Last week a friend of mine got one his Gmail account hacked.
As a result, he lived a nightmare the next five days.
Imagine what could happen if someone had access to years of emails containing your personal information, photos, credentials and more?
This is why I decided to write this post.
I hope it will help you to always stay safe online.
01. Use Long and Different passwords
To make your passwords as secure as possible you should:
Use passwords that contain letters (lowercase AND uppercase), numbers, and characters (example: “!”, “*”, etc.).
Use long passwords (at least 10 characters).
I use small sentences for my passwords. This technique has 3 advantages: my passwords are long, unique (impossible to guess for someone else), and memorable.
For example, my password for Steemit could be: “Istartedwritingonthissiteon07252016andloveit!”
(By the way, it’s not my real password :)).
You should also use different passwords for every site. This way, if one of your passwords is compromised, your other accounts are safe.
Now, I have used more than 250+ passwords. It’s impossible for me to remember them all.
The best solution I found is to use the software 1Password to store my passwords. I only need to remember one Master Password to access all my passwords.
I’ve been using it for more than 3 years now; it works extremely well. It integrates into your browser to automatically fill in your credentials. Huge time saver!
02. Be careful when you set up your security questions
Security questions are questions you must answer to reset your password when you lost it.
The common mistake people make, is to choose questions anyone could answer. Indeed, if you have a security question asking your father’s birthday date, it could be easy for anyone to find it. It might be available on his Facebook, account, in an old article published about him, etc.
So when you choose your security questions, make sure it is something no one can find online (ex: the name you third favorite book).
03. Always upgrade your OS and applications
Editors are continuously fixing security issues. To be as safe as possible, it’s important always to upgrade your operating system and applications to the latest version available.
Don’t believe me? Did you know that the Panama papers leak might be due to a WordPress plugin that has not been updated?
04. Never install something you don't know
Only install software from trusted sources on your computer. It’s not rare to find ads online that try to trick you into installing anti-virus for your computers. The anti-viruses are in fact the viruses! If you’re not sure, don’t install!
To prevent ads that pop up everywhere asking you to install stuff you an ad blocker (Ad-block or uBlock origin).
You can also use Virus Total (https://www.virustotal.com/) to scan files and make sure they don’t contain viruses.
05. Stay on secure site
Always stay on legit websites.
06. Make sure the connection is secured (HTTPS) when sending data
Before sending information or making a payment, make sure you're on a site that use SLL encryption. You can easily see that checking if the website address starts with HTTPS instead of HTTP.
07. Be careful on public WIFI
Your connection can be very easily hacked when you use public WIFI. People can intercept data without trouble. As a rule of dumb, avoid accessing sensible accounts (like your bank accounts) when surfing from a public WIFI.
One of the best ways to protect yourself, in this case, is to use a VPN. It will encrypt your connection making it difficult for anyone to access your data. I use PrivateIneternetAcess as my VPN; it works well.
08. Use 2 steps authentification
For your most sensible accounts (Google’s Gmail, Apple’s iCloud, etc.) it can be worth it to use a 2 steps authentification. A 2 steps authentification usually means that you’ll need to enter a code sent to your phone in addition to your password to access your account.
It can be annoying, for sure. But it’s also very effective to protect your most sensible accounts.
09. Analyze your emails
Many problems on the internet arise when we’re not cautious with the emails we receive.
The amount of SPAM emails is so gigantic, it could crush you!
The first rule of emails is always to analyze the address of the sender. Make sure it’s a professional address with the name of the company after the “@“.
Next, never open an attached file of an email expect if you are 100% sure of who the sender is.
Third, be very prudent with emails asking you to do something and click on a link. They usually seem too good to be true (you won 1milion dollars), or very urgent (you bank accounts are going to close, or a friend needs your immediate help).
Last but not least, never give personal and sensible information via email. You should never send passwords, PIN codes, and any other sensible information via email even if it for a trusted person.
10. Back up everything!
Backups are so important. If you computer gets infected, sometimes the only solution will be to erase your whole hard drive and re-install everything. To re-install your operating systems, software and retrieve your precious files (photos, videos, documents, etc.) you need to have saved a clean version of your computer.
To backup my computer I use two systems:
- Backups on external hard drives. I have 3 hard drives: one with me, one at my parent’s place and one at a friend’s place.
It diversifies the risk of having one hard drive being stolen, or simply not working anymore.
I use Western Digital hard drives and make sure they’re passwords protected with their proprietary software. I backup my computer with Time Machine (I’m on Mac).
- Online backups via CrashPlan. It’s a tool that automatically and continuously backs up my computer. It is a convenient application because it also saves different versions of your files. The inconvenient with CrashPlan is that if you need to re-download all the content of your computer, it will be pretty long.
If you guys have other suggestions to stay safe online, I'd love to see them :)