While technology has its own security risks, it can also help protect property. Follow these tips to protect yourself and your home from cybercrime.
In the real world, you wouldn't leave the door of your house open or your car with the keys in the ignition. The same happens on the Internet, in other words, care is fundamental in protecting personal and financial data.
In Portugal, the report of the National Center for Cybersecurity discloses a trend of increasing and growing sophistication of computer attacks.
In this sense, follow these tips to protect yourself and your home from cybercrime:
#1. Invest in security technologies
While technology has its own security risks, it can also help protect property.
Cameras with motion sensors can scare away potential intruders. Some even send a notification and capture an image whenever they are activated.
A smart doorbell films visitors as they approach the door and makes it possible to talk to them via cell phone if you are not at home.
Another possible way of protection is a smart lock, activated by PIN or voice, that locks if someone tries to enter improperly.
#2. Protecting data
Use strong, hard-to-guess passwords. Don't repeat them across multiple platforms or base your password on your name or names of family members, or your job.
Prefer using letters, numbers and special characters to create strong passwords and a free password manager to store them. If strong authentication is available on your device, use it
#3 Covering the camera
Hackers can use malware to break into your computer or gain access to your camera. This makes it possible to watch your every move.
To avoid this malware, do not open suspicious emails or download files of unknown origin. Before clicking on a link, ask yourself: is it of legitimate origin and were you counting on it?
Fortunately, you don't need state-of-the-art technology to protect your camera: you can cover it with insulation tape, for example. Remove it only when you want to use the camera.
#4 Be careful with conversations
Voice-activated devices are very convenient, yet they create security risks.
As soon as you activate it, your digital assistant records and records voice commands. It is good practice to change your "activation word" (the word that activates the device) to one that you would rarely use in a normal conversation.
Also of note is to regularly check and delete old recordings. You can do this through the device's apps.
#5 Secure shopping
The increase in online shopping has been taken advantage of by cybercriminals. New techniques have occurred, such as attacking payment processing pages to steal credit card data, or attempting to hack websites that belong to legitimate companies.
To protect yourself, you should perform software updates and avoid making purchases if you are on a public Wi-Fi network.
Nowadays, there are fake websites that trick people into getting their bank details, the companies exist, but the site is being controlled by hackers.
Choose to enter the site manually or through secure search engines.
#6 Search for the "padlock"
Buy only from sites with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption.
On these sites, the address begins with HTTPS (not just HTTP) and there is an icon of a closed padlock, either in the address or status bar at the bottom of the page.
#7 Think before you click
Your spam filters protect against phishing emails, a cybercrime technique.
They claim, for example, that you have just won a fabulous prize or that your bank account is blocked and ask you to share your bank details.
However, there are threats that inevitably slip through the filters. Thus, you should pay attention to e-mails that claim to be from your bank.
Watch out for spelling and grammatical errors or suspicious addresses. If the sender also does not use your full name, that email may be fraudulent.
#8 Acting in anticipation
Confirm your bank's policies regarding compensation for online fraud. If it does not refund losses, you should consider looking for another bank that will.
Also, homeowners insurance is always a critical addition to the usual precautions.
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