The simplest way to stay safe online is to use strong passwords. Using things like your pets names, spouses names, things that people know that you like can make it easy for people to guess your password and easily can access your accounts. Using unique passwords for all of your accounts is recommended but for remembering passwords people tend to use one password for multiple accounts depending on the requirements for the password.
Staying safe online is important so that hackers do not get your personal information. Personal information are things such as Name, Address, Phone number, email address, social security number are all considered personal identification as if someone has your phone number, they can easily find out who you are. That is why it is important to be safe when answering people you don’t know when they text you.
When someone texts you that you don’t know and you answer them, that lets the person know that it is a valid number, and then there is a possibility that they try and sell the phone number to cyber criminals who could then try an do something malicious with your phone number such as sell it to telemarketers or other people who can then use it to sign up for newsletters and other things that will send you spam emails and or texts that you don’t necessarily want to be getting.
Another way to stay safe online is to use two factor authentication whenever possible because it adds an extra layer of protection when you login to your accounts. Two factor authentication can be in the form of a code sent to your phone via text or a code sent to your email as text. There are also apps that you can use so that you don’t have to get a code in your email or in your text messages, you can just open the app of your choice (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, etc). The choice of 2 factor authentication can either be optional or it can be a forced thing depending on the website or application, because cybercriminals can easily gain access to your accounts more and more websites or companies are making 2 factor authentication a requirement to access their website/app.
Monitoring your bank accounts and monitoring the activity on your accounts is also crucial in staying safe online because if there is unusual activity on your accounts then that may be a sign that your password has been compromised for those accounts and the password may need to be changed. A good indication that your accounts have been compromised is if you are getting notifications that someone is trying to login to your account and it isn’t you that is logging into the account. Another indication that your accounts have been compromised is if things are being posted on your account if they are social media accounts.
If there is an application that you do not want to pay for but you want to use, be mindful of the source of the download as the download can contain malware or viruses and be harmful to your computer. Consider finding a free alternative to the paid app, while yes it may not be as good as the paid application you were wanting to use however, you wouldn’t get a virus for using a free alternative.
Educate yourself about online threats that you may see in the news or online. Doing research can help you stay safe online because if you know about the online threats that are happening and how to stay safe from the threats. Knowing as much information as you can will keep you safe from those online threats that are happening.
When you receive an email and it came from someone you know, don’t click on any links, instead contact the person directly to verify that they meant to send you that email. Another way to know if it is a legitimate email is to look at the email domain, because if the email domain looks to be fishy (pun intended!) it more than likely is. There are people out there that will spoof an email address to make it look legit when it actually is not legit.
In conclusion, I hope these tips help you to stay safe online. Please post in the comments any other tips that I may have forgotten.