Do you practically live online? We’re now doing more online than ever before, in part driven by pandemic conditions. Internet usage in the UK more than doubled in 2020, but while the convenience and comfort it brings can’t be overstated, neither should the security risks.
Thankfully, it doesn’t take too much time or effort to get savvy and protect yourself. While scammers are growing ever more sophisticated, there are several ways to safeguard your everyday browsing activities. Read five of them below for starters.
Use strong, unique passwords
A recent study found that two-thirds of UK adults use just three passwords across all their online accounts, with street names, pet names and special dates the most popular choices. This clearly isn’t the most secure approach.
Instead, create unique passwords for each account with random combinations of upper and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols. There are various apps out there that allow you to store multiple passwords securely and save the effort of memorising them.
Update your devices
It’s common to put off updates for weeks and months on end due to the disruption and delays they can cause. But this short-term pain makes for long-term gain, as updating your operating system, software and apps is a simple way to fight off the latest cyber threats.
Updates are often designed to secure weak spots that a manufacturer has detected. Turn on automatic updates so you don’t have to manually check for them.
Avoid unsecure Wi-Fi
Do you take every opportunity you can get to jump on free Wi-Fi when away from home? While it might seem convenient to save your mobile data and catch up on emails or social media, public Wi-Fi is an easy target for hackers.
If you can, use mobile data or wait until you get home. Or you could download a UK VPN to encrypt your data and mask your identity from criminals as well as the network providers themselves.
Use anti-virus software
While some devices come with basic anti-virus software built-in, it’s usually best to invest in more robust protection. Anti-virus programs are available for smartphones as well as computers and laptops and offer around-the-clock defence against malware.
Anti-virus software is especially useful for shared computers where multiple users may be logging on with various degrees of computing knowledge.
Don’t click suspicious links
If you’ve ever been lured in by a dodgy link that doesn’t turn out to offer what it promised, you may well know the problems they can cause. And if not, you won’t want to find out!
There are usually a few ways to spot suspicious links sent over text and email, like unrecognised senders, random requests for financial or account information, and spelling and grammar errors.
Online security is becoming more important than ever as societal habits shift. Take the steps above to stay safe wherever you surf.
