The Internet, the cradle of information and connected services, is one of the most important technological advances of the 21e century. You can find absolutely everything there, showcase sites, e-commerce sites, blogs, streaming platforms, training platforms…
On the Internet, everything is connected to everything, and everyone can communicate with everyone. This is a real boon for businesses and companies, because it is a new medium to make more profits by reaching even more people.
But like everything on Earth, the Internet has advantages, but also disadvantages. The disadvantages of the Internet are in the form of threats and risks to the security of Internet users.
There are many types of threats on the Internet, and they proliferate quite normally because it is a real breeding ground to have all the computers connected to each other.
Types of threats on the Internet
There are several types of threats on the Internet, and here are some of them.
- Spyware is a spyware that installs itself on a machine and its job is to spy and collect information deemed useful by its creator.
- Trojan horse. A Trojan horse is a malicious program that is hidden in a program that claims to be legitimate. It is a very serious threat and difficult to detect.
- Virus is the most common and oldest malicious program. It is a program whose purpose is to destroy system files and make the computer unusable.
- This is a new threat that consists of encrypting all the data on the computer (files, documents, programs, etc.) and demanding a ransom in cryptocurrency, generally, to decrypt (or unlock) the system. This kind of threat is currently wreaking havoc on the Internet.
- Keylogger, by definition, is a combination of 2 English words: key et logger. Key means key or character, and logger means recorder. This type of threat consists of recording all the entries made on the keyboard, in order to recover possible identifiers, passwords, e-mails, credit card numbers, etc.
How to protect yourself?
To protect yourself from computer threats, you need to take certain active and passive measures, and here are some of them.
Protect yourself actively
- First line of defense is the antivirus. An antivirus is a program that protects the computer from all computer threats. There are several variants, all with different levels of protection. In this area, there are big names like Bitdefender, which is an excellent antivirus for all media and highly recommended by several IT experts because of its ability to detect threats, but also its performance and efficiency.
- Firewall. A firewall is a software that allows monitoring of network traffic. Generally, it is part of the antivirus, but in some applications (a company network for example), it is a machine dedicated to doing this task.
- A VPN, from English Virtual Private Network, is a system that allows you to create a secure connection between you and the Internet. It is excellent for browsing the Internet incognito.
- Antimalware/antispyware. Malware is the most common computer threat on the Internet and it is very easy to get infected by it. This kind of program pretends to be 'useful' software to fool your vigilance and infect your computer. In addition, they are difficult to find and remove. An antimalware/antispyware is an excellent solution to prevent this kind of threat.
Protect yourself passively
- Avoid suspicious emails. It is more than important to avoid opening suspicious emails from people you do not know, especially if these emails asking you to download software, a document or going to a website. Also, all emails that are put in the junk folder are very often dangerous emails. So, you should avoid them too.
- Avoid weird websites. Some websites are a veritable breeding ground for malware, spyware, ransomware, keylogger, etc. A tip to know if a website is possibly dangerous is to see if there are a lot of ads, the interface elements are not well taken care of, there are spelling mistakes, etc. All of these generally indicate that it is a shady site.
- Avoid ads. Avoid clicking on all the ads you see on the Internet. Advertising is the primary medium for transmission of spyware, malware and other threats.
- Check website addresses. Website copies are legion on the Internet. You can find copies of sites like PayPal, Skrill, etc. Usually, these kind of copies are made for payment sites. So a word of advice, check the address (URL) of the site. One letter can change everything.
- Avoid purchases on unknown computers. Never make purchases on a computer other than your own, especially one shared by multiple people. You might be tempted to buy the latest AirPods that just went on sale from your office computer, but there's a good chance it's infected with spyware and your banking information could be compromised.
- Avoid public Wi-Fi networks. Like public computers, they are often a hotbed of digital germs or data thieves. So it is advisable to avoid using them for online shopping or social media, especially if the Wi-Fi is not secure.
- Avoid USB sticks. A USB drive can go through 10 computers before it ends up on yours. Avoid using other people's drives, and if you must, make sure to scan them with an antivirus/antimalware at least 000 times before opening them.
These few computer security tips will help you better navigate the Internet to make purchases, watch series/movies, connect to social networks, etc. The Internet is a double-edged sword: it is very useful and indispensable, but also very dangerous when it is misused. Or at least used in a non-cautious way.
