9 Mistakes That Make You An Easy Prey For Hackers
Here We Introduce Some Big Mistakes That Can Make You Vulnerable To Hackers. If You Care About The Security Of Your Information, Avoid These Mistakes!
Of course, none of us wants to be caught in the hands of hackers! However, some wrong decisions open the way for these people to enter our phones and personal information.
Sometimes a small mistake, even unintentionally, can be the gateway for hackers to enter our phones. Therefore, it is necessary to refrain from doing some of these things.
In the following, we will introduce several mistakes that can expose our phones to hackers. By not making these mistakes, you can significantly increase the security of your device.
Nine Mistakes that expose you to hacker attacks
Using public Wi-Fi networks
Many times, when we are in stores, restaurants, cafes, or hotels, there are two ways to access the Internet in front of us. The first method is to use mobile data, and the second method is to use a public Wi-Fi network.
Naturally, we all prefer to connect to the free Internet in these public places instead of using up our precious Internet volume; Especially when we are busy with streaming or high-consumption tasks.
However, you should know that public networks are not secure and can be easily penetrated by hackers. For example, hackers can easily monitor your communication through a public Wi-Fi network and even gain access to your key information, such as your personal or banking information.
In addition, hackers can also create their own Wi-Fi network and name it to look like a public network to fool you.
If you fall into this trap, you will think you are connected to a free and safe network. However, the hacker who created this network will see and access your information as long as you are connected.
If you plan to connect to a public Wi-Fi network, try a VPN to ensure your data remains encrypted.
Of course, using free VPNs is not risk-free and can expose you to many security risks.
I am not scanning the device permanently.
Many of us are involved in various daily tasks and spend busy days. Therefore, it is natural that some seemingly insignificant tasks, such as scanning antiviruses, are gradually removed from our program!
You might think that scanning your laptop for viruses and malware won’t do much to keep it safe. But you’re mistaken; Because this can improve your security.
Without performing these periodic scans, malware may infiltrate your device’s memory and remain there.
If you think you might forget to periodically scan your computer, use the automatic scanning feature that most antiviruses use. In this way, the antivirus program will check your device in the background and ensure your safety without you knowing.
Use a free VPN or antivirus.
None of us mind using a free app! However, it would be best to remember that some software like antiviruses or VPNs is worth the money you pay.
Most well-known antiviruses or VPNs are premium products and charge users a monthly or yearly fee to provide services.
In general, there are two reasons why antivirus or VPN is free. Therefore, if one of these two is available to users for free, it will either provide its income through advertisements or the sale of users’ data to other services!
For example, a free VPN application is usually full of various advertisements, which in addition to harming the experience of surfing the Internet, can also cause the information on your phone to be leaked to hackers.
In addition, free VPN services expose important information on your computer, including personal information, browsing history, etc., to this service’s provider!
On the other hand, you should also pay attention to the fact that antiviruses and free VPNs are generally unable to protect you from cyber threats. For example, these antiviruses may not be able to detect some malware, or the VPN you are using has poor encryption!
Using old software
Like not scanning the phone constantly, many of us also usually use older versions due to the time-consuming process of updating software.
This issue is another mistake that can cause hackers to infiltrate your system.
Note that application updates are not just for adding additional features and fixing software problems; Rather, in many cases, these updates fix some security flaws.
These updates close newly identified security holes so that hackers cannot penetrate your account or device through them.
Therefore, if you do not continuously update your computer’s operating system or software, you increase the chances of being caught by hackers.
Therefore, the next time you update your software or operating system, consider the security risks you expose yourself to!
Opening unknown links or attachments
It must have happened that you opened a link very quickly without seeing the details and were directed to a secure page! However, consider that you are not always so lucky!
You may not know that malware can spread and lurk on your device through links or attachments in emails, social media, or the like.
Also, links with unknown sources can steal users’ identity and financial information and abuse them later.
For example, if you enter your bank account username and password on a phishing website, the hacker who designed this site can easily see your username and password and target your account.
For this reason, it is necessary to ensure its authenticity and safety before opening a website or attachment.
To do this, you can use various websites to check links’ health or learn how to identify spam emails.
Ignoring these things can be a big mistake and put hackers one step away from your computer, phone, or tablet.
Using HTTP websites
In the past, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) was the standard protocol for sending data over the Internet. However, many people today prefer using the more secure HTTPS protocol.
The reason for this is quite clear. HTTPS protocol encrypts user data and increases their security significantly.
HTTP and HTTPS websites can be easily recognized through your internet browser. If you see a closed lock next to the name of a website, it means that the website is secure and uses the HTTPS protocol.
On the other hand, seeing an open lock next to the website name means that the HTTP protocol is used and is not secure.
If you intend to maintain your security and keep your data encrypted, always try to use the HTTPS protocol.
Sharing flash drives
Another mistake users make, which can lead to many security risks and lead hackers to step away from their devices, is using shared flash memories without paying attention to security measures.
Flash drives are not the only place to store safe files; they may also keep malicious software, malware, or viruses.
Therefore, you must be extremely careful when connecting a flash drive to your computer. Sharing a flash drive with people you don’t know or using other people’s flash can have many risks for your device.
In this situation, using your new flash drive or an updated antivirus program to scan the flash drive before opening it is recommended.
I am not using authentication layers.
Two or more-factor authentication can significantly increase the security of your device and the login process.
It doesn’t matter if you are going to enter your Instagram username or password or you are going to log into your bank account; you can add a layer of security by using different multi-factor authentication methods such as an authenticator application or any other features. Add your system, making it much harder for hackers to access your profile.
Authentication means confirming the correctness of entering a site or application through another program or service. For example, if you want to access your bank account through your laptop, you can confirm your login through your smartphone using different authentication methods.
Also, confirming the login to the Instagram account through the code sent to you by email is another authentication method that can significantly increase your security.
This process only takes a few seconds, But it will greatly impact keeping your account safe and preventing hackers from accessing your information.
Download software and files from unknown sources.
We often cannot easily find the program we want on the Internet or download the correct version for the platform we want.
In this situation, many of us go to third-party personal websites, which are not secure and can expose our phones, laptop, or tablet to hackers.
Of course, most of these websites look very normal, So the user never suspects this site may contain infected files.
However, by using this category of websites, hackers can target your security and peace with all kinds of security risks, such as malware, advertisements, viruses, etc., that threaten your safety.
For this reason, we recommend that you do not download software from this category of websites as much as possible and always try to use reliable software stores to download the applications you want.
By avoiding these frequent mistakes, you can significantly reduce the risk of hackers breaking into your smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Therefore, we recommend you not neglect anything mentioned in this text.