We’re all more and more dependent on our digital devices, so it’s becoming more and more important to make sure we’re safe online.
Everybody knows to protect their pin numbers and bank details, and to be careful how we share them, but we also have to make sure our other personal information (and those of our contacts) are safe online. We know the Chinese state hacks computers, and we know they’re not the only ones who take part in cyber crime and cyber espionage. But we can keep ourselves safe by following some simple steps from the Tibet Action Institute.
Https
If you look at your navigation bar you’ll see the address ‘http://www.sftuk.org’. If you’re on a page where you’re entering personal information like passwords or bank details, you’re going to want to check that it says ‘https‘. That means safe or secure; what you’re entering can’t be read by third parties.
It doesn’t matter when viewing pages like this one as you aren’t entering any information, but what about Facebook? If your Facebook pages don’t say https, it means they’re readable by third parties. You can change your privacy settings on Facebook to make it secure by following these steps.
The same is true of email clients like Yahoo and Gmail. You’ll notice when you sign into these that it says https, but when you’re on Yahoo or Hotmail, it reverts to http when you’ve signed in; that means your password may be secure but your emails themselves may not be. On Gmail, the whole process is done in https.
If you’re using Firefox as your internet browser, you can also set it to ‘private viewing’ easily and your computer will stop tracking your movements online, adding another level of security. Google Chrome is also a much more secure browser, while Ubuntu/Linix is a safer operating system than Windows. In terms of computers, Macs are still safer than PCs, though using a Mac does not protect you from all threats.
Email
The most common way that viruses, adware, spyware and other malware can get onto your computer is through email attachments. If you get an attachment from an unknown source, you’re better off binning it (and making sure you empty your recycle bin often). Even if it’s from a source you know, be careful; it’s rare but a friend’s email account may have been hacked so ask yourself if it’s likely that they’ve actually sent you an attachment.
There are lots of ways to share documents without sending attachments, which will also make sure people get your documents, as often email clients won’t send or receive large files. For example you can upload videos to YouTube or Vimeo, upload pdfs to Issuu, photos to Flickr or word documents to Google docs.
Passwords
How often do you change your password? And can you remember it easily? Chances are a password which is easy to remember or not updated often can be found out and your account used by a third party. You can get around this simply; make sure your passwords are a combination of upper case, lower case, numbers and special characters, at least 8 digits long and change it every month or more if you feel you have a high profile account. And don’t share your passwords online!
Malicious software
Viruses can crash your system, but they aren’t the only kind of malicious software out there. Hackers (whether for political or criminal reasons) can use malware to gain access, control or information from your system. This may manifest itself by slowing your computer, switching programs on and off, going to websites you haven’t asked it to go to or simply staying latent on your system until another malicious program activates it. Some such software can even switch your virus sheild off and make it look like it’s functional, disguise itself as a virus alert pop-up yet install a virus when you ask it to fix one or read your keystrokes to record passwords you’re typing in even if they don’t come up on the screen.
You can’t always see this kind of software so it’s really important to do regular virus checks, and also download anti spyware and malware software. It’s good to invest in a quality virus shield like Mcafee, Kaspersky or Norton, but you should also back it up by downloading free anti-malware programs like Anti-malware Bytes and anti-spyware software like Super Anti-spyware. Be careful though as some online ‘protection’ software are actually viruses themselves!
Mobile phones
As mobiles become more like computers, they’re also becoming more suseptible to attack. You should be as cautious about your smartphone’s security as your computer’s, and remember even older mobiles can be subject to hacking. Here are some more mobile tips from the Tibet Action Institute:
It’s important not to get paranoid about malicious software, spying and hacking. Unless you’re a high profile target it’s unlikely you’re being attacked, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, especially if you’re a Tibetan as things like contact information for family members in Tibet is something that’s of high value to the Chinese state.
Don’t be paranoid; just be prepared!
