Cybersecurity – Three Ways To Prevent Cyber Attacks
Cybercriminals should have an especially easy time this year. On the one hand, phishing emails could lure interested football fans to fake websites or supposed streaming services with content relevant to the World Cup. On the other hand, the annual online gift hunt could prove fatal. Due to inflation, shoppers plan to shop more sparingly this year and could be tempted to follow fake links by false savings offers and holiday deals.
Check The Content First, Then Click.
Cybercriminals impersonate people, companies or institutions you know to gain attention and trust (spoofing). To do this, they try to make email sender addresses, web addresses and messages appear deceptively real. However, there are a few tricks you can use to verify authenticity. Take a close look at the sender and the content: Are there any obvious spelling and grammatical errors? Is it a legitimate email address? Let’s take the following example: support@apple.de. Is the “L” in Apple an “L” or maybe an uppercase “i”? This is very easy to control. Or: Someone has provided a text module with a hyperlink. Just move your mouse over the word without clicking. Most programs show where the link leads to. However, you should always enter web addresses yourself in the browser. The basic rule is: Do not open any messages, attachments or links if something strikes you as odd, and certainly not if you do not know the sender. The same applies to software and apps: do not install applications from unknown or unverified providers.
Securing Poorly Protected Accounts
Having a secure password is now a given. Each time you register, you are advised to use a strong one. But the truth is that even in 2022, “123456” and “password” were still the most popular.
Good password hygiene ensures that nobody can easily guess your current password. This includes using a strong password at least ten characters long and consisting of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters. Also, it would help if you renewed passwords regularly and never recycled them. However, before you write down your difficult passwords on a piece of paper that other people around you might find, you can transfer the responsibility to a password manager. This saves the information and automatically inserts it on the respective websites.
With two-factor authentication, you can protect your accounts additionally. You verify the registration for a website or app with a second input – for example, a PIN that you receive by SMS or biometric features. Attackers would then need your password and your smartphone to crack your user account.
Trusting The Technology
Manufacturers constantly work to make their hardware and software more secure and regularly release updates. Once your PC or phone prompts you to update, please don’t ignore it or postpone it until tomorrow. This increases the risk that vulnerabilities identified by developers, for example, remain open for longer and can be exploited by cybercriminals. Ideally, activate the automatic updates function to close security gaps as quickly as possible.
The same applies to security functions such as the firewall or virus scanners. These should also remain switched on permanently and updated to ensure the greatest possible protection of the end device.
Of course, the responsibility does not lie solely with the workforce. Companies have to help with certain adjustment screws. On the one hand, they can support their employees with information and further training with the help of regular, practical security awareness training courses.
On the other hand, pursuing a three-part security and resilience strategy is advisable. Part of this strategy is anticipating threats and implementing the right technologies to protect the infrastructure. It’s also imperative that they know what to do during a successful disaster recovery and business continuity attack.
