As a cyber security engineer/desktop engineer, part of my job entails telling clients the best practices to ensure maximum protection against today's online threats.
However, there are lots of ways you (yes you!) can protect yourself from the basic online threats to serious threats.
So, without further ado; Here's VT's guide to ensure good protection.
1) Passwords: When it comes to passwords, I like to think of them as a toothbrush.
I know what you're thinking "What the fuck has a password got to do with a toothbrush?" well, like a toothbrush you'd change it regularly, ensure it is a good one and you never share it with anyone else.
2) Anti-Virus: There are lot of free Anti-Viruses out there, on top of paid ones. I myself use Avast which is perfect.
Always keep your anti-virus up to date, if you wish to make this a task that it can do itself, schedule a task in it's control panel as to when to check for new Virus Definitions and Program Definitions (Updates).
https://www.avast.com/en-gb/index
3) Firewalls: Ah good ol firewalls, they can be the saviour or the bane of your online existence. However a properly configured firewall will make all the difference. Windows has it's own built in one, which in my experience is really really shit and causes more problems than it solves, no matter how many rules etc you put in play.
However, there is a much better one for free called Comodo (Link below). Once configured this will stop anything malicious in it's track.
https://personalfirewall.comodo.com/
4) Home WiFi: You may of heard in the news or through a friend that their WiFi got hacked, there are steps you can take to ensure this does not happen to you!
4.1) Change the default admin password - I cannot stress this enough, change it immediately.
4.2) Change the WiFi password - Change this as soon as possible, it'll be hard for someone with malicious intent to crack it if you use a good password (see point 1)
4.3) Enable MAC Filtering - Almost every router has the ability to block a device via it's physical MAC address, enable this and add YOUR wireless devices via it's MAC addresses.
5) Updates and Patches: We've all been there, browsing away and all of a sudden *Ping!* up pops Windows saying you've got updates to install.
I cannot stress this enough, install the updates as soon as possible and ensure all your software is up to date.
Hackers will look for weaknesses in anything and if they find a Windows system that's not been updated they will exploit it. So patch it before it's too late!
6) Phishing: A targeted email campaign, usually against a corporation. Simple to avoid this one, keep the saying "If it's too good to be true, it probably is" just delete and move on.
That's all for now, stay tuned and I'll go further in depth of the attack methods hackers use and how best to counter them.
However, there are lots of ways you (yes you!) can protect yourself from the basic online threats to serious threats.
So, without further ado; Here's VT's guide to ensure good protection.
1) Passwords: When it comes to passwords, I like to think of them as a toothbrush.
I know what you're thinking "What the fuck has a password got to do with a toothbrush?" well, like a toothbrush you'd change it regularly, ensure it is a good one and you never share it with anyone else.
2) Anti-Virus: There are lot of free Anti-Viruses out there, on top of paid ones. I myself use Avast which is perfect.
Always keep your anti-virus up to date, if you wish to make this a task that it can do itself, schedule a task in it's control panel as to when to check for new Virus Definitions and Program Definitions (Updates).
https://www.avast.com/en-gb/index
3) Firewalls: Ah good ol firewalls, they can be the saviour or the bane of your online existence. However a properly configured firewall will make all the difference. Windows has it's own built in one, which in my experience is really really shit and causes more problems than it solves, no matter how many rules etc you put in play.
However, there is a much better one for free called Comodo (Link below). Once configured this will stop anything malicious in it's track.
https://personalfirewall.comodo.com/
4) Home WiFi: You may of heard in the news or through a friend that their WiFi got hacked, there are steps you can take to ensure this does not happen to you!
4.1) Change the default admin password - I cannot stress this enough, change it immediately.
4.2) Change the WiFi password - Change this as soon as possible, it'll be hard for someone with malicious intent to crack it if you use a good password (see point 1)
4.3) Enable MAC Filtering - Almost every router has the ability to block a device via it's physical MAC address, enable this and add YOUR wireless devices via it's MAC addresses.
5) Updates and Patches: We've all been there, browsing away and all of a sudden *Ping!* up pops Windows saying you've got updates to install.
I cannot stress this enough, install the updates as soon as possible and ensure all your software is up to date.
Hackers will look for weaknesses in anything and if they find a Windows system that's not been updated they will exploit it. So patch it before it's too late!
6) Phishing: A targeted email campaign, usually against a corporation. Simple to avoid this one, keep the saying "If it's too good to be true, it probably is" just delete and move on.
That's all for now, stay tuned and I'll go further in depth of the attack methods hackers use and how best to counter them.
