Gone are the days when hacking was only directed at celebrities and high profile individuals. Hackers of today target almost everybody. With technological advancement and the consequent excessive reliance on technology, information, assets, and other really important things are most times backed up on one technological device or the other…online.
Hackers want just one thing – your information – and would go any length to ensure they get it from you without your knowing. They wait, and set up baits for unsuspecting internet users to get trapped in.
To avoid being susceptible to hackers, avoid doing the things listed below.
1. Making use of a password book
A password book is only a great idea until hackers compromise you. Today, passwords have become complicated, most times a combination of alphanumeric, lower and uppercase characters, and symbols, which quite honestly could be difficult to remember.
But then, resorting to the use of a password book is never a god idea. This is a NO-NO. This is the biggest online pass you can ever give a hacker.
Instead of password books, save your passwords on a different drive and encrypt them. You alone will know how to decrypt it and the hacker is none the wiser.
2. Using a weak and outdated antivirus
This is similar to installing a weak, outdated security system for your house in a high crime area. It is as good as not installing anything at all. The same applies to using a weak, outdated antivirus. This leaves you fully exposed for a hack.
A lot of antiviruses come free, but then are very weak, and in some cases are not even safe. It is best to get a paid, strong antivirus that you will regularly update to keep you safe from hackers.
3. Making use of the same password for everything
It is tough trying to use different passwords for different accounts. Many people use one password over and over again for different accounts in a bid to avoid forgetting their many different passwords.
Can you imagine what harm will be done when a hacker gets a hand on this single all-serving password? You will lose access to all these accounts at the same time and might never regain control. Using the same password is never a good idea. Switch things up!
4. Clicking indiscriminately on anything interesting online
Perhaps you have seen lots of attractive pop-ups when surfing the web. You are so tempted to click, to access the once in a lifetime offer presented to you. Calm down – you might be walking into a hacker’s trap!
Most of these links have viruses, malware, and bugs, and once installed on your computer, they get to work, giving hackers access to use your PC remotely. This freely offers them all your vital information and makes public your confidential items. The next time you have an impulse to click on such links, remind yourself that this might be a hacker’s snare.
5. Thinking you are not important enough to be hacked
Many people still think hacking is only for the high and mighty. This is absolutely untrue.
No matter how unimportant you feel you are, you have information hackers could be interested in. You have financial accounts and other non-financial accounts that could fetch them money or get you blackmailed into paying cash for your information to be kept private. And that’s aside from identity theft, which has become the order of our day.
Be ready and prepared to ward off hackers. Thinking you don’t have any important information hackers need is living a lie that could haunt you one day.
Hackers are smart, mean, and vicious. They will lure, they will trick, they will try until they find your vulnerabilities and exploit them. It’s best you avoid what makes you susceptible to their actions, and you will be glad you did.
Featured photo credit: Unsplash.com via pexels.com
