In the 1990s, the World Wide Web was born and brought with it the promise of a new era of possibilities as well as threats. Spam affected emails and computer viruses caused destruction to corporate networks and hacking was a huge issue. Hackers can steal your personal information, take over your credit or banking online account, and even sell your personal information on the dark web for a large amount of money.

Your online existence is more complex than ever before. You’re using a smartphone, shop online, make purchases online, use Facebook and even your IoT devices and internet-connected appliances monitor and track your activities. Hackers can access all of these data, regardless of whether they are part of a criminal organization or a random person with a political agenda.

Create strong passwords for all your online accounts. Make use of a password manager to manage the passwords. Consider activating two-step authentication. This adds an extra layer of security by having you enter a code sent to your email or phone address in addition to your password each time you log in. Encrypt your hard drive so that hackers are unable to access your data even if they https://universityparkcarecenter.com/students-choice-information-technology-vs-computer-technology are able to gain access to your mobile device or computer. Also, be sure to disable « run as administrator » on your computer, don’t jailbreak or root your mobile devices and shut down your computer instead of running all day long (all-time running can affect your device’s performance and opens the way to cyberattacks). You can reduce your risk by using the right software for malware scanning removal, uninstalling and data encryption.