Be extra safe on the internet during the holidays

INTERNET usage is bound to skyrocket during vacation periods when schools and businesses close for the holiday season. Having more personal time to yourself, you might be inclined to surf the web, use social media and stream videos more than usual. But, there are always risks involved when going online, and your personal data may be at risk. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when visiting websites.

1) HTTP versus HTTPS:

When you visit a website, check whether the URL (Universal Resource Locator) has the normal https:// tacked on at the front, right before the www. portion, or the more secure https://. The ‘s’ adds an extra security layer to the original Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http). Http is far less secure than https, meaning that cyber criminals can easily intercept your visit to the site and gain whatever information they want from that visit.

2) Two-step verification:

To use certain sites, especially social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, you’ll be asked to provide your email/ username and a password to log in. These are easily obtained or cracked by cyber criminals. By going into your settings on these sites, you can activate two-step verification which will require you to enter your usual details, along with a code sent to your email account or cellphone number. This considerably increases the difficulty of hacking your account.

3) Security questions:

These are questions that websites may ask you when you struggle to gain access to your account or have forgotten your login details. Unfortunately, questions like ‘What is your maiden name?’ and ‘What was your first dog’s name?’ can be easily deduced by others with a little bit of research. Rather answer these questions untruthfully or with a code or word only you would remember, unrelated to the actual question. If someone tries to access your account in this way, they won’t be able to find the information by scrolling through your social media.

4) Passwords:

Because of the number of websites, social media and email profiles people are expected to maintain in modern life, you might be inclined to only have one overall password to use on all of them. It’s simpler to just remember one password instead of ten, but, if one of your accounts gets hacked, all of them become susceptible. Make sure that the various passwords you choose will be things you’d remember in the long run. This said, don’t write your passwords down or enter them into a note or message on your phone, as these can be easily found as well.

5) Phone lock:

Consider activating the auto lock function on your smartphone, tablet or personal computer. This will lock your phone after a certain amount of time of inactivity, and ensure that someone cannot access your device when you’re not looking. If someone gains access to your personal devices, it’d be far simpler to log onto any of your accounts and change the passwords, effectively locking you out and giving them open access.

6) Clicking on links:

Be careful what links you click on in messages or email, no matter the reliability of the source. Your best friend’s account could just as easily have been hacked and used to send malware to you. More than that, never click on links sent from institutions like a bank or other financial service. Cyber criminals can easily set up websites and emails which closely resemble those of these kinds of service providers. This is especially important with banking websites. If you receive a message containing one of these links, rather access your bank through your banking app, or visit their official website by doing a search.

7) VPN:

Accessing public networks such as the internet immediately exposes you to others on that same network. Though it takes a bit of work to get to it, your information is made public just by using it. Demographic and geographic data can easily be skimmed while you’re using the internet. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is programming which uses tunneling protocols (routing of connection points/ nodes) to encrypt your data on sending, and decode it on the receiving end (your device and the website you access). VPNs can hide/ change your personal network information, and even change your location data.

8) Friends/ family requesting help:

Be wary of messages received from friends or family asking you for assistance in the form of money, or providing them with personal information. These kinds of messages usually have some urgency behind them, in the line of “Please send me R500. I’ll explain later what happened, but I’m in trouble”. You might think someone you love is in trouble and you need to act quickly, but their account or device might have been hacked or stolen. Take a moment to call the person and just make sure everything is legitimate.