As reported by CNN, several major US banks have experienced the largest cyber attacks ever recorded in the past week – banks including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and U.S. Bank, which have millions of customers across the world. These attacks, along with the recent hacking attacks affecting the millions of users of LinkedIn and the Sony PlayStation network, have made people question how secure their personal information is online.
Here are three easy ways that consumers and companies can make sure that private information stays safe and secure.
Free virus protection for all your devices
It goes without saying that you should protect your computer with antivirus software, but sometimes computer users are put off by high prices or just get a bit complacent and forget to update their software. But sometimes Mac users, thinking that their computers are more resistant to malware or viruses, don’t install antivirus software and mobile phone users don’t always think about the need to protect their phones like they would protect their PCs.
Mobile phones can be just as susceptible to viruses and other threats – especially considering that people may be more likely to access unsecured wifi hotspots with their mobile phones when they’re out and about. Also, because of their size, mobile phones may be more likely to be lost or stolen. Just think about all the information that someone could find on your phone – not only phone numbers, addresses, and pictures, but also credit card numbers, passwords, and other sensitive information! It is definitely worth protecting.
Avast! provides a free antivirus program for multiple operating systems, protecting Macs, PCs and Android mobile phones. The free mobile security program from avast! not only protects your phone from viruses, but also provides tracking and anti-theft options, making it easy to protect your phone and the data on it if it is stolen or misplaced.
Top-level concerns
All companies should be continually making sure that all their data is safe and secure. Emails are especially important, as they often contain sensitive information about the company, their staff, and their clients as well. Rather than handling all of this in-house, one way to ensure security is by looking at the email solutions provided by different companies. These solutions help protect the company from viruses and other threats that can be received through emails, and they also will create a secure archive of emails. Protecting your company’s emails in this way greatly reduces the possibility of a security breach.
Sending information securely
Even if you protect your computer and mobile phone and also make sure that your emails are secure, you can’t control what happens to information once you send it to other people – they might share it with others, or they might fall victim to a virus or other online threat themselves.
The website Burn Note aims to address this issue by providing a secure messaging service. You can send an online message to a recipient of your choice – and this message can only be read once, and then self-destructs after a short amount of time. It is reminiscent of the messages received by the agents in Mission: Impossible – but this service is real, free, and can be used by everyone. There are different settings providing even more security. This service is a great way to send information like passwords, bank account details, or even just gossip – this way you can be even more certain that this sensitive information won’t fall into the wrong hands.
So, there are three different strategies for protecting your information while online, whether you’re on a desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. Do you have any other suggestions? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
