How to stay safe over the internet? My 10 Rules

How to stay safe over the internet? My 10 Rules Last time when I went to my hometown, my cousin asked this question. He completed his engineering and now about to join one of the leading companies in India. I will share the tips I had given to you all. Most of you may be knowing more about this, but I am reiterating all those safety tips again. 1. Let us start with our operating system Most of us have personal computers, right. Whenever, our computer ask for some operating system updates, do not postpone it, allow him to freely go to his home and get the updates. This will make him more happy and secure. 2. Always don’t click on any advertisement links unless you are very familiar with the product or company. 3. Try to avoid giving your personal information unless, you are sure the vendor is legitimate. It may sound like a potential job opportunity, but on the other side, your identity may be exposed. A hacker can easily get your personal details like Date of Birth, Age, Address, Phone number. Identity theft is something that is most common but can cause serious damages. 4. Do not open email attachments. You may get emails mentioning "You won a lottery". Open this attachment for more [login to view URL] is something called a phishing attack, which I will explain later in a different blog post. 5. Always purchase Antivirus. It won’t cost you much. Updated Antivirus software can help you very much in dealing with virus, malwares or spywares. 6. Do not install unauthorized software’s. This may help a hacker to create a backdoor to reach your machine and exploit. 7. Do not share your passwords with anybody. Never use the same main email password in multiple websites. Always create different passwords for different websites. Always choose strong passwords that are not easy to guess. Do not use dictionary words. My recommendation should be a combination of a) at least 8 characters long b) English uppercase characters (A-Z) c)English lowercase characters (a-z) and Non-alphanumeric (!@#$) 8. When you are out from home, always disable your Wi-Fi option in your mobile phone. When you are connected from home, always check whether you are connected to the legitimate wireless access point. 9. Shop only from secure websites. Do not enter your credit/debit card details in any websites that are not familiar to you. 10. Educate yourself about the latest security news and promote security awareness around your family, friends. Hope these tips would be helpful to you. I will write more about Phishing, Social Engineering threats in a different blog post. Thank you.