Desafortunadamente, no está disponible actualmente el contenido de esta página en el idioma seleccionado.

5 More Tips on How You Can Best Protect Your Online Security

Updated on July 13, 2021: From now on, traffic filtering, malware protection, and suspicious DNS activity blocking are available as a part of the separate DNS Firewall app.

credit-card-caught-on-a-fishing-hook-concept-for-addiction-to-spending-with-credit-or-phishing-91785469-100264854-primary.idge Today we will continue talking about the ways of improving your online security and protecting your web privacy. In our previous blog posts, we dwelled on the necessity to backup your data, two-factor authentication, and other efficient methods to safely browse the web. But there is more to discuss.

Still doubt about the significance of the issue?

The two biggest hacking events that came up this summer, Black Hat 2016  and DefCon 2016, presented results of the research on the issue of our vulnerability to cyber criminals’ attacks. According to experts, hackers need only a concealed device or a wireless link to remotely attack a car. They also demonstrated a method to hack an ATM machine in just 15 minutes.

One more astonishing news is that there were discovered a number of security issues related to the new HTTP/2 protocol that can place millions of websites (8.7 percent of all websites has already adopted the new standard) at risk of attack.

These all mean that we must be extremely prudent and thoughtful in order to protect our identities, properties, and sensitive information. Even reading news feed and comments on social networks during your lunch is not secure. Hence, don’t do this without implementing at least a few basic security precautions.

Here are a few steps that all of us can and should take, or at least consider, to protect ourselves from cyber criminals.

1. Ad-Blockers

Today’s online ads are a mix of in-your-face marketing, invasive tactics to show up, and ransomware. The last one is a fully established business model, and a reliable profit engine for cyber criminals, which is only gaining in popularity. The ten countries with more ransomware reports are India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Italy, Germany, Vietnam, Algeria, Brazil, Ukraine, and the United States.

ransomware As per the statistics, anyone can be tricked into clicking on a dangerous link, even if you are the smartest security buff in the world. When you click on a potentially malicious link, that’s considered as the first step to launch a malware attack, install ransomware, or steal your sensitive data.

The attack can be not immediately apparent to you. The malware operates silently in the background until the data-locking mechanism is deployed. Then a dialogue box pops up telling that the data was locked, and demanding a ransom (usually in Bitcoin) in return for the decryption key to unlock your data again.  By then it is too late to save the data through any security measures.

This is not something you can ignore! That is why to fight ransomware, you should use ad-blockers. This software will allow you to get an improved, uninterrupted, and secure browsing experience, as well as easier site navigation without annoying ads.

2. Go beyond passwords

Famous services like Facebook, Google, Twitter and Apple allow to use additional ways of authentication. They may include security questions or biometrics like a fingerprint, or even a voiceprint. This will help you to tighten up your online security.

Note that by the end of the year Google plans to eliminate passwords in its Project Abacus in favor of a comprehensive analysis of the way you use your device. This data (how you type, how you speak) will be combined with other signals from the sensors in your device. Then the system will calculate the probability that you are who you say you are. It seems to be the future of online security.

3. Turn NFC off

When your device broadcasts its frequency, it can be easily uncovered and your personal data will end up right into the hands of hackers. To avoid such an unwanted scenario, you should turn off your NFC settings, especially after using a mobile payment method, like Apple Pay or Android Pay.

4. MiFi vs WiFi

If you are really serious about safeguarding your laptops, tablets, and phones, you should consider using MiFi to connect to the internet. It is a wireless router that acts as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. This is a safer alternative to public WiFi networks that are full of adversaries who are after your sensitive information.

However, when you are travelling abroad, using a MiFi connection will add extra roaming charges to your bill. Thus, if you are ready to give up using free public WiFI hotspots, this solution is for you.

5. Passwords hygiene

Yahoo_1474548716639 On September 22nd, Yahoo announced that a copy of at least 500 million user account credentials were stolen from the company’s network back in 2014. According to the recent investigation by Yahoo “the account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.” They added that “the stolen information did not include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information.”

Yahoo asks potentially affected users to immediately change passwords, security questions and answers for any account where they use the same or similar information as they do for their Yahoo account. The company further recommends to avoid following the links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails.

To protect your personal data from such unexpected news, you should use strong passwords, and change them frequently. Your new passwords should contain a combination of uppercase, lowercase and special characters, and be as long as a service allow them to be.

Postscript

If you are willing to avoid cyber threats that seem to be here for a long term, showing no sign of diminishing, to establish and protect your online identity ought to be a top priority. Each of mentioned proactive approaches, including using strong passwords and Mi-Fi routers, will be useful only in certain situations. Yet, there is a solution that will secure your online privacy no matter what kind of online activity you perform.

Whether you are watching an adult video, doing online banking, posting on social networks, or connecting to a public WiFi hotspot to buy air-tickets, VPN Unlimited will be your protective shield against any cyber threat.

Our security solution is one of the best on the market, and offers you a high-grade encryption, lightning connection speed, strong security and a smooth user-experience.

Try it now, and tell us what you think!

Download VPN Unlimited

Get VPN Unlimited right now and start enjoying a secure and private internet with absolutely no borders!