5 Habits you should adopt to keep your devices safe from cyber-criminals!

As the pandemic has pushed businesses online, it has also increased security and privacy threats. The already broken fabric of security has become pervasive, allowing cybercriminals further opportunities to attack. We no longer have the privilege to surf the internet insouciantly. Adopting certain small habits can prevent us from being a victim of a cyber attack.

Checking for HTTPS

The average person visits 5 to 23 websites per day (the statistic might have increased in the pandemic), yet seldom do we ensure that the site we visit is secured or not. HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure, which indicates that any communication occurring via a website is secured and encrypted. An adversary trying to snoop won’t be able to “hear” any confidential information.

Storing passwords as hashes

Remembering passwords has become a hassle (at least for me). We prefer jotting them down somewhere. However, storing them as plain text on your device is not a wise idea. Passwords can be stored as hashes. Hashing is a function that maps a string of variable size into a bit string of fixed size. Once a hash is created, it cannot be inverted back to the original plaintext. To learn more about how to hash your passwords you can refer to this article: Click Here

Keeping your operating system up to date

Regular software updates help mitigate risks involved in the previous releases. With every new software update, your device takes a step closer to a secure environment. Hence, even the smallest habit of regularly updating your devices can prevent you from losing to cybercriminals.

Avoid Free & Insecure Wi-Fi

Free Wi-Fi is tempting, I am sure we all are guilty of connecting to an insecure network at least once in our lives. Once you are on an insecure network, it is easier for adversaries to snoop and eavesdrops on your connection. Data transmitted on insecure Wi-Fi is in unencrypted form. That means any data communicated can be easily intercepted and read by a hacker. Devices like the Wi-Fi pineapple allow a user to steal shared data on public Wi-Fi networks.

CPU Hijackers

CPU hijackers are also called Cryptojackers and crypto-mining malware. It is a term used to describe the unauthorized use of someone else’s computer to mine cryptocurrency. Malicious links are used as bait to download crypto-mining code on the computer or by infecting an online advertisement with javascript code. This code works in the background without the user’s knowledge. The slower performance and lags in the execution of your computer might be due to a crypto-mining code running in the background. Cryptojacking can be prevented by avoiding clicking on phishing links, using ad-blockers and adding anti-crypto mining extensions.