Is Your Confidential Data Safe?
04 May 2010 Leave a Comment
in Why do we need to secure our confidential data? Tags: Anti-virus software updates, Confidential Data, firewall installation, internet protection, online security
To be sure, the encryptions protecting your bank accounts and online transactions are extremely hard to crack. Yet, much also depends on you. So be shrewd and “conceal” yourself, as it were, from fraud and theft by doing at least the following:
- Use antivirus software on your computer.
- Employ a spyware-detection program.
- Install a firewall.
- Keep all of the above continually updated, and install security updates for your applications and operating system.
- Beware of links or attachments in e-mail or instant messages, especially if the mail is unsolicited and asks for personal information or for verification of a password.
- When transmitting sensitive data, such as credit card details, use encrypted connections, and log off the Web site when you have finished.
- Choose passwords that are hard to guess, and protect them.
- Do not copy or run software from unknown sources.
- Regularly back up your files, and safely store the copies.
If you follow those basic precautions and apply any others that may be advisable now and in the future, you at least improve your chances of winning your own battle for confidentiality and security.
* In technical terms, a cipher differs from a code. Whereas a cipher replaces individual letters with other letters or numbers, a code involves substituting words or phrases for other words, phrases, or numbers. Nevertheless, the two may overlap.
% Encrypted Web pages on Web browsers have secure-transaction symbols, such as a lock symbol or “https://” in the address bar. The s means secure.
