New Year. New Year’s resolutions. Many of us will no doubt be promising ourselves that we’ll hit the gym more this year, or start jogging, or even maybe giving up smoking; but will we be thinking about our online wellbeing?
In 2018, collectively we lost billions of dollars at the expense of online scammers, and unless we all start making some serious changes to our online habits in 2019, that figure is likely to be the same – r even worse – over the next 12 months. So here are five easy things you can do in 2019 to dramatically decrease your chances of being a cyber-crook’s next victim.
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SplashData’s annual release of the most commonly used passwords towards the end of 2018 revealed the inevitable. We are still using terrible passwords, opting for convenience over security. While many experts may disagree over what makes for that perfect password, everyone agrees that you should not use simple passwords like “123456“, “password” or some amalgamation of your personal information like your name and date of birth, nor should you use any word you could find in a dictionary. And never use the same password for different websites.
The best passwords have uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as numbers and symbols. Too hard to keep track of all those passwords? Consider using a free password manager like LastPass which can store all your passwords in one place.
Crooks are using increasingly advanced techniques to bypass passwords, such as malware attacks, convincing phishing scams, brute force “guessing” software and of course breaching the security of websites resulting in usernames and passwords getting leaked onto the Internet. This means it is becoming increasingly important to add another level of security to your account.
2FA (two-factor-authentication) or 2SA (two-step authentication) is a great way to do that, because it means a crook needs more than just your password to get into your account. So if a crook does manage to obtain your password, as soon as they login from an unrecognised device, they’ll need something else to access the account. Often this may mean a code sent to your mobile phone (2SA) or for the more security conscious, you can’t beat a USB 2FA key such as the YubiKey.
Most websites, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram now support either 2FA or 2SA, and its easy to set up. So if you really can’t risk an account falling into the wrong hands, enable this handy security feature.
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Predictably in 2018 we saw a really big surge in fake competitions or giveaways spreading across social media, specifically on Facebook. These are the posts that ask you to follow a page, share a post and make a comment to win an expensive prize. Then they usually follow up by asking you to visit a webpage to enter.
Most of these are fake, and are luring you to spammy or sinister websites after your personal information. Entering your details onto these websites won’t enter you into a competition and they won’t win you a prize. What they will do, however, is make you the target for spammers and identity thieves. It’s just not worth it. Read here for more information on how to spot these scams and how to differentiate them from genuine promotions.
Ransomware has remained one of the biggest online threats throughout 2018, and it is still widely distributed through email, specifically via malicious email attachments. Ransomware has proved to be a double edged sword; in 2018 we saw an increase in targeted scams designed to infect a particular company network, and we saw a decrease in the number of untargeted, en masse emails sent out to millions in the hope that someone bites and opens the dangerous attachment.
It is still important to ensure you’re familiar with the types of tricks ransomware scammers will try to pull in order to trick you into infecting your computer, or worse, your company network. It is vital to never open email attachments from unknown senders unless you were explicitly expecting them to send you an attachment. Read our article here for 10 real life examples of emails that contained ransomware attachments.
New strains of malware are being discovered every single day, and many strains are extremely clever. And that means you need antivirus software to match. Many may feel they are adequately protected with the inbuilt security software that comes bundled with their operating system (e.g. Windows) but we always recommend installing something extra.
For most that may mean a free version of AVG, Malwarebytes or Bitdefender, all of which are exceptionally good (and free) antivirus programs. For those who are less experienced online, a premium, full solution that includes technical support (if needed) may be the better option to ensure you stay safe online. Our recommended solution is below.
That’s all. Here is to a safe and secure 2019!
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