Your Top 5 questions on Internet security, answered

Photo credit:Dessi comment

The way internet as glued to our fabrics and become an embodiment of us now-a-days has proven that this technological improvement has come to stay in fact if there would be any evolution in INTERNET again it would be only complimentary.

Another world has been created distinctively you would agree as almost anything you can do offline has been simplified online no doubt. The situation is also so as we have improvement in almost all areas and robbery. 

Thieves would be armed from teeth to toe to protect themselves when going to raid and perpetuate there criminal acts if you would call it that (the olden days style..Lol), now that everything is becoming virtualized e-wallet, e-mail, e-payment, etc. E-theft has also slalomed and lugubriously they are already a force to reckon with much the way we deal with the offline thieves if not more.

•      How do you make a secured online shopping

Many don’t know the difference between making transactions on a site with http://Exampleshoping.com and https://Exampleshoping.com. The former is secured having fulfilled some online security conditions. 

So beware of any bank messages in your mail or any link requesting for your bank details (credit cards, security pins etc.). Never give out if you can’t find the “S” behind the http you might be a victim of cyberphishing  

Lastly, clear your browser history to prevent cyberstalkers to break into your IP address

•      Make the pro use of your social media

We all want our selfies to swim on the internet, the new car we just bought, cool we like to show we are making huge shopping in shoprite right now that’s cool but you need a rethink. Why? 

You can be a victim of targeted attacks since you don’t know all those monitoring your movements (cyberstalking), your status is all what they’ll read and go over to know when you’d be at home or not, don’t forget you also shared the selfie while at the entrance of your house, the one you took in the dining room showing the sumptuous dish you are about to feel your belly with, you have shared the plethora of dolls you have in your sitting room and the ‘other room’. Well it takes not even a smart criminal to navigate your house and have a nice day with the info you provided.

So why put all your contact address on the social media? The best practice is if you’ll ever want to post some pictures of you that might be leaking some info about your persona, try creating a group of your trusted family and restricting access to outsiders. 

•      E-mail newsletters

E-mails are more of an official way to communicate with one another but how do you know the mail you are receiving is truly sent from the sender? Or wait a minute how many messages do you receive per day? Do you know that more than 70% of mails sent worldwide are spams?

Well strict regulations have been spelled to sieve spammers by different e-mail service providers, but these cybercriminals do circumvent the system and send tons of spam to you.

The truth is you cannot be 100% safe online but you can minimize the risks of attacks, be vigilant and try checking the mail sender well with close scrutiny especially when it comes to giving out your bank details or receiving notifications of alert on your mail. And erm… Google is your friend in case you are in doubt copy and paste the url of the website to Google search engine and you’ll be superwowed if it’s a fake url.

•  Cyberbullying

I said it earlier that every acts are finding root online, high schools or secondary schools would have some mates or seniors that specializes in bullying taking your garri, and beverages taking advantage of your size or timidity; cyberbullying includes making an offensive post of you to the public, it may be an edited nude picture of you or something similar, it could also come in form of threat as that one of the beauty pageants in Nigeria is currently facing.

In fact you may not know those bad guys behind it and worst still they may not be traceable that makes it one of the acts that has made plenty of teens committed suicide because they are the major targets, and may not have the psychological and emotional balance to deal with it.

•       Identity theft

You pretty much should have understood the cons of identity theft if you have read this famous literature “Sizwe Bansi is dead”…you remember! Clap for yourself

Well identities could be cloned from various sources such as social media platforms and other relative media; you cannot just burst in to the social media and keep updating it with too much personal information. Identity thieves will go to any extent to gather information to get access to your financial account or even perpetuate crimes in your name. 

Secure your account with 2-way authentication and avoid using such common passwords such as your name etc. There is nothing bad in using sentences as your password in as much as you can recall it vividly and then cultivate the habit of changing your password at least once in six months.

Sure might have gained something new, feel free to add some cybersecurity threats you might have faced. You are also free to add yours “at least no one is Mr. know All”…(speaking in Falz’s voice)