--Originally published at Diego's Password
This blog post will be very close to my heart because I see the average user very insecure. I can’t believe how we still have super simple phishing attacks or just pages with an unbelievable amount of fraudulent advertisement. Even more surprising to me, it is how the users still fall and give out personal information that easy.
We as computer systems engineers must share the word, teach our friends and anyone in our reach. Google made an investigation of the practices that us information security experts follow to maintain ourselves anonymous and safe on the web. This practices are far from being technically difficult for the average users.
These are the five most important points that Google assures will keep us safe.
- Stay updated
Vulnerabilities is another complete blogpost. But they are wholes in the security architecture of a system, from which hackers can get in, in this case to your computer and withdraw sensitive data. As soon as vulnerabilities are discovered, the manufacturares realice updates to correct them. One security engineer guest once told us that 90% of the attacks happen through outdated platforms. So that ease, staying away from the majority of attacks by accepting the automatic updates that your operating system and browser offers.
- Hard passwords
As our teachers says, passwords are not meant to be remembered. If you can remember it, then something is wrong. Are you suggesting me to write them down? No, but a strong password should be completely randomized, with numbers, special characters, caps and love. Servers for example tend to have the ones by default and they are the easiest devices to access.
Another important point. Don’t reuse passwords. Just don’t. If someone breaks into one of your numerous accounts, then he would have access to your Paypal account, your Facebook account, your
and probably to your house as well.
My suggestion is too use a password manager. They are super easy to use and lets you generate any length random passwords. Then you’d probably need to remember just that one password for this manager.
I’ll leave a link to their web page here. - Multiple steps verification
If there’s a service of two steps or even three steps verification take it. That makes your authentication exponentially safer than with just a hard password. Nowadays multiple websites offer this type of verification, specially with bank accounts and credit cards. These are the logos you should look for. It means that they implement this kind of verification in the purchase process. - Follow your heart
If something seams suspicious, and even your browser is warning you about it. Just don’t click on it. If you die for clicking it, then set a virtual machine or even a complete environment, use a secure connection or at least incognito mode. But be aware the nobody knows what surprises it can hold. - Antivirus
So antivirus… Will it help? Having an updated and reliable antivirus with a firewall set on your network will keep you away of a lot of possible attacks. That’s a fact.
Follow these steps. Maybe you are not that convinced, but setting these services will take nothing. If you invest a little nit of your time it can save you a lot of headaches in the near future.
Source
Google – Security Best Practices
https://support.google.com/a/answer/1360111?hl=en
