There are many reasons why you should pay attention to the security of your local devices. As far as our hosting service is concerned, you should know that the hackers are after your login credentials for your e-mail accounts, your FTP accounts, and any web-based interfaces you may be using with your hosting service. Below you can find some general tips on how to keep your devices secure. If you feel that you need to know more on security, you should do your own search for information that matches the level of your computer knowledge, and the devices and operating systems that you are using.
Always keep updated both your OS and the software that you run on your computer.
You need to always run an antivirus application with updated virus definitions, and your devices should be behind a firewall.
It is a good idea to disable any running services you do not need. In general, any software and service that you run is a potential security risk, so it is a good practice not to run services you do not actually need. Also, some operating systems come with particular services enabled by default that are considered insecure by design or require special measures to have them secured.
You should avoid installing pirated software. Such applications may come infected with malware; serial key generators and similar tools may actually be trojans.
Malware is often distributed either as a file attachment or as a link that is being sent over the e-mail or some messenger service. Such messages may appear to be coming from people you know. This may be due to the fact that their own computers are already infected, and the malware is utilizing their system to distribute the messages to their contacts. If such a message appears suspicious to you, you should not open the attachment or click the link; you should rather check with the senders if they indeed sent the message to you intentionally.
When following links, you should pay attention to the URL in the address bar of your web browser. Fraudsters often upload fake login or product pages at URLs that are misspelled/altered variations of the real address you expected to visit, or at hacked sites whose domains have nothing to do with the service you actually expect to use.
It is important to be careful on the sources of both information and software you install. For example, it is usually a bad idea to install anti-malware software that was offered to you in a pop-up window while you browsed the Internet. Such a software may be of bad quality, or it may even be a trojan. You should do your own search on the software you are about to install and the reputation of its vendors.
If your computer triggers pop-ups with unexpected requests while you browse the web, for example asking you to give administrative permissions to a program that does not appear to be related with what you are doing at the moment, to install an additional application on your device, or to do something else that does not appear to be right at this time or is otherwise suspicious, you should always proceed with care. This may be a result of you visiting a malicious site or a legitimate site that has been hacked.
There are particular things related to your OS that may make it more secure, so you need to look up information on it.