Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Tech Commandments for a safer digital life - 5 principles to adhere to when using Internet

 

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 .