There is no doubt that we live in an advanced technological age, and as much as we like to think we are protected, it is important to know that the people at the apex of these innovations are the hackers and cyber criminals that are making the internet unsafe. By selling your personal data, hacking has become a multi-billion dollar industry and is attracting some of the most brilliant and corrupt minds of our generation. These cybercriminals are clever, conniving, and want nothing more than to trick you into falling into their traps.

Protecting yourself from these digital terrors is a constant battle, but knowing how the hackers secrets will give you the upper hand in the fight:

Open Vulnerabilities

Lets face it, hackers probably know your computer better than you do. They know how to look for weak spots in your security software and how to attack them. Once someone is infected with a virus, they can unknowingly spread the virus to other computers; basically doing the hackers dirty work for them. Now all the hacker needs to do is collect your information and sell it to identity thieves and other scam artists.

Social Engineering

Not all hacks are technical. Social Engineering relies on human behavior to bypass security measures and do the hackers work for them. A common example of social engineering is emails that urgently request money or information to help someone else. This is designed to play on human behavior and trick you into opening the email or link. These emails are often sent from legitimate addresses and can be difficult to spot, so it is important to have a watchful eye for things that seem fishy.

Phishing

Phishing is similar to social engineering but relies less on human behavior. Emails with attachments or links may be sent to you requesting information or offer a funny video. These links are bait to trick you into letting a foreign virus into your computer. It is important that you be suspicious of things that are not familiar and not be afraid to question emails that seem legitimate because there is a good chance they are a hacker.

How Can I Protect Myself?

In order to protect yourself, you must work with a team of trusted IT security experts who are able to provide the best anti-virus software, firewalls, web-content filtering, and other measures for your protection.

Contact Bralin Technology Solutions to work with a team of trusted IT security experts who manage all of your technology at a flat-rate monthly fee. Call (306) 445-4881 or (306) 825-3881 or send us an email at info@bralin.com for more information.