Top 5 Tips To Beat Cyber Crime

Every day people are connecting to the internet via phones, laptops, tablets etc. As a result, cyber crime is becoming a bigger threat than before because it has become the most profitable way to make money in the world of crime. It has not affected one but many people all around the world. Though it is the same as other crimes, here the criminals are those who have technological skills and hold a deep understanding of the web, using it to meet their nefarious ends. Cyber crime can be broadly divided into two categories:

• One-off crimes, such as installing a virus that steals personal data
• Ongoing crimes such as cyber bullying, extortion, distributing child pornography or organizing terrorist attacks.

Cyber criminals are employing their skills to access bank account details, stalk and harass a compromised computer by using sophisticated yet treacherous attacks. The effects of cyber crime are upsetting for the victims and financial theft is not the only reason. The victims start feeling insecure as their privacy gets violated.

Resolving such issue is the job for the national cyber security department, police and commercial cyber security firms. However, one should take certain precautions on a personal level to put an end to cyber crimes. Listed below are 5 ways through which you can take the first preventive steps and keep your personal life as well as the data safe from cyber criminals.

Create Password That Is Hard To Crack

What is the oldest trick in the book for hackers? They steal passwords and we make it easier for them by using the same ones for multiple accounts. The first and foremost issue with us is that we don’t remember passwords, so we choose words or numbers that are easy to commit to the memory like our name, city, the name of a loved one, birthday or address. Unfortunately, we are giving cyber criminals access to our online world on a platter. Without much of an effort, they hack the password, stealing money, accessing personal information and using it to scam friends and family or worse stealing identity.

The best and the easiest way to beat the hackers in their own game is by setting up a password that is strong, unique and at the same time easy for you to remember. While signing up, some websites already inform you that how strong or weak your password is, that it should be 8 to 12 characters long, a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters and include numbers or symbols. Now, our safety is in our own hands. So, it is imperative the password be longer and obscure to make it harder to crack for cyber criminals.

Obviously, you must be thinking about how you will remember such a complicated password. Lets us share a simple tip with you – type a sentence or a phrase that is unique to you, substitute some letters with numbers or symbols to make it tricky to decipher. This will be like a line of defense that will keep your entire information safe on the web.

Think Before You Click

Another common way via cyber criminals steal your information is phishing. It is a type of social engineering attack that asks for your login credentials or credit/debit card numbers and hacks your personal information. The attacker poses itself as a trusted entity, lures the victim into opening an email, text message or an instant message carrying a malicious link which can either install a malware, freeze the system as a part of ransomware attack or can reveal sensitive information.

These emails always come with a sense of urgency, compelling the receiver to click on the link, giving little time to think better and before you know, hackers are already into their system. Usually, the links direct you to some fake website where you are prompted to enter your personal information or takes you to a website that instantly and directly affects your phone or laptop with ransomware.

Before you go straight and click on the link, hang on for a second to see if there are any red flags. They could be in the form of poor grammar, a generic greeting, a mismatched URL, claims of gifts or prizes, spelling mistakes or requesting your personal information. If a legitimate business has sent you an email or text message, they will never ask for your personal details. If you still want to be double sure and stay protected again cyber crime, open a new tab, directly visit the sender’s website to cross-check the information.

Phishing is a technique that is constantly evolving. Your best line of defense here is to not fall victim to cyber criminals, rather trust your gut feeling. Cross check every unexpected email or text message and if something seems out of the ordinary, don’t click on any links.

Protect Your Online Presence

The internet itself was an evolution but it became an inseparable part of our lives when social media came into play. The quickest way to reach or talk to someone is through online accounts be it Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. This social media culture has shaped our lives, thus offering another route for cyber criminals to profile potential victims. Our daily online activities help them in concocting more targeted phishing attacks that are difficult to spot.

People have become more and more aware of cyber crime, but hackers are still not giving up. They are now turning to social media accounts to access personal information such as age, job title, educational background, email ID, location and social activity. Online presence makes people vulnerable giving cyber criminals precious information that they use to lure us into an organized, targeted and personalized phishing attack.

To save the users from such threat, social media accounts, fortunately, have enhanced privacy options that every account holder can use to keep their personal information safe. Restrict anyone from accessing the online posts that you don’t know and at the same time, set up a strong password so that it is hard to crack. Lastly, think carefully about what you post online. Make sure that it doesn’t disclose vital information that lands you in hot water.

Antivirus Software Is Your Best Option

Malware and cyber-attacks are reaching all time-high. Malware, a software code gets introduced into the system by cyber-criminals results in hacking, password and identity theft, also unleashing havoc on system performance. REVE Antivirus software is an important tool that every laptop or computer owner must have to prevent such an attack. Antivirus software, when installed in a device, serves the purpose of protecting it against viruses, spyware, malware, phishing attacks, rootkits, Trojans, spam attack and other online cyber threats. Providing two-way firewall protection, antivirus keeps a tab on every incoming as well as outgoing data/email. It blocks any communication if it finds anything suspicious during transmission.

Currently, most of the viruses and spam attacks happen because of all those pop-up ads and spam website, whose primary intent is to steal confidential data from the computer. With the help of antivirus software, you can block ads and spam website, saving all the vital information available on your device, at the same time providing password protection.

Antivirus provides all the protection one needs from cyber criminals and doesn’t hamper the performance of the system.

Avoid the Temptation Of Free Wi-Fi

What’s the first thing you do when you know there’s free Wi-Fi around you? You hook your phone or laptop, right? It is surely the most tempting and harmless thing to do but free Wi-Fi is putting you against the direct threat of hackers. Requires no authentication to establish a network connection, public Wi-Fi allows cyber criminals direct access, from there they get into unsecured devices that are on the same encrypted network. Without any security, we are vulnerable to hackers, who then steal valuable data such as login passwords, credit card information along with other personal as well as financial details.

Another risk that you are standing against is the spread of malware, giving hackers the unrestricted access to everything that’s on your device. If you can’t stop or avoid using a public or free Wi-Fi connection, you can still protect yourself by using a VPN. It encrypts your internet connection making your presence private and secure. Other safety measures that can help you are as follows:

• Turning off Wi-Fi when not in use
• Sticking to secure websites
• Switch off sharing

Conclusion

These preventive tips might look like time-consuming at first, but they are worth investing your time if you are willing to protect yourself from cyber criminals. Setting up strong passwords, practicing safe browsing, avoiding strange downloads or clicking on unknown links is a common-sense solution against cyber crime. Online presence should also be kept hidden from unknown people so that no one can get a chance to steal your identity or get the power to hack your digital life. Along with these tips, another important thing that you should keep in mind is downloading a powerful antivirus such as REVE Antivirus. Trusted by many, the antivirus puts the lowest impact on your device’s performance, giving an optimum user experience.