Tip of the Week: Surfing the Web, Securely

The Internet is often taken for granted, in both a professional and a personal capacity. You’d be hard-pressed to get anything done without it nowadays. This doesn’t mean it’s always safe to do so, however. There are many threats that lurk in the darkness of the Internet, and if you’re not careful, you could find yourself on the receiving end of them. We’ve put together some tips that can help you keep both yourself and your business safe while browsing the web.

Sacrificing Security for the Sake of Convenience
The majority of threats found online can be avoided easily enough--particularly by developing some pro-security habits and practices. That being said, it’s easier to develop bad habits than good ones, as everyone is surely aware of. This only makes it harder to keep yourself safe from online threats.

One great example of this is the password. While it might seem counterintuitive to have more than one password, it becomes a security issue if you use the same password for multiple accounts. This is because a single password is all a criminal would need to hijack multiple online accounts. Therefore, the best way to take advantage of your passwords is to use a unique password for each account, which includes a random string of letters, numbers, and symbols.

If you have trouble remembering passwords, you should never write them down or store them in a document on your computer. Who knows where that file or note will find itself in the future? It’s much safer to simply use a password management system. These allow you to securely save passwords for your accounts in a vault that’s protected by a single master password, eliminating the need for remembering multiple passwords.

Your business can certainly take advantage of a password management system to protect networking components. The last thing you want is to have a hacker access your router and then proceed to the rest of your infrastructure. If you failed to change your router’s initial password, for example, the hacker could easily infiltrate your network and cause all sorts of difficulty for your organization. You can apply the same complex password tips to choosing a password for any device, and augment security by changing the password once in a while.

Additional Strategies
One great way to improve your online security is to always ensure that your tools and programs are up to date. This includes your web browser. Hackers will frequently try to find vulnerabilities within your web browser, even while developers are constantly patching and resolving these issues, leading to a never-ending war towards two very different goals. Who will prevail; the hacker trying to exploit the vulnerability, or the developer seeking to resolve it?

You can make sure that software developers’ efforts aren’t in vain by always implementing the latest patches and updates as soon as they are released. Doing so means that you aren’t needlessly exposing your business’ infrastructure to threats. It also helps to clear your cache once in a while, as well as your browsing history.

Of course, you can be doing much more to improve the way that you browse the Internet. Horne & Benik can provide you with detailed ways to secure your business. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 499-4400.