5 Tips that Will Help You Strengthen Your Internet Security

The Internet is both a wonderful and a dangerous place. There are a lot of malicious third parties out there that want to take advantage of us and our personal data, so it’s a good idea to always do our best to protect ourselves and our precious information when browsing the Web. Here are five tips that will help you.

1. Strong passwords are the key

The first and most important thing that you need to do is always set up a nice and strong password on all your accounts and devices. Having a good password on all your accounts is the first barrier that you can count on to protect you out there. Here are a few tips to help you set up the best passwords that will protect you all the time:

• Use different passwords for different accounts.
• Use capital letters, symbols and numbers in addition to plain normal text.
• Change up your passwords at least once a month.
• Never choose the same code for your phone and credit card.
• Think of novel and inventive passwords instead of predictable ones.

2. Use two-step authentication

Another thing that you can do in order for you to have stronger Internet security is to activate multi-factor or two-step authentication for at least some of your accounts, if not all of them. In order to make sure that nobody is getting up in your business when they’re not supposed to, it’s a good idea to set up two-step authentication. Most services require you type in a code you will receive via SMS on your phone or get from your mobile app so that you can prove you are who you claim you are when logging in from a different device.

3. Do not use public Wi-Fi

Public Wi-Fi can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it’s very handy to have the Internet readily available for free in public as well. After all, that’s a lot of Internet you don’t have to pay for. But it can also be a bit of a dangerous situation because public Wi-Fi networks can create a gateway for malicious third parties to gain access to your data. So refrain from using them as much as possible. And if you simply must, make sure to at least use a VPN when doing so.

4. Mind your phone

When it comes to staying safe out there in the online world, your phone is unfortunately the weakest link. This is due to the fact that phones don’t generally come with inbuilt protection against outside threats. They are also easier to hack due to their very build. But we all use our phones all the time, so they have a lot of crucial data on them (maybe even bank account info and such). So what can we do to make our phones safer?

The answer is easy: get a mobile antivirus program. Research the web and our adjacent online marketplace for apps for the best one for your phone, and then proceed to download it. And don’t worry about it costing too much. There are a lot of good free ones out there as well.

5. Be careful what apps you install

Staying on the topic of phones and mobile devices in general, apps can also be dangerous. This is true especially on Android, seeing as iOS always requires pre-testing before the app even makes it to the App Store. So be careful when installing new apps and always do your homework beforehand on any new and relatively unknown app. It’s better to be safe than sorry, trust us.