May 31, 2021

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Author: Adam Torks

Safety Guide: What Is Digital Security?

For some reason, most people are well aware of home security and do everything possible to protect their property. However, few Internet users pay attention to the fact that online security is as important as offline. And this is not for nothing. After all, every day, we transmit and receive tons of information via the internet. This applies to personal correspondence and confidential information, including bank card numbers, email, and much more.

Why is it important to increase the level of your cybersecurity? You can read all about it here.

According to statistics, about 66% of internet users consider online threats unlikely despite more than 17% of the surveyed users having been subjected to cyberattacks at least once. And only about 16% really thought about their own online security and took minimal measures to achieve it.

Our team has already told you many times about the importance of online security.

However, today, we would like to talk about the digital security of internet users.

Know more about cybersecurity by reading this article.

What is digital security?

Digital security is the precautions that the internet user takes to protect personal data from hackers and other malicious actors. These measures include methods of preventing various hacker attacks, hacking, and much more.

After all, there are many types of malware and viruses that can copy our data in secret, and then save it on separate media. After that, our data can be sold on the internet.

What is personal data, and how can you protect it from attacks? You can read the recommendations here.

As I said earlier, every year, there are many times more cases of cybercrime. And the damage from this kind of attack is also increasing exponentially. The most interesting point is that users at the age of 50+ are the frequent victims of various cyber fraud because they are less well versed in cybersecurity issues. Therefore, our task as the IT generation is to tell them about possible threats and prevention methods.

However, do not forget about the younger generation, because about 10% of them are persons under 18 years of age. And they are also no longer competent in matters of digital security.

Therefore, special methods have been developed to protect your digital devices that access users’ personal data.

If you want to learn how to prevent any hacker attacks, you can read some advice here.

Now, it’s time to consider the existed online threats in details.

What is hacking?

For sure, when you think about online threats, the first thing that comes to mind is hacking. For many of us, hackers are strange people, dressed in a black hoodie and constantly sitting at the computer, inventing various codes and programs. In fact, this is not the case. And hackers can look completely normal.

The same thing happens with the word hacking, which many of us interpret differently. Actually, it is the implementing of collected knowledge about IT technologies to get access to the closed data. The hacker is a universal soldier: he can hack the system and block it for a while, or vice versa, remove any restrictions imposed by the security system.

As a rule, there are 3 hacker types:

White hat. These are pure specialists in hacker attacks who don’t work independently. They are hired by large companies that want to fix existed tech holes in the security systems and prevent any threats.

Black hat. They are the dirty hackers that are most often made into movies. They engage in illegal hacking of security systems and copy the data and then sell it or use it in illegal actions.

Grey hat. These are neutral hackers. They can work both legally and illegally, committing various illegal actions. Most often, the goal is not a desire for profit but rather a desire to help.

We’ve collected the most famous hackers in one place.

In addition, the types of hacks that a hacker carries out are also considered important. They differ in two types:

• Zero-Day Hacks. These attack vulnerabilities that the company has not encountered before. After such a hack, the security system does not react to the attack that occurred.
• Different types of hacks. These are vulnerabilities that do not require high knowledge to attack or hack. In contrast, scripting is fairly easy for preventing the threat if the system has already been updated.

Now it is important to consider hacking in details. There are three main methods:

Social Engineering. These are various phishing, spam, and other tricks that hackers use to obtain user data. After they receive the user’s password, they will copy all the necessary data.

Read the article to forget about phishing.

Hacking based on programming. This is a more advanced and energy-intensive way to get data. To do this, the hacker needs to find tech holes in the system, and conduct a hacker attack.

Physical access. If your computer is not physically protected and other people have access to it, a hacker can easily install any program.

Digital security tips

Let’s start from the basic security tips. These are the primary digital security tips or actions:

• Install licensed OS and software. An unlicensed OS may contain malicious bookmarks, as well as prevent updates from being made. 
• Regular updates of the operating system. Updates often contain fixes for security breaches.
• Installing antivirus software for Windows users. Antivirus software reduces the risk of your computer getting infected with widespread malware. MacOS or Linux users do not need an antivirus.

Learn more about existed types of malware here.

• Syncing local folders with the Cloud. Online backup to the “cloud” of the most critical files (archive of access keys, PGP private keys). If there is an operational backup, then if necessary, you can immediately continue working without the need for a full recovery from the backup.
• Full-disk encryption. We recommend using: FileVault for Mac OS X, BitLocker, or VeraCrypt for Windows.
• Creating a disk backup.

Also, there is a concept known as digital hygiene. This category includes actions that are not mandatory, but are highly desirable. It includes:

• Two-factor authorization for mail and social networks.
• PGP usage.
• Use of complex and diverse passwords.
• Not connecting other people’s flash drives, mobile phones, SD cards, USB devices and other media to your device. 
• Not giving your computer to others (even trusted persons). They may, perhaps unintentionally, install harmful software.
• Not installing potentially malicious software.
• On mobile phones, not installing programs from unofficial app stores. In the official stores, the programs pass a security check.

Also, don’t forget about additional security like:

• Covering the laptop’s video camera. Using malware, attackers can implement some digital devices likes camera to spy on you. It is better to seal the camera when you are not using it.
• Creating a full backup. It is recommended to make a full backup before performing operations on full-disk encryption or other actions with the OS that can disable it. Backups must be encrypted. 
• Local encryption. If sensitive materials (such as access passwords, financial and administrative materials), as well as personal data of third parties related to work in your organization, are stored on a personal computer, then these files must be stored in a password-protected and encrypted folder.

When working in the network, you should remember such security tips as:

• Don’t connect to open Wi-Fi networks without using a VPN. Traffic over open wireless networks can be easily intercepted.

Choose the best VPNs with a free trial period.

• Don’t enter passwords to your organization’s resources if you don’t have a secure HTTPS connection.
• Use a complex password. All passwords used by an employee of your organization for email, access to the site’s administrative panel, social networks, etc., must contain numbers, upper and lower case letters of the alphabet, and punctuation marks.

Use the best way for data protection and set a reliable password.

• Don’t use the same password everywhere. Use the password generator to create and store unique passwords for each site.

Lastly

Digital security is a set of measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information from virus attacks and unauthorized interference.

Today, many organizations have an extremely developed IT infrastructure. Therefore, the chances that at least one computer can infect the entire network increase. In this case, each employee needs to observe digital security. Otherwise, the reputation of the entire organization may be at risk. It is worth remembering that any device, both official and personal, can become a channel of attack and a threat. To prevent the data leaks, everyone should follow the necessary measures for ensuring online privacy.

Don’t forget to follow the tips from our checklist on security measures.