Living in the digital era many of us are not aware of all the security risks involved with an online civilisation. All our banking, bill payments, work and emails are based on the big wide web. With this in mind, here are some key security tips:
- Do not use the same password for more than one site/application. Always at least vary the numbers/letters in a way that you can remember. Make sure that your password is 6 characters or more. Change your passwords regularly. You could set a date every month to change your password. You could use that date plus a word to generate your new password. Example: 12/01/10-Silvertec.
- Make sure all Windows Security updates are installed! Do you see a yellow shield by your clock?(XP) Or do you see a white book icon with a Windows logo?(Vista/7). Click that icon and run all critical security updates.
- Is your anti-virus definitions database kept updated? Open your anti virus and click ‘update now’.
- Do you share your pc with one or more people? Make sure to log out of any web sessions once you have finished. Use Firefox/IE8? Press Ctrl Shift and Del and clear browsing data from the last 4 hours+.
- Is your web browser up to date? Google and other providers are starting to remove support for old web browsers. IE6 is soon to be decommissioned. Make sure your web browser is the latest version. Firefox is currently the best alternative to Internet Explorer and remains secure and updated regularly.
- Make sure all other applications are patched and their latest release. That old version of Outlook may well still work, but it also poses a security threat. Run this FREE online security scanner to get an idea of what 3rd party applications may need updating. http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/
- Is your home WIFI secure? A lot of people are still using WEP encryption on their WIFI. This has long been known to be very easy to hack. Only ever use WPA/WPA2 when encrypting your WIFI network. If you do not know how to change this setting, it may well be worth phoning your ISP to check. The weakest point of any network is the ability to get onto the wireless network and sniff data.
- Do NOT open email attachments from unknown senders. No matter how tempting or great the attachment may sound. Opening files from known sources still poses a great threat, so make sure your expecting that attachment, if not open with caution.
- Be wary of identity theft. Social networking sites are a great tool, but just be cautious about what information you share with others. Some information provided to facebook/twitter may be the answer to a security question on another site where you have ‘forgotten’ your password. Just keep this in mind.
- When logging into websites that will be taking valuable credentials (such as banks/paypal/eBay) check the url has https:// at the start. There should also be a padlock icon, usually located at the bottom of the browser to indicate that your session is encrypted. Its a good idea to also check the web address. Does it have anything before the .com that should not be there?
