Keeping Your Information Safe
Tags: cybersecurity, lock, safety
Published: 2019-08-01 17:41:57

---
title: Keeping Your Information Safe
published: true
description: Make sure that you're safeguarding the important information on your computer with these tips.
tags: cyber security, lock, safety
---

<p>Introduction</p>
<p>These days we lock our car, lock our homes and lock our computer. Wait&hellip; what? Lock our computer? Yes. And if you are not locking your computer you absolutely should be. In this day and age it is so easy for a hacker to enter into your computer and steal anything, from your social security number to just totally destroying your computer&rsquo;s hardware. And they can do it from the comfort of their own couch. So how do we combat this? With security. The options these days are endless.</p>
<p>What is security?</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.gigamon.com/2019/06/18/what-is-cybersecurity/">Cyber security</a> is just a fancy term for the protection of an internet connected system. Since the internet is the way that cyber hackers are able to enter onto our computers, it is essential that any internet connected computer would have some type of security software.</p>
<p>There are many different types of security threats. They include ransomware, malware, social engineering and phishing. Ransomware is basically when an unwanted application is able to access the computer and basically lock it down until the user pays or does something beneficial to the hacker. The malware is basically an application that spies on the user and either copies your credit card number when you buy a new pair of shoes on Amazon or memorizes your passwords for later use.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Social engineering is a type of hacking that relies on the user to accept the terms of the hack in a roundabout way. Then when you hit &ldquo;OK,&rdquo; the attack begins. Lastly, phishing refers to those emails that basically everyone gets. They say something like, &ldquo;click here because you won a million dollars.&rdquo; To read more on what antimalware security is, check out <a href="https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/cybersecurity">this website</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>What are some good options?</p>
<p>The hardest part of combating security threats is that the hackers are constantly changing things in order to get around the latest security platforms. So the minute you get the most up to date security option, the hackers are working on a way around it. There are a few different options for helping to combat security threats. One of them is choosing to only use trusted URL websites. If a website is not .com, .gov or any other similarly ending URL, then it is probably not safe to be on and could potentially download a virus. Another good thing to do is to always back up your information to a hard drive or external source. This is because it is much harder to infiltrate a virus on something that is not consistently connected to the internet. Also, never open attachments from unknown sources and always keep your devices up to date with malware such as Norton. It&rsquo;s important to find out what <a href="https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-malware-what-is-cybersecurity-what-you-need-to-know.htm">other helpful methods</a> there are on how to reduce your chances of downloading malware or other viruses.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Most Well Known and Best Malware Options</p>
<p>The most well known for its effectiveness is McAfee. It is also known for being inexpensive McAfee offers options for the smallest of occasional use computers to the biggest companies with multiple heavy use computers. Another great option is Norton. It is pretty comparable to McAfee. Their largest brag is that they are constantly evolving to combat the hackers. Also, Bitdefender is really great and a little less expensive. Bitdefender is great for the smaller home computer. Also, local companies in your area can help you download anti-malware software as well as help you choose one to best fit your needs. For information on anti malware options, you may want <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/254982/the-best-security-suites">to do more research</a> into malware. There is an option to meet any budget or need.</p>
<p>Conclusion</p>
<p>We lock everything these days to keep thieves out. Your computer should be no different. Help protect yourself and your things by combating security threats utilizing safe internet practices as well as downloading and utilizing malware combating options.</p>