Being safer online, some steps you can take

It is really funny I did a post 2 days ago about a course I am taking about cybersecurity and today's writing challenge is about safety and online security. Link below if you want to read that article :
https://inleo.io/@walterjay/adding-cyber-to-your-skills

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Ransomware

In the past 20 years our time online increased a lot and many people are spending hours each day on their devices whether it is a smartphone, computer or tablet. Malicious actors have noticed that and are trying to take advantage of it for profit. I am sure you are familiar with attacks like ransomware that can encrypt your hard drive and then asked for ransom after to get your data back. In this case you have to have a backup someone else in order to restore you data otherwise it might be lost, even if you decide to pay the ransom, you have no way of knowing if the attacker will release your data and if he does you need to take steps to remove the malware otherwise it could attack again.

Data leak

Another common attack is people targeting large databases in order to steal information of millions of people then sell it on the black market for a lot of money. Companies are responsible to secure your data and there is not much you can do about that one except minimizing the data you give to a company, making sure they have only what they need to service you.

Fake and unsecured website

This one you have more control over, you might encounter a website that is impersonating a real one but will modify the domain name like "aapple.com" instead of "apple.com" they will offer to sell you the same product as the original compagnie by showing a similar website and when you go to pay they will just still your credit card informations then they can sell that to others or just charge you money on it. Althought you might have a chance of recoveing the money with your bank, it will be a painful process for nothing. You have to be really caution when surfing online and check the URL twice especially when following a link.

Another vector of attack is unsecured website that only use HTTP instead of HTTPS, although this isn't common anymore as SSL certificate can be obtain for free with a certificate authority like Let's Encrypt even for your personal website.
Standard HTTP traffic (not HTTPS) is send through the internet with no encryption so anyone on your network can analyse the traffic and catch valuable information, this was less of a problem in the early days of the internet as there wasn't as much malicious actors but with the user base.

Some extra tips:

1. Enable Two Factor Authentication when possible and preferably using an App(Google Authenticator for exemple) rater then SMS message because SIM card can be duplicated and an attacker could receive the message also.

2. Be extra careful when using public wifi, I would systematic use a VPN to secure my connection if I had to use a public Wifi (café, airport, hotels). When possible I prefer to use my own 4/5G mobile connection using my phone as a tethering device as this is more secure.

3. Be extra careful when following a link from a email and avoid downloading software from the internet when you don't know the source.

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This is my post for the March inleo challenge, you can join the writing challenge on Inleo here:
https://inleo.io/@leo.tasks/february-inleo-winners-march-monthly-prompt

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