The password is "dada". Mistakes you make daily make you a prey to hackers

How difficult it is to wake up on the morning of an important work day to find that all the files on your computer have become encrypted and you cannot access or copy them!

In such situations, cursing the criminals who wrote the message that stares you gloomily in the face: “For decryption you must pay the ransom” will do you no good. Because misfortunes do not come singly, try to access the backup of your files that you uploaded sometime last month on the advice of IT. information in your company only to find that you do not remember the account password, and therefore cannot access your files.

These situations do not happen because of your misfortune as your brain imagines you, but they are symptoms of being a citizen of the Internet who have to deal with such obstacles and harassment periodically and continuously, but as they say that pain is inevitable and suffering is a choice, and to reduce the suffering of dealing with technology daily there are some precautions that you have to do.

Password: dadada

The first sin that many people commit and commits them to the trap of hacking their data and their digital life in general is using one password for all their applications. Choosing a password may be as important as choosing the type of lock on your door. No one likes the feeling of being violated. Your children, as well as the name of your pet or the date of birth of any of your family members, will not be the best choice in a time when harmful technologies are developing day after day.

The first word of your daughter or granddaughter is important, but it does not serve as a password for your accounts. Experts always advise you to choose a more complex word.

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We have a lesson in Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook (now dead), as the accounts of the young founder on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest were hacked for a short period during one weekend. “I was in the LinkedIn database with the password (dadada),” the first word spoken by Zuckerberg's daughter, Max. (1)

The first word of your daughter or granddaughter is important, but it does not serve as a password for your accounts. Experts always advise you to choose a more complex word, and accordingly, when registering in any application, you always find a message telling you: “The password must contain letters, numbers and special signs,” because it is difficult to discover. Also, the golden rule states that you should not use one password for all applications or you will end up like Zuckerberg.

Of course, no one can remember dozens of passwords for different social media and e-mail accounts, and perhaps hundreds of accounts if you work in the digital world. Here comes the role of a password manager or what is known as the “Password manager”, which is an application or extension for a web browser that stores safely And it enters all your passwords for you when you need to log into a website, even on your phone. A good password manager will record logins for apps you use like Netflix, Twitter, and Spotify.

If you insist that the password be one of your children's names, Bitwarden can create strong replacements for your children's existing names, as well as a set of numbers to make it even more secure.

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Moreover, password manager applications work on all your devices at once, and all you have to remember is one password to access all your logins. Your main role here is to enter a strong password that contains numbers, letters and special characters, and does not contain On any sensitive data that belongs to you or a member of your family, rest assured that you will not need to enter this word every time, but make sure that you never forget it.

There are many password manager apps available to use, but you will always find glitches here and there in some of those types, we can recommend you two apps here that are safe and have many great features, some of which are free and some are paid.

The first app is Bitwarden. If you insist that the password be one of your children's names, Bitwarden can create strong alternatives to your children's existing names, as well as a set of numbers to make it more secure. Even the free version is good enough for most people and works across All your devices Bitwarden apps are available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, and there are extensions for most of the browsers we use.

The second application that we recommend to you is "Dashlane". The best thing that Dashlane offers you is that it sends you notifications of any possible violations on the sites on which you have an account, and it also tells you if your information has been leaked on the "Dark Web". As is the case in the previous manager, passwords can be combined to create a new and complex password that replaces the hacked words. Dashline has two free and paid versions, each with its own advantages. Dashline applications are available for most operating systems and devices, including iPads, in addition to extensions for the most used browsers.

Backups

You can store a copy of the data on a simple separate storage medium such as a USB stick or on cloud storage sites (Shutterstock)

One of Murphy's unstated laws is that your device will destroy your work files on the night of final delivery. This rule is common to everyone, even if their specialties differ, writers, accountants, lawyers, and software engineers. Everyone has experienced the agony of losing or encrypting data at least once, and for this we copy the data for backup.

The purpose of a backup is to create a copy of the data that can be recovered if access to the raw data fails. Primary data failures can be due to hardware failure, cryptographic malware on your device, data corruption, or accidental deletion of data.

Backups allow data to be restored from a previous point in time to help you recover from unplanned failure. You can store a copy of the data on a simple separate storage medium such as a USB stick or on cloud storage sites, but you have to remember that the longer the time between different backups, the more Likelihood of Data Loss Upon Recovery Maintaining multiple copies of data provides the security and flexibility to recover your files at a point in time unaffected by corruption or malicious attacks.(2)

hack

From time to time, you may read complaints on social media about hacking into celebrity accounts or even your friends and family members, though some of us may not attach great importance to the possibility of hacking their accounts claiming that "nothing is important", but the consequences of hacking are bad because you may be the cause of the outbreak. Malware in your social circles is like wildfire.

If the URL bar says HTTPS and shows a padlock, then any information you send will go over a secure line to the website you're visiting.

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With or without your knowledge, the hacker can post links to promote any content he wants, whether it is a promotion of a suspicious cryptocurrency platform or a (fraudulent) Ponzi scheme for investment.

The first tip to avoid being hacked: look for the lock sign when browsing the web, always look at the address bar of the site you are visiting to see if it is protected or not, if the "URL" address bar refers to the "HTTPS" encryption protocol and shows a lock, this means that any Information you submit will go over a secure line to the website you are visiting.

The concern here is in the absence of this lock. If there is no lock and the web address refers to the "HTTP" protocol without the "S", then this means that part of the data that you send is not necessarily safe. This will not be dangerous if you are only browsing the news. But if you're checking email, social networks, shopping, using banking and credit card services, or doing anything that involves a password, you should always check the lock. That someone else is viewing it and collecting data, such as your password.(3)

The second advice is related to the first, which is to check the "URL" address of the site you want to visit. Always make sure that you are using the legitimate version of the website by checking the "URL" address. Sometimes the website may look as correct as any time you were on it before, but it Actually fake, the main way people end up on fake websites is by clicking on fake emails, or by clicking on a link that you thought was safe, this is called phishing.

The main way people end up on fake websites is by clicking on fake emails, or by clicking on a link that you thought was safe, this is called a phishing scam (Shutterstock)

A phishing scam usually starts with receiving an email from a seemingly trustworthy source, asking you to log in or download something, but the link takes you to an untrusted site, if you log in you've been scammed and you've given up your password and now they have access To your real account, the only way to avoid these scams is to make sure the address on your browser matches the website you think you're on, also don't forget the above, always look out for the padlock.

Now that you have made sure of the lock and the link of the site, you must beware of malicious downloads, many people tend to download pirated games, movies and series via the Internet without thinking much about the consequences of this act, forgetting the fact that nothing is free in this life, in the case of downloading from sites Untrusted This may lead you to install malicious applications, or even unwanted applications, if you accidentally downloaded something from the Internet, do not install it on your device, delete it and be careful next time you enter any untrusted site.

Speaking of trust, no matter how much you trust someone, do not connect their devices or accessories to your devices, if someone gives you a memory card for your computer or even a USB power cable for your phone, they may infect your device with a virus once they are connected, that person may not know that the cable or the unit The memory he gave you is infected, and in fact many times you don't have a choice especially when it comes to work files, but you should be aware that any time you connect something to your computer, you are taking a little risk.

The most important way to keep your computer clean is to scan any peripherals that connect to your device. You should also install a strong antivirus and make sure that the "Firewall" is working. You should also install security updates as soon as possible, preferably on the same day that these updates are announced. However, your computer may be attacked even if you do nothing, because of the vulnerabilities in the system you are using, whatever the operating system, all computer systems are vulnerable to security vulnerabilities.

You must install a strong antivirus and make sure that the "Firewall" is working. You should also install security updates as soon as possible (Shutterstock)

Sometimes hacking occurs because of these vulnerabilities, as they allow attackers to install unwanted applications or access data in a way that you did not know was possible. Companies that export operating systems and applications take into account this, so when a security vulnerability is discovered, a patch is usually issued to fix it as soon as possible. , which is what you should take advantage of, you need to install these security updates quickly, if you do not do this you may potentially put your personal information at risk even if you use the web securely. (4)

Just because your device is connected to the Internet makes you more likely to be infected and exposed to hackers, and many of us do not have the luxury of being disconnected from the Internet either for work or communication, so one of the most important ways to be immune is to upgrade to the latest security updates.

Nobody is immune

After all, remember that you are not immune, regardless of your experience or the effectiveness of the security methods you use, and that everyone is vulnerable to being targeted by scammers. Digital scams target people of all backgrounds, ages, and income levels. There is no single group of people who are likely to be a victim of a scam. We all get scammed at some point, do you know why scams work?

The biggest reason is that they look real and surprise you when you least expect them. Scammers are getting smarter and taking advantage of modern technologies, new products or services, and major events to create believable stories that convince you to give them your money or personal details, and the worst thing is that their methods are improving day by day.

Scammers are good at using current events to their advantage, whether it's covid developments, aid to the Palestinians, or famine victims in Somalia, for example: Within 24 hours of President Biden announcing a program to forgive some student loans, the Federal Trade Commission issued a warning about loan scams. Students, knowing new tricks will help you spot suspicious activity quickly.(5)

Perhaps the best advice to protect against fraud is to ignore, do not open a link or an email, do not answer a phone number that is not registered with you, do not get involved in possible scams even if you are curious, curiosity can kill you if someone sends you a message “You win with us! We are sorry to disappoint you, you did not win anything, all there is is that this type of message is a "bait" to catch you by opening the link or answering the call.

Use multiple authentication

The multifactor authentication method requires the user to provide two or more factors of verification to access an application or online account.

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The final tip is to use Multi Factor Authentication, which is an authentication method that requires the user to provide two or more verification factors to access an online application or account, and is intended to secure your private information on that application or account. Have you tried to purchase any merchandise Via online shopping and paid the required amount for the commodity with your bank card?

Usually, the bank sends you an (OTP) code to authenticate that you (the cardholder) performed this operation and that the card was not stolen, which reduces the possibility of successful cyberattacks.

It is most likely that you did not activate this feature in most of your social media accounts in particular, so it is safe for you and your social circles to activate it in order to preserve your data.

These things may seem complicated, but they are very important, and the truth is that they will not take much of your time to set them up. The Internet, like the jungle, is not safe enough to use without being aware of its disadvantages, so no matter how heavy these tips are in applying them, read them again and share them with the people you care about.

Ten or twenty years from now all the systems on the web will come up with new protocols, all email will be encrypted, you will be able to send sensitive information all day long without worrying, maybe we won't use passwords anymore, they will be replaced by fingerprints or retinas or whatever Another thing that cannot be guessed or hacked, but until then remember that maintaining your personal information and security is your responsibility, and you should do it as best as possible.

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