Facebook and Email Security tips to stop hackers
Here are some of the very minimum things you should do if you want to stop hackers from ruining your life. The sad thing? You can probably do all of these things perfectly and still get hacked.
1. Different passwords
Every single account should have a different password. Never ever have the same password for an insecure site like Facebook and something important like your online banking.
2. Complex passwords
If your password is less than ten characters long, a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols then it is not strong enough. It must never be a name, birthday or information about someone or something around you.
3. Updated anti-virus software
You need to have an updated version (or two) of the latest anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. There are free ones like AVG or paid ones like Norton. Get one and update it automatically.
4. Latest Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari versions
Don’t just ignore that update request from your browser, do it right away. Some of those updates are security ones. In fact, keep up to date as to which is the most secure browser and just use that. Hello Chrome?
5.Use Facebook and email securely with the right URL
Go log in to Facebook. Go on, do it. Now, does the URL say “http://” or “https://”? If it is the former then you are not in a secure session. Go in to your settings and make sure it always uses https:// and whenever you log into any website make sure you type the “s” if you are logging in.
6. Don’t send passwords or store important information online OR offline
Don’t send secure information over the net at all. Especially through chat or email. If someone has got into your account without you noticing they might be monitoring what you are doing. If you need to send passwords to workers, family, etc. then call them on the phone. You should also avoid saving passwords on your hard drive as that too is really easy to access.
7. Make your security questions tough
You know those security questions like “what is your mother’s maiden name?” Well, make them complex answers. For example, in one of mine I selected first pet’s name and then made the answer a complex password. If you ever get hacked you need this information to re-gain access to the account. You don’t want a hacker to change this.
8. Don’t click links in emails
As a general rule, most banks and financial institutions don’t send you emails with links. Don’t ever click any such email you get. If you genuinely think it is from your bank ring them up instead.
Sometimes we will allow suspicious Facebook apps to access our informations without noticing that they’re collectiong your personal information. My advice is to check your privacy settings on Facebook again