How to protect yourself from a data breach

Technological progress makes us pay close attention to personal data on the Internet and when working at computer. The faster computer technologies enter our lives, the more important it becomes to protect our personal data. What should you do to not be a victim of cyber crime? In the article we will answer this question and tell you how to protect your device from hacking and data leakage to third parties.

Technological advances have allowed us to do many things on our computers and phones, including storing personal photos, making business transactions and creating our bank accounts as well. Therefore, the issue of protecting personal information is becoming especially important. That is why we have prepared this article on how to avoid hacking and personal data leakage.

How can hackers crack your computer?

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There are many types of hacker attacks. It is important to be aware of the most common types of attacks that hackers use to hack your computer.

• Mailbombing. This is one of the oldest types of hacker attacks. A significant increase in traffic and the number of messages sent lead to the malfunction of server. It paralyzes not only your mail, but also the work of the mail server itself. This type of attack is used very seldom today.
• Viruses, trojans, mailworms, sniffers. This type of attack combines various third-party programs. The purpose and principle of operation of such programs can be extremely diverse, so it makes no sense to dwell on each of them. All these programs are united by the fact that their main goal is to get access and “infect” the system.
• Man-in-the-middle. Hacker intercepts a communication channel between two applications. As a result, he gets access to all the information going through this channel. The purpose of the attack is not only theft, but also falsification of information.
• DoS (Denial of Service) — attack which aims to make server not respond to the requests. This type of attack does not directly imply obtaining some secret information, but is used to paralyze the work of target services.
• DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) – a subtype of DoS attacks, which has the same purpose as DoS. But it is conducted from multiple computers belonging to the same network. It leads to the failure of victim’s server. DDoS is used if conventional DoS is ineffective.

How to protect your device from hacking?

Now we know how and why attackers can hack computers. It’s time to share tips on how to prevent this from happening.

1. Be careful when shopping online. It is better not to make purchases from other people’s devices as it can save your username and password, bank card information etc. Attackers can copy your data and use it for their own purposes. All you need to follow: use a secure network, use strong passwords, make sure that you visit safe online shops, never store card data in your online accounts, check your bank card transactions weekly.
2. Do not use simple passwords. It is not difficult for a professional hacker to hack your computer if the password is 12345. Use complex encryption. For example, capital and small letters in a word, combine numbers with letters in order to create passwords for your accounts.
3. Never leave your laptop or smartphone unlocked for a long time. Even if you just walked away for a few minutes and left your gadget accessible, a professional hacker will have enough time to enter the system.
4. Use end-to-end data encryption. This type of data protection is very popular among companies, as it is considered one of the most reliable in the world. Most of the messengers use this type of protection, so access keys are stored exclusively on users’ devices. This means that without gaining access to the device, third parties will not be able to access the information.
5. Regularly check the applications which are installed on your computer. Applications which you don’t use should be removed with the help of special utilities and programs such as MacKeeper. This will reduce the risk of hacking the system and increase the performance of the computer.
6. Two-factor authentication. This implies not only a strong password, but also certain information or a fact that is known exclusively to the user. For example, it could be his voice, fingerprint, smart card, or something else.

Frequently Аsked Questions

• Should we use VPN or not?

People working on a laptop in a cafe or other public places, are strongly advised to use a VPN service. Thus, traffic will be redirected to the other server, and the user will receive an encrypted address for the connection. It decreases the risk, that cyber fraudsters would be able to hack it.

• Should I give applications access to my data?

Each of the applications downloaded to your smartphone requests access to your personal data. Users of iOS and Android can check what information the applications and games have access to. If you find out something suspicious, then immediately forbid the access in the settings or delete it from your device.

• Should geolocation be turned on all the time?

When posting photos, you might have noticed that the geographical location could be set automatically. If you turn off geolocation, applications and services will not have access to information about the location of your device. So, it is better to limit the access to the geolocation of your smartphone or laptop for your own protection.

• Is it possible to hack a computer using social networks?

You should remember that your personal data can be found by looking at your photos from social networks. For example, you can upload a photo from the airport, where you are happy and pose with your boarding pass. But the boarding pass barcode is unique and can be used to search for personal information provided by the airline. Photographing documents is also a bad idea.

• Maybe it makes sense to delete social networks altogether?

Undoubtedly, you should not panic and delete accounts from all social networks, but simply use the above tips. They will protect you from unforeseen and unpleasant situations.

Suggested Reading: Acronis and ZNet Technologies join forces to equip partners with innovative cyber protection solutions

Conclusion

Unfortunately, there is no universal way to protect your personal data from leakage and computer from hacking. You can protect yourself by combining high-performance software and knowledge of how to avoid potential threats. Thus, it is necessary to carry out full computer checks as often as possible, and be careful when working at the computer.

About author: Naomi Stone is a freelance writer. She enjoys traveling near and far and spending time with family and friends. Naomi also enjoys scrapbooking, photography and gardening.