10 ways to protect your devices from hacking
Hacking has increased in recent times to share user data and sell it to third parties in order to get money. This underscores the importance of securing data from hacker attacks and protecting privacy on the Internet. Here are the most prominent steps to achieve this.
1. Install new updates as soon as possible
First and foremost, it's important to keep the smart apps and devices you use up to date with the latest versions and firmware. Updates often include addressing many vulnerabilities that hackers may exploit to carry out your data breaches.
2- Secure your devices in powerful ways
Surprisingly, at least a third of smartphone users don't care about using powerful passcodes but use the simplest four-digit passcodes to secure their devices and enter websites. There are many ways to secure and unlock phones, computers and tablets – biometric methods such as facial recognition, fingerprints, eyes, as well as the method of using patterns and others, so you must set up a strong passcode to secure your devices and take advantage of the high security features provided by biometric methods.
3- Make sure your device's firewall is activated
Firewall is a very important part of protecting your device, even if hackers manage to penetrate your device and know your location and IP address of your device, the firewall prevents them from accessing the operating system and network. It is worth noting that modern Windows and Mac systems have built-in firewalls to identify outgoing and incoming Internet ports.
4- Encrypt your drive
An additional step that you can use to increase security is to encrypt your computer's hard drive, with encryption, your data will be converted into unreadable code that can only be deciphered using a specific key or password.
Windows users can do this by activating the built-in encryption tool BitLocker. BitLocker is available to anyone with a device running Windows Vista, 7 Ultimate, 7 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Pro, Windows 8.1 Enterprise, or Windows 10 Pro.
Macs have their own built-in disk encryption tool called FileVault, which helps prevent unauthorized access to your data and provides an extra layer of security in case your computer is stolen or lost.
5- Do not trust public Wi-Fi networks
Hackers and hackers use public Wi-Fi networks to spy on users who join the network or sometimes create honeypot networks that are fake networks designed to steal your information.
If you are not careful, hackers can obtain all your personal data such as your name, address, social security number, email address, usernames and passwords while you are using a public Wi-Fi network in the café you frequent.
That's why it's essential to use a VPN when you're in public. And it's a good idea to use one at home too. By using a VPN, your device's IP address will be hidden from the websites and services you visit and you can browse anonymously.
6- Erase your data from old devices that you will get rid of
It is known that wiping data and files from devices in traditional ways does not guarantee their final disposal, because there are many methods and software that help to recover them even after a lot of time after deleting them, if you want to be serious about your security and avoid hacker hacking, you need to erase sensitive data forever, by using programs such as Eraser or Blank, Secure for Windows, or Secure Delete – File Shredder for Macs.
There is also the popular CCleaner program that can be used to permanently delete files on Windows PCs and Macs.
7. Use strong passwords for your online accounts
Your password is the first line of defense, so make sure to set up a secure and unique password for each account, if you feel difficult to handle too many passwords or want to develop harder passwords you can use Password Manager, a program that can store and manage passwords for every application, service or website you use, as it is like a locked locker on all your passwords.
8- Use Two-Factor Authentication
2FA is a great way to use an additional verification step to the login process for your most important accounts. Instead of just providing your username and password to log in to an account, a different new code is sent to your phone to use each time you access your account.
9. Use the guest grid option
Friends and family always want to use your Wi-Fi network when you visit, so instead of using your own network to which all your devices are connected, you can assign them a private network in the router, which is known as a guest network.
This feature allows you to share your internet connection with your guests while keeping them out of your primary network, preventing them from seeing shared files and services, so set up your guest network with a different network name and a different, strong password.
10- Choose the appropriate account type
When you set up a computer for the first time, you create at least one user account. If multiple people use a computer, you can create an account for each of them.
User accounts are important because they separate your files from the rest of the users and this is good for privacy and security as long as each account has its own password. However, what many users don't know is that there are multiple types of accounts you can create. The two main types are Administrator and Standard. You'll need to verify user accounts immediately and change any Administrator accounts to Standard accounts.
