Most of us take The Internet for granted, it is part of our daily lives as people and communicators. But more importantly, we use it everyday as an important tool for business.
But we tend not to give a second thought to our security on The Internet. In recent weeks we have seen high profile cases of ransomware exploits, with victims including international corporations and critical infrastructure across the globe. Mostly, these cyber attacks occur without making headlines in our media. Please don’t be complacent in regards to your own Internet security.
Here are a few basic tips to improve your Internet safety:
- Talk with your team to be vigilant. Cyber criminals have many tools in their arsenal, and one of these is Social Engineering.
- Use software to help keep your computers safe against viruses, malware etc.
- Run regular scans on your computers and documents.
- Ensure you have adequate firewall protection.
- Talk with your local IT or network engineer.
- Keep your exposure to The Internet as narrow as possible.
If your Internet router provides remote access for services such as remote users or ACR support via port forwards, ensure that access is locked down only to the Internet addresses requiring access, and not accessible to the whole world. Hackers use automation to find these open ports, which they can find if the ports are not locked down. If your Internet router is not capable of locking these ports down, you will need to obtain one that is. Your local I.T can help you. Nowadays routers with this capability are widely available and are relatively inexpensive.