Identifying and staying away from digital dangers becomes challenging as the World Wide Web becomes more present in our everyday lives. With the internet evolving at break-neck speed (it seems like only yesterday the world was introduced to 4G internet, and now we’re only a few years away from 6G!), keeping up with online safety best practices can be difficult. Here are a few essential things to keep in mind.
1) Always Encrypt Your Data & IP Address
Given the large portion of time, we spend online nowadays, ensuring that what we do when surfing online stays private can be a real challenge. Encrypting your IP address is one of the safest ways to protect your online privacy from any third parties who may threaten it.
The strongest way to do this is to use a Virtual Private Network. VPN services like ExpressVPN act as a middleman between you and your internet connection. By hiding your IP address, a VPN makes you anonymous online, thus shielding you from hackers and cybercriminals.
2) Have a Plan B – and B is for Backups
We can’t stress this one enough, and trust us – when it comes to safe copies, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Backups can be quite boring, but they’re the best way to protect your data from cyberattacks. In the case that your computer gets infected with a virus and you lose everything you had it in, you’ll most likely be able to restore it as long as you have it backed up.
3) Don’t Underestimate the Power of Randomly Generated Passwords
Obvious, right? And still, so many people choose easy-to-crack passwords and, unfortunately, get hacked as a consequence.
Our primary advice would be to always stick to randomly generated passwords. As explained by 1Password, passwords that are randomly generated are a lot safer than human-created passwords because humans are more likely to choose uniform sentences or expressions, which are much easier to guess. So, while it’s tempting to use a password that’s familiar to you instead of random numbers and letters, we would strongly advise against it.
4) Only Log into Secure Websites and with a Secure Public Wi-Fi Network
Whenever you visit a website, ensure the address starts with https:// and not http://. That extra “S” indicates the site is secure.
Also, it’s best to always avoid unsecured public Wi-Fi. Especially if you’re checking sensitive data such as your online bank account or similar, use your personal data whenever possible.
5) Stay Away from Malware
Installing antimalware software should be the first thing on your list every time you get a new device. It’s the easiest way to avoid malware, and the price to pay for not having one could be catastrophic. Just to give you an idea, according to Statista, the number of malware attacks reached 5.5 billion worldwide in 2022.
In terms of cost, affordable antivirus software is widely available nowadays, and a simple Google search will easily help you pick the most suitable one for you.
Cybersecurity will keep being a concern for as long as the internet exists. In 5 years, this list will probably be much longer to consider the latest developments and dangers of the digital world. Remember that learning to stay safe online is an ongoing process, so be sure to always stay on top of security and safety best practices.
