How to make sure you are safe online

End-users, if they aren’t careful, could become victims of crafty hackers who break complex security features to steal valuable data. Experts urge users to remain alert and adopt creative ways to beat cyber threats.

As we are dominated by the IT age, it is a fact that almost all of us have our own online accounts such as on Google or Facebook.As millions of us across the globe are using our own accounts to interact daily with others, store our data in the Cloud, or surf our favourite websites, it is needless to say how vital our online account security should be.

How do you keep your online account safe?

An online account that you have signed up for could be compared to a house that you own and its password would be the key to that house.It’s imperative that you do not give your key to anyone or show around your house to strangers. If you do so, it’s probable that based on your house address, the other person would be deviously watching your house and trying to break into it.There are some situations where your account identity has to be shared. If so, it is essential to link your account with a phone number or your other accounts.Here, it is advisable to know how to keep your online accounts safe. Two-step verification, recovery mail, or using a difficult password can give you more security.Most online account users have a misconception that they are keeping their account completely safe by using a tricky password. It is not so. Someone can still indirectly enter your account, even if it is quite easy.

Two-step verification

If you want to be more secure with your online account, you should use the two-step verification method.Just as you register yourself to be a citizen at the immigration department, you can register yourself with online account platforms, like Google and Facebook, with an advanced confirmation from them by using your email and phone number. This method could to some extent prevent your account from being hacked by using your stolen password. This is quite a high-security system adopted by international users.If someone tries to enter your account, you are informed by a text message to your registered phone number to change your password. So, it would be prudent to register the phone number you always use.Besides, new codes would be simultaneously sent to your Google mail account as a new email link to change your password. You then have to check your account and change your password. By using this method, you can prevent your account from being stolen by others.The next method is to have alternate account address as your recovery Gmail, besides using the two-step verification method. If you have two online accounts, you can heighten your security by linking them and using a tricky password.You have to be extra-cautious using names, dates of birth, or simple passwords that others can guess. The password should contain letters, numbers, shift key figures, and symbols.If your online account is hacked, you can retrieve it from your recovery Gmail within a short time. You must not take a long time to do it, as it would not be easy to get back your account once the hacker changes your account setting and password.But, due to the two-step verification method you used, this account setting could only be done by someone who has a better knowledge than an IT specialist.It is important to make your Gmail account safe because Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram can be used through Gmail.Some use Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Outlook.com and iCloud mail. One advantage Gmail has is that you can get Google’s additional services, such as YouTube, Google Drive, Maps, Play Music, Hangouts and Playstore.Hackers may directly attack your accounts. Or they may send a link by an email to your account, to which website you have to enter by your identity and password. Therefore, it is important not to open emails that are not known to you, nor use your account and password to open new links or websites.If you are suspicious of any email addresses in your inbox, you can verify them and look for their true identity on websites.Hackers can also trick users into thinking that new form of the Gmail login page or Facebook login page created by them is the valid one.Users also need to refrain from logging into unwarranted social media pages with their own email address and password.Lifestyles are changing in accord with current times. Our own data and others’ are being shared on social networks. If you know how to use them it can be beneficial, and if you don’t it can become a dangerous threat to you.Posting your own photos and describing your whereabouts on Facebook would be like reporting every detail about yourself to those watching you, causing unnecessary consequences, such as social problems.So, it would be advisable to refrain, as much as we can, from posting photos or describing every check-in of your whereabouts. If you seriously want to share your activities with your friends all the time, you should try to work out a separate policy with your accounts.Your new policy should be to avoid, directly or indirectly, linking up with friends of your friends who you would not be comfortable with or who you do not know much about. You can also prevent unnecessary issues by not publicising your personal data.Moreover, at a time when online shopping is becoming very popular, users make public comments and also give their address, phone number and email address for everyone to see. This habit should be avoided to be safe from those watching you. Although this kind of crime has not yet become prevalent in Myanmar, reports of online threats and attacks of this nature are often covered in the international news.As we have now linked our Facebook and Gmail accounts on our mobile phones, it would be a great opportunity for someone to obtain all our information, should we unexpectedly lose our phones.If we face this, we should lock our phones in time. If you are working in an office, always activate the internet and GPS on your phone so you can easily prepare the locking system that can lock your lost phone.By doing this, you can keep control of your data and able to find your phone. One point to note is that we must avoid using Root and Jailbreak on our phones. If we don’t, we may not be able to control our data and risk losing it to others.To securely save our own data, we should use data saving Cloud services on the internet, such as Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive and PC Cloud.As online threats and dangers are becoming more and more prevalent, social network account users should try to protect their own accounts by studying useful technologies. It’s also advisable to follow the suggestions of IT experts and set up the two-step verification method.

Credit : www.mmtimes.com