Internet surely is very helpful in our day-to-day life but sometimes we have a question that are we safe by using the internet? No day could be better than this to talk on this topic. It’s Safer Internet Day. And the theme for this year is: “Together for a better internet” We have seen the Internet grow from Zero to Hero or some people will say Zero to Villian? Maybe yes and maybe no. Internet is a great help but at the same time, it is dangerous too. Some developers are creating something new and then there are hackers who either hack the system or save the system from getting hacked. In the Covid times, we have seen a lot of people getting scammed online by showing some fake things and in hurry, without researching many people directly enter their credentials and they get hacked. How do we know which website is legit and which is not? It’s very hard to discriminate between these two. So how can we not get scammed? Well here are ten simple rules that in my opinion, we can do to be safe:
1. Trust your System: Sometimes some files contain malware or trojan virus which is very hard to detect on our own but not for your system. If your system is telling you that the downloaded file or application contains viruses then avoid those.
2. Don't trust anyone: If you are not sure whether the website is legit or not, buy the stuff and choose the payment method as pay on delivery. Another thing you can do is maybe check whether the website has an SSL certificate or not. Check it easily from here.
3. Delete and report spam: If you ever get any spam messages and emails, don’t just delete them, instead, report them as spam so that the system will understand that the sender’s address is spam. It won’t just help you but others will also get the same message or email directly in the spam box.
4. Don’t trust everything you see: This is the internet, you can literally create anything and everything. Avoid those deals which are too good to be true, most of the time they show some nice graphics and show some really good features but later on turns out a scam.
5. Always take help: If you are not familiar with the website, take some help from someone you know or just call their customer care for better guidance, taking help should not hurt your ego. Instead, it will make you more knowledgeable. Read the terms and conditions of all the software, application, and website before making any purchase or making an account.
6. Never share any personal information or credentials with anyone: No matter who it is, never do this. If they are officially from a specific company like say from some bank then they will just ask for a few digits of the card or a phone number. They will never ask the full things.
7. Don’t be quiet: If you are getting bullied online or someone got your personal information like your address, phone number, photos, videos, or any confidential documents. Don’t be quiet, gather some real proof and show it to your friends or family and take some legal actions before it’s too late.
8. Regularly update the software and hardware: Always make sure every system is up-to-date with the latest security updates and patches. It is recommended that you upgrade to a newer version as frequently as you can. To do so, you can also switch your systems to auto-update mode.
9. Enforce strong password policy: Never use the same password for every account. Create strong passwords that consist of more than six characters including a combination of numbers and letters. Also, it is advisable to not share passwords with colleagues, team members, friends, or even family members.
10. Stay up-to-date: To implement the right security measures, you will also need to stay up-to-date with the latest news. It helps you in finding how people around the world are keeping up with the ever-evolving cyber threats.
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