The United Kingdom remains a hotbed for hackers and scammers with 96 per cent of all UK businesses reported they suffered a damaging cyber-attack in the last year alone.
As if this is not shocking enough, the first quarter in 2020 saw a 30% surge in the rate of cybersecurity breaches in Britain.
If the statistics tell us anything, it is that apart from devices’ hardware conditions, we need to pay more attention to our digital threats. To maintain control on your online security profile, here are some actions you can take.
Account Breach Monitoring
There was a time when only organisations could run diagnostics on their systems to see if there has been a breach. These days, online accounts and apps are equipped with a self-reporting feature to inform users of suspicious account activity.
Always review your account activity such as connected devices which lets you manage where your data is being accessed. Look at any login attempts with an IP address, you can quickly decide if someone else is trying to gain access to your accounts.
Install Security Software
Security apps help you to catch those issues you might have missed otherwise. One of the top security software to have is an anti-malware software.
At a time when ransomware is on the surge, such apps and software come in handy. An antivirus will also help to fight phishing attempts to a good degree.
In all you do, don’t forget to install a VPN app on your devices. VPNs create a secure tunnel and encrypt internet traffic on your network. This prevents your ISP or unwanted party to snoop on your activities and personal information.
Password Practices
People use the same password for more than one account, choose weak passwords or have ones with personally identifying information in them. Doing any of these makes a hacker’s job easier.
To keep your data and accounts safe, set secure passwords using random password generators or a password manager service. Password managers organise all your unique passwords in your account, which you can access with one master password.
You should also establish a rolling password habit where you change your passwords regularly. Be sure to enable two-factor authentication on online accounts to enhance their security and protect any data they have.
Commission Security Audits
This is more applicable to institutions and businesses but this does not mean individuals cannot take advantage of the same services too.
Security audit companies are responsible for identifying all the vulnerable security spots in your network which could be weak points for hackers to penetrate. Once this audit is done, swing into action to fix all of the issues.
Stay Updated
A simple security practice people often ignore are updates, they may be tedious but they are essential. Set your devices and systems to auto-update so you can be assured the devices are always protected from cybercriminals.
Device or software updates are usually there to fix flaws and vulnerabilities in the system. When you ignore these updates, you leave your device open to hackers who know what systematic flaws they can exploit.