Tech Commandments for a safer digital life
* Technology has become a mammoth sized factor in our daily
lives and to top it all , Technology is always on the change which means that
one should always stay vigil of the changes happening around us as many
perpetrators and miscreants are on the lookout for finding new ways to
infiltrate into the loopholes that we set knowingly or unknowingly which leads
them directly in hold of sensitive information which can lead to a big
devastation if left unguarded and unprotected
* Some experts from leading security firms assert that one
should always remember that any piece of our identity that we post online could
eventually be used by fraudsters and hijackers / hackers to pervade into our
online accounts for which one needs to keep oneself and connected members safe
when online . These days bots ( trackers) can track any account and collect account
information at any point of time
* Therefore in order to keep oneself on the guard and stay safe
, some of the commandments that one needs to adhere to all the time are the
following :
1) One should not overshare personal info
As many of us use high ended camera phones with very high or unlimited
storage capacity , one gets into a clicking mode and becomes a self-proclaimed cameraman
/ photographer . But these days thanks to highly developed AI programs which
can take even pictures as input parameters and retrieve all relevant
information from the photo , one should stay vigil about the photos that one
clicks , location , people in that photo , context and backdrop for that photo and
several other factors before one gets into clicking mode to showcase one's photography
skills
2) One should not use Weak and Easy to crack
passwords
We all have a tendency to associate easy passwords which are
small and easy to remember for all of our accounts as we normally want to skip
ahead of all the mental work of recalling big and complex things whenever we
want to get into our accounts .. be it social media accounts , bank accounts ,
insurance accounts
(and Swiss Bank Deposit accounts too .. ) . As mentioned , these
days tracker bots can track all the gateways of access that an individual
leaves upon their online pathways , so unrecognised and unregulated access into
our trails can beonline pathways , so unrecognised and unregulated access into
our trails can be
discovered by bots and provide the information to the collecting
agency which is on the lookout of such paths which could be exploited . Many
such agencies pass on these trail paths to hackers to peek into and steal out
money / documents .. anything precious to them (remember .. "precious" of LOTR , one can turn into
Gollum for such "precious" things ) . Therefore , always make use of stronger and lengthier
passwords which is one's somewhat safety check for stopping unwanted and
malicious intrusion . Many people make use of password managers who make use of
multiple accounts , but this is also vulnerable as these are stored in the form
of either xml , json objects in the form of cookies which could be again
collected from the browser plugins that one uses on a regular basis . Thats why
, one should also try disconnecting from cookie storage from browser when one
closes the session . And thus , the best thing to do is to note down all the
important passwords over a piece of paper and keep them at a safe storage space
.
3) One should use Multi-factor authentication or
two-step verification
These days password comprehension can be done is so different
forms by hackers that , if someone wants to any way hack into some account ,
then they will eventually get into the account and that too using several tools
. Thats why most of the security experts recommend that one should make use of
multifactor authentication (two-factor , three-factor etc) in order to access a
given account which involves a user's verification before logging into account
using a system of OTP over phone and authenticator apps that send temporary
always changing codes that ensure that the user who is using the account is the
real one and not a dummy or someone else
4) One should not share data about friends and
Contacts
This comes as a completely new method of data siphoning which
occurs when someone accepts any permissions to any app or software over the
phone . This makes the app-owner a party to the shared information as requested
by the app within the permission page of the application . Therefore, one thing
that one needs to keep in mind is to keep a check over the permission page of
the
applications that one installs .Best is .. one should try to
limitise one's wants , keep few applications and software over one's phone and
do not install those software that require a lot of permissions to be accepted
before making use of the software .
5) One should always stay vigilant and skeptical
These days all the security experts accept the one rule of thumb
for all security practices -- "
Trust No One in this Greed Infested World" . Whenever you recieve any
call ,message , email soliciting any personal information .. then do not trust
any of message , email soliciting any personal information .. then do not trust
any of the mails . This could be a phishing attack from someone who wants to
profit out of undoubting people who out of trust and foolishness get entrapped
in their untrustworthy traps , thereby losing security over their devices and
mediums .Fraudsters nowadays can embed malware over legitimate looking emails
within hyperlinks which once clicked could install unsuspecting software over
your system all without anyone's coming to know of such a background activity
running on your system . Therefore, whenever any suspicion occurs , always opt
out of such apps , softwares , emails , anything (sigh ... wish I had known
these earlier )
These days I personally feel .. the days of Nokia 1100 and Nokia
1600 , movies without real-looking CGI , games like Tetris and Mario were the
best .
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