Protecting Yourself in the Digital Age

Is your network secure? What types of security measure's are you using? Do you know? A lot of people today are victims of at least of form of security failure. Whether it is those pesky next door neighbor kids using your WiFi or an Identity Thief stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from you. There are simple things that you can do to prevent both things above from occurring.

#1 Secure your WiFi Network with at least WPA-PSK

There are many different forms of security when it comes to WiFi. Some of them shouldn't even be called secure but who am I to judge. Never under any circumstance use WEP security for your WiFi. It is by far the easiest to circumvent out of all. A novice hacker can bypass in as little as 15 seconds. I recommend the following minimum criteria when setting up your network at home or the office. WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK Protocol, A 8 Character Alphanumeric passcode for example: "S3cuR3P4s2." never use dictionary words as passwords and try to use at least one of each of the following in passwords: an upper case letter, a lower case letter, a number, and a punctuation character. This goes for WiFi and accounts in general.

This one by itself can help protect you tremendously and keep you data secure. It is not uncommon for people to hop onto your WiFi network to use it if it is unsecured. Sometimes those people will try and access your personal information. Don't give them a chance.

#2 Always Check URL's before entering credentials

Some of you are probably thinking "this is common sense, come on man!" but more often than not when I have helped someone regain control of their hacked account it has been hacked for this very reason. The most common way this is implemented by hackers is to send you a fraudulent email that looks real that lets you know that something is going on with your account. The email will then prompt you to click a link which will take you to a page which appears to look like the login page of the website in question only it is not. Sometimes the website creator is even clever enough to pass the credentials that you have entered to the real sight so that you are logged in for real and so that you don't notice what has just happened. Follow these simple steps to make sure you never fall victim to this.

I.  Check the URL of the site you are logging into

This might seem difficult but it is really simple. Here are some screenshots of what you are looking for. 

Internet Explorer Address Bar

Mozilla Firefox Address Bar

Google Chrome Address Bar

Notice that in every case the website is shown with HTTPS in front of it followed by the website this is good. It designates a site as secure. Sites that are secure must have a valid certificate associated with it to work. The most important thing here is that there is nothing preceding, following, or that the website is listed at all. Here are some examples of what it should not look like.

http://192.154.132.53/facebook.com

http://da.co.uk.facebook.com/login.html

http://facebook.com.janice.com 

In all of the above example's the hacker would be using a server to host a website that looks like Facebook. This does not only apply to Facebook it applies to all websites where you log in. Some other examples are Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One, and any other website that they can steal personal information from you.

II.  Pay attention to warning's about webpages from your browser

I know that it is tempting to just click OK till you get where you want to go but those messages are there for a reason. They are there to keep you safe and to warn you when something is not right with a website. Read what they say it could be the difference that saves you a whole lot of heartache. Here are some example warning pages from different browser's.

Having security issues and need help? Let us know! The Bloggin Techie is here to help.

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