How to stay safe from cyber criminals

  

Date Posted: 11/16/2012 12:32:40 AM

Posted By: fly1234  Membership Level: Bronze  Total Points: 15

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The internet has just offered yet another opportunity for criminals. Shopping website are mainly the target because they involve a lot of credit card transactions. Once these smart cyber criminals extract the data in your credit card, they can manipulate it to cause havoc on your finances. Sometimes they buy the information online as low as Ksh 855.

So if you are that person who never minds about their credit card security, you have a reason to be wary because your vital credit card information may be available online for sale. In this internet age, there are numerous avenues through which your data may leak. If you forgot to update your antivirus, for example, someone may have the privilege of accessing your information. A counterfeit software is also as dangerous as recklessly disclosure of one's information on a random website. If there were strict laws in Kenya governing this wild world wide web, you could be convicted for abetting crime.

Our digital devices have turned against us because they are part of that broad network used by the cyber cartels to rob us. Think about how many times you disclose your personal information to your facebook account via your smartphone. An average smartphone carries one's basic information, lifestyle all all the details a criminal may want.

However, mastering the basics of cyber security is not rocket science. A simple act of frequently changing one's password is just enough to deter a potential criminal from hacking into your account.

The following points could help you beef up your security online;

1. Avoid freebies
Freebies are products or services that seem to be too cheap for their value. Be suspicious of cheap or free software or any other online products. Mr Opil, the country manager of internet security solutions firm, Kaspersky, affirms that cheap

or free online products could obliviously give you away.

You should always invest on genuine software, frequently updating it. When Symantec, an internet security firm carried out a research on internet security, it identified nearly 5,000 vulnerabilities in commonly used software. They mentioned Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat as one of the most vulnerable applications. Consumers who failed to update them ran a higher risk of leaking their personal information.

2. Update plug-ins
A plug-in is a software that adds some value to a larger application, say Adobe flash or ActiveX on Internet Explorer. Ensure that your plug-ins are up to date.

3.Password
Experts say you should use a strong password, changed at least every month. Using the same password across multiple websites is dangerous as it increased chances of hackers getting into your account or distributing spam. Your password should therefore be strong and containing mixed characters. You should never follow numbers e.g 1234.

4. Smartphones
According to a research carried out by Kaspersky, about 9,000 new malicious software have been created to target android based smartphones. These malware often come in form of SMS Trojans, where a user's airtime is consumed every time a premium SMS is sent to them.

5. Caution on social media sites
Minimize your online footprints to make it difficult for hackers to track you. Your employer details, your date of birth or area of residence is sufficient information to enable the culprits to work on your bank account. You are advised to exercise extreme caution when accepting invites from facebook or any other social network as that potential friend could turn out to be the hacker who wants to pry on your information for their benefit.

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