Cyber crime - protect your PC, protect your life!!

Cyber crime - protect your PC, protect your life!!
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Highlights

Living virtually on the social media has become the part and parcel of our lives. With the advancement kicking in in terms of technology, there is also an increased chance

Living virtually on the social media has become the part and parcel of our lives. With the advancement kicking in in terms of technology, there is also an increased chance of your personal identity getting hacked and compromised. Cyber Crime is ravaging the life on internet with lesser safety for real people who love to co exist on the web. The users of email and networking often fail to understand the seriousness of their information being compromised. Fake profiles are one such example where your information is replicated and shown to be as someone else. Meaning - someone else wants to be you and make use of your identity for any kind of notorious mission.

The cyber crime threat calls for an added measure from the individual to make it a personal responsibility to safeguard the privacy. A simple tool like IP address can now be traced back and forth to understand who is doing what, sitting at a remote corner in the world.
How does one get attacked in a Cyber Crime
This is quite simple. You need not be a celebrity for this to happen. There are hundreds of cyber crimes reported every month with personal information being stolen after accessing connectivity to the web. There are cyber crooks who scan for unprotected and vulnerable computers that are active and connected. They then attack your laptop or a personal computer with the use of Trojans or Malware, something that the innocent unknowing install while downloading some other software online. The Trojan which then lends into your Operating System keeps track of your key board strokes via malicious Keylogging software used by the hackers. Online banking, e commerce and accessing confidential records - all of them get tracked along with your account details. What more, this information is later used for crime, sometimes even terrorist funding.
Hence it becomes all the more important to protect your PC and personal information with few simple and effective measures that plainly involve your presence of mind and no other.
How can you stay safe?
You can follow these basic guidelines to stay away from a possible cyber attack.
1. Always keep your operating system 'updated'. Run constant updates when asked by your computer instead of hitting 'Remind Me Later'. This helps your OS to keep track of the system's health and alert about the presence of any malware that needs to be cleaned.
2. Always have the latest Anti Virus Software installed on your computer. This software actively picks up any Trojans and Viruses that may have crept in while downloading other software online. The software then cleans the system.
3. Secure all your online transactions. Check for the 'Lock' icon on your browser and ensure that you access the URL starting with HTTPS and not HTTP. The S here stands for secure and conveys that any communication with the web page is encrypted.
4. Be Cautious about your incoming mails. Do not open the mails from unknown sources. They may contain a virus. Make sure not to respond to unsolicited mails or open attachments.
5. Stay away from mails that start off with subjects like 'Verify your information' 'Confirm your user ID and Password'. The popular mails stating that you have won a Lottery are well known to be fraudulent, hence stay away from those too.
6. Do not input your personal information in the pop up bars. They are probably the viable gateways for computer hackers.
7. Do not use the same password as your email for other sites. Change passwords cleverly. Make sure the passwords are strong in nature with many characters.
Protecting your identity is your personal responsibility. Make sure that you do not ignore the everyday red flags that your computers alerts you about the possible 'intruders'. Browse safe and secure!
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