they have a large storage capacity and are faster than any other storage device. All the files must be backed up at regular interval so that they do not become outdated and it should be verified that the data has been backed up successfully or not.
Online backup tools which are traditionally known as cloud storage tools allow users to backup files on the go and that main advantage of cloud storage is that they can be accessed from any device from anywhere in the world. But, cloud storage tools have a chance of getting hacked by hackers and sometimes, even the best cloud storage companies are hacked. So, the company for cloud storage must be wisely chosen.
2. The second method to Cyber Security Basics is to look out for offers and advertisements which offer many things but are not actually possible in real life. Many years ago, scammers used the mailing service and telephone to scam the people and access their personal information but nowadays, those scammers use the internet to scam the people. They show many advertisements, for example, “Google pays me $500 or $1000 dollars in a month.” These advertisements are not legitimate. The owner of these advertisements asks the user to enter their personal information and even the banking details. Later, they forget about the promise intentionally and then access the personal information entered by people, illegally. The take up all the money of the users from their banks and in the end, the users are left with nothing. So, always stay away from these advertisements.
3. The third method to Cyber Security Basics is look out for the scammers who try to scam people by sending them emails. The scammers are always looking out for the email addresses of the people especially the ones, who always use their emails for sending and receiving important documents. After acquiring the email addresses, the scammers send email to the people and try to lure the people with impossible opportunities, like, “Congratulations, you have been selected as the lucky winner for a contest. You have won $50,000. To claim the reward, please click here.” Then, the link redirects the users to a page where again, they ask the users to enter their personal information and bank details. There are many ways by which you can stay safe. Most of the email companies now offer a “spam filter” option. That filter will take all the emails like the one mentioned above to a separate “spam folder” and hence, those email will never appear in your main inbox. Other ways by which you can stay safe is by not providing the email id’s to untrusted sites. Even if you receive these kinds of email, never get lured by them and never click on the link provided in the email.
4. The fourth method for Cyber Security Basics is to secure your accounts by providing a strong password. The password that you set must at least contain eight characters and must contain a number, a letter in uppercase and a special character like the question mark (?), the exclamation mark (!), etc. You can even include a space between the characters. Never keep the same passwords for all your accounts. Always keep different password for different accounts. If you have trouble remembering the passwords for your various accounts, then write them down in a separate page and no matter what happens, never lose that page or show it to your friends or even your family members. Passwords are not meant to be shared with everybody. It is recommended that you remember your passwords.
5. The fifth method for Cyber Security Basics is to enable the firewall. Firewall is a very important and very useful tool which is provided with most of the Operating Systems. The firewall monitors and filters the incoming traffic and the outgoing between the internet and your computer. Firewall helps to protect all the documents and data in computer. Firewall prevents the hackers form accessing your computer and also prevents the unknown and unwanted traffic from entering your computer.
6. The sixth method for Cyber Security Basics is to use the anti-virus soft wares. Anti-virus soft wares are very useful and important tools which will protect you from all the viruses that can enter your computer via the internet or any other device. Many viruses are specially made so that they can enter a particular computer or computers, and track all the important information and document present in that computer, and send it to the creator of the virus whenever the computer is connected to the internet. Sometimes, they even track the key presses of the computer and send it to the creator, so that he can find your password, personal and banking information. Anti-virus soft wares prevent these viruses from entering your computer and protect your personal information. But they must be updated at a regular interval so that they can continue protecting your information.
7. The last most important method for Cyber Security Basics is to secure your Wi-Fi password, mobile and online transactions. Most of us nowadays access the internet via wireless networks but the wireless networks are always at a risk. It is recommended that you use a wired connection but sometimes, it is not possible to use a wired connection. While setting up your connection, always use a strong password using special characters, numbers and uppercase letters. Always change your Wi-Fi passwords at a regular interval. Never share any personal or important information using the Wi-Fi connections of the coffee shops, airports or any other place. They are open network and are very easy to hack. Many hackers also host a free Wi-Fi network at a particular place and if you are connected to that network, then the hacker will be able to see all the information that you send and receive using the network, without any problem.
It is very important to secure your mobile devices as they may contain some important document, personal or contact information. Enable screen lock option and enter a hard to guess password or pattern. Always keep your Bluetooth option turned when not in use as hackers can access your device using the Bluetooth feature.
While making an online transaction, always make sure that the sites for which you make the transaction are completely safe and trusted. Always look out for the green “https” sign in the url bar of your browser. Never make a transaction if you think that there is a problem with the site. If you make a lot of online transaction, then make a separate bank account for online transactions and never put a huge sum of money in that account. While making a payment, always look out for trusted payment gateways like Paypal, etc.
So, these were some of the Cyber Security Basics by which you can protect your important information and documents. There are various other methods for protecting your documents but these were the basic methods and if these are not followed, then the other advanced options for protection would be useless. I hope this helps you a lot.