Blogging Heros
Cybercrime has grown exponentially in recent years with hackers becoming more innovative and creating complicated ways of hacking accounts and stealing confidential data. The trend is quite worrying because every day there are thousands of malware developed to exploit account vulnerabilities. However, regardless of this shocking trend, there are best practices that one can use to protect themselves from hackers. There are very many best practices to keep your account secure but as a user, it’s up to you to execute them.
· Password management
The basic best practice in account security is to have a strong password that should be changed regularly. This should be the login guide where the password should be at least 12 characters and should include a mix of different combinations. This means it should have numbers, special characters, lower case, and uppercase. This makes it hard for a hacker to guess or even crack the passwords. Another best practice when it comes to passwords is to make sure they are changed after every 3 or six months. Another good security practice is to avoid using the same passwords across multiple accounts. This is because when one account is compromised then all accounts linked to the same password would be at risk. A password manager can be used as it is an application that can help create and store all the passwords securely in one place and you don’t have to worry about remembering all of them.
· Regular security features updates
Every account comes with a set of security features meant to keep the account secure. However, these features may get outdated leaving the account vulnerable to attack. It is highly recommended that security features such as antivirus software, firewall, and other security features should be regularly updated. The reason is to make sure that you get the most up-to-date security features. software updates in most cases come with patches that are updated security features which help protect against malware and other cybersecurity threats. Scanning your device regularly for malware is also highly recommended to keep the account safe.
· Learn hacking tactics
The best way to protect your account is if one can learn the phishing and social engineering tactics that hackers use. Phishing attacks are one of the most popular attacks because of their manipulative nature. This is where one gets an email that appears to originate from a legitimate source. Once the user acts on the information on the email they are lured to provide their personal information which is then stolen. The same case with social engineering, where one can get a link to a website that looks legitimate only to have their personal information stolen.
These are some of the basic best practices that one can use to protect their account against cyber threats. Others are common and simple that one might overlook. It’s important to log out of all of your accounts once you step away from the computer. One should also be very careful about the information that they share online as this information can be stolen, especially personal information or address.
