A cyberattack is when someone who is not authorized attempts to gain access to your system, network, or tries to steal and destroy data. It is considered one of the major crimes in today’s world.
These kinds of attacks are done by individuals or organizations, known as cybercriminals or hackers. In this article, I will share the top 5 ways that can help you save from cyberattacks.
1. Use Unique and Strong Passwords
Using a strong, unique password is one of the most important ways to prevent cyberattacks. Just having a plain password set up on your accounts isn’t enough; your password should be strong and unique so that a hacker cannot crack it easily.
For that, you need to consider a few points when setting a password. For example:
- The password should have 12-14 characters
- Do not mention your personal information in the password, such as name, age, or address. etc.
- Use symbols like @, #, $, % and etc. Symbols like these are hard for hackers to predict when they are trying to hack your account.
- Use a combination of upper- and lower-case letters
- Use password manager tools like 1Password, Dashlane, Keeper and etc. They securely save, manage, and generate your passwords and other important login information.
Pro tip: Use a combination of words, symbols, and numbers that are easy for you to remember and hard for the other person to guess, for example, “Blue$River42!Sun”.
2. Contact your Internet Service Provider
Contacting your internet service provider can help you with cyberattacks. They are considered to be the first line of defense and are smartly placed within the internet to detect, block, and mitigate risks that can harm your connection and devices.
Many ISPs in the U.S. use tools like an Intrusion Detection System (IDS), network firewalls, and AI-supported security applications to monitor the traffic on your connection and to indicate malicious activities. Service providers can block the unauthorized IP addresses, filter the harmful content, and prevent users from activities like phishing.
I use Cox Internet mainly because of their super helpful bilingual customer support (being a Spanish speaker, this really helps). So one day I contacted Cox servicio al cliente to learn what ways they use to protect their clientele from online attacks.
I was surprised to find out they use a multi-layered approach to protect against cyber-attacks for both residential and commercial users. Cox offers a suite of security tools powered by McAfee for all customers. It offers protection across multiple devices, such as computers, smartphones, and tablets. Additionally, it offers features such as anti-malware, anti-spam filters, and anti-phishing tools.
So, don’t hesitate to contact your ISP, since, as mentioned earlier, it is the first line of defense against all attacks. Do ask them what security features they offer, and if you’re not satisfied, it’s time to subscribe to a new one.
3. Phishing Awareness
Have you ever got an email like “Click here and win a PS5 for free”? If not, you’re safe, and if yes, then delete it NOW.
Messages and emails like these are part of phishing activities actividades de phishing. What happens is, you get an email or message like this, and if you press on the “click here” option, they will take you to a new page and ask for your social media credentials or bank account details.
Do not enter any of the details since it is a part of phishing. They will either take all your money or get access to your social media accounts.
Moreover, there are some points that you need to look into, as phishing messages or emails have these things in common, for example:
- Analyze the sender email address. Look closely in search for any misspellings or deviations from the address.
- Examine the URLs in the emails before clicking on them.
- Look for phishing language, for example, simple greetings, or poor spelling/grammar.
4. Data Back up
Data backup can help you against cyberattacks by providing a copy of your data that can be saved after a malicious attack, like ransomware, has occurred. This enables you to recover your data, restore your device to how it was before the attack, and avoid paying ransom money to recover your data.
Use a 3-2-1 data backup strategy that will help you create a secure backup of all your files and that can be easily recovered. The strategy is very simple, for example:
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- Keep at least three copies of your data
- Use two different types of storage
- And one off-site copy
Moreover, there are different backup options that you can use so that personal information can easily be recovered, such as:
- Use removable devices: This is the easiest and most commonly used way to store data for many people. This includes portable devices like USB flash drives, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray disks.
- External Hard drive: Using external hard drives is a popular method of storing data because of the excess storage option. The data can be transferred easily from your device to the hard device through cables or wirelessly.
- Cloud backups: This provides access to your data via the internet at any time and from anywhere. Storage space depends on the plan that you have subscribed to.
5. Enable 2 Factor Authentication 2FA
2 Factor Authentication, also known as 2FA, acts as a second layer of defense. This helps your social media and back accounts to be safe even if the hacker knows the login details, since until and unless the user doesn’t enter the one-time password OTP from their device, the login will fail.
For strong protection fuerte protección, it is recommended to use physical security keys or authenticator apps for text message codes. SMS messages or text messages are vulnerable to SIM swapping attacks, where the attacker takes over your phone number.
Furthermore, the users should save the provided backup code in a secure, offline location in case they lose access to their main device.
Cyberattacks evolve every day, and so can our defense techniques. Always remember that prevention is always better than recovery. Use the top 5 tricks in the article mentioned above to save yourself from cyber-attacks. Keep your digital world safe and secure.