Much of daily life now happens online, in which people trust their phones and computers with bank details, private messages, and medical records. This personal information attracts online hackers who use it to commit fraud and exploit individuals. By adopting a few basic habits, you can proactively protect your digital accounts against cyber threats.
Use Strong Passwords to Protect Your Information
One of the main targets for criminals is sites that store your payment details. Anywhere from your local grocery delivery services to the best online casino in Canada, your valuable data can get hacked, allowing it to be stolen. In this case, having a strong password is the best way to stop hackers from gaining access to your information.
Despite this, many people continue to use their name, birthday, username, email, or simple ‘password’ to safeguard their accounts. These are the first options hackers will check when trying to gain access. To heighten security, a safer choice is to use at least 12 characters with upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
Watch Out for Suspicious Activity
It’s advised to check your passwords regularly to help catch breaches early. This includes checking recent login activity in your account settings. Most online services show the city and device used for each login, so if any entry looks unfamiliar, change the password immediately.
Phishing is another common attack method used by criminals who send emails that mimic social media, banks, or service alerts. These messages usually link to fake login pages to steal the user’s data. Before entering your information, check the URL. If the domain doesn’t match the real company, it is likely a phishing scam.
Enable Multi-Factor Authentication
Enabling Multi-Factor Authentication might seem a little inconvenient at first, but this extra layer of security could be the only thing to stop a hacker from gaining access to your accounts. When MFA is enabled, you receive a code to your device, a link to your email, or you need to scan your finger on your phone. This additional step ensures that anyone trying to enter your data will not gain access to your accounts without your device.
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security provides official password guidance, suggesting that individuals enable Multi-Factor Authentication for every social media, banking, or retail site that they use.
Safe Handling of Personal Data
Public Wi-Fi in cafés and airports is another way hackers gather your private information. These networks generally lack strong protection, allowing others on the same network to view unprotected data. When using a public network, you can install a Virtual Private Network to hide traffic from prying eyes, as well as use a Gmail PVA account, which uses app-specific passwords to protect email access for third-party tools.
Data breaches also occur when a company’s databases are hacked, exposing user records. Many online tools contain a record of email addresses that appeared in a breach. If your email is listed, you should change the password for that service at once and review other accounts linked to the same email.
