How to Make Sure You’re Protected Against Online Threats

It’s safe to say that over the last few decades, the Internet has unlocked a lot of benefits for most people. It’s how we stay in communication with our friends, family members and other loved ones. It allows us to work more productively. It lets us experience entertainment like never before. But at the same time, you also have to acknowledge that there are very real threats online that are worth paying attention to. Protecting yourself from those threats isn’t necessarily difficult, but it does require you to keep a few key things in mind.

 

For starters, you need to enable two factor authentication on any account you have that supports it. This includes not only your email but also things like bank accounts as well. Two factor authentication is a technology that requires more than just a password to gain access to an account. Once you type in your password, you’ll be sent a unique numerical code. This will come either to your email or, more likely, to your cell phone.

 

The idea is that even if someone were to gain access to your password, they would be very unlikely to have access to your physical device at the same time. Therefore, that password would essentially be worthless without the code. At the same time, if you get a code that you didn’t request, you’ll know something is wrong. You can quickly step in and change the password on the compromised account to prevent further issues from happening.

 

Another step that you can take to protect yourself against online threats involves always making sure that your operating system and other programs are updated. Many people don’t realize that the latest version of software does more than just add new features. It also patches security holes that hackers can leverage to do you harm. Therefore, making an effort to keep your system updated is one of the best ways to stop that from happening. Most updates are free these days anyway. 

 

Finally, you’ll want to make sure that you’re never using an unsupported version of an operating system. This is true even i it is one that you still like and that still technically functions. Microsoft stopped supporting the Windows 7 operating system a few years ago, for example. This means that when new security issues are discovered, and they absolutely will be, Microsoft will no longer offer support. This makes your computer a potential vulnerability just waiting to be taken advantage of by someone with bad intentions. You always need to upgrade to newer versions of Windows or the MacOS operating system as they become available to avoid issues like these moving forward.

 

In the end, the Internet is certainly not without its potential dark side. Countless new strains of malware appear online every single day. But by making an effort to understand this threat, you can enjoy all of the benefits of being online with as few of the potential downsides as possible.