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Digital Security:5 Ways to Stay Safe Online

Today the internet has become necessary that many of us can no longer imagine life without the internet. Internet has now become one of the basic needs of life, Since most of us now find it impossible to survive in a day without it, from basic communication to shopping to conducting business, even to personal development.
Unfortunately, some people will do everything they can to hack your account, especially in this season when a reasonable number of people now stay at home idle due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Working from home simply means you (employees )are more responsible for their internet safety than they are at work. The need to keep devices safe while working from  various homes is now mandatory so as to prevent unauthorized access.A poor device security practices could open doors to cybersecurity challenges.
Here are some internet security tips to keep in mind

1.Secure your home router or WIFI devices: The most important thing to consider here are the encryption standard (security) of the router (is “WPA”?WPA+TKIP”? “WPA2+AES”?) and also the password strength of the router encryption Standard of “WPA2+AES” is recommended for routers. Every router has a default password it is advisable to change this default password. To change the default password
i Enter your router’s IP address into your favorite web browser
ii.Log in with the default username and password
iii.Go to the settings
iv.Select change router password or similar option
v.Enter the new password
vi.Save the new password

2. Limit network radius (range): An individual who operates their network should ensure that the network radius is limited to the area of use. network visible or accessible outside the home can be a strong target for hackers who can position themselves around long enough to get into the network.
Here is how to do it:
i.While connected to your router, launch your internet browser application
ii.Enter the IP address sated in the user manual (something like 195.168.1.1)
iii.In the setting, there are several options listed
iv.To adjust the network range for instant select network setting look for transmitting power or TXPower
v.Adjust between 1 to 23,1 been the least distance and 23 being the longest distance

3.Visit only secure sites: secure sites are sites whose addresses begin with https if all you see is http you are getting yourself into trouble by choosing to visit such sites. This act will go a long way towards keeping you safe online.s

4. Make use of VPN (virtual private network): VPNs are essential for employee working remotely, VPNs is a piece of software that creates a secure connection over the internet. This software helps to create a trusted connection between employees and their organization and ensure ongoing access to cooperate tools. VPN protects your connection to the internet and ensures that attackers monitoring a network can’t get hold of your data or communication. There are some good VPN option to consider ExpressVPN, NordVPN

5.Beware of COVID-19 phishing and spam email:
phishing is a cybercrime where targets are contacted by email telephone or text message by someone posing a legitimate institution to lure the individual into providing sensitive information such as bank details, password to mention a few. Hackers have begun taking advantage of the fear and panic caused by the coronavirus to lure the target to fake sites seeking to collect sensitive information from the victim. Examples of COVID-19 phishing include
COVID-19 phishing emails attaching macro-enabled Microsoft word documents containing health 

COVID-19 themed phishing emails attaching macro-enabled Microsoft word documents containing health information which trigger the download of Emotet or Trickbot malware which trigger the download of trick bot malware

Phishing attack takes advantage of the need to access official files and resources from a remote location. The logic here for the hackers is simple, get hold of any employee login ID and access the company files, document, and intellectual property.
Here are some red flag to look out for
i.Poor grammar, punctuation, and spelling
ii.Links that are shortened for example https://bit.ly/2siuvoz instead of https://www.cactusvpn.com
iv.Sense of urgency and pressure
V.Links that send you to an HTTP website instead of an HTTPS website.

These are some of the ways to stay safe online, is there something missing ?Don’t forget to drop your comment(s)