Five things in your control to keep your digital activity safe

Here are five things to keep under control to make sure your digital activity is safe enough.

You have to be always on guard any time you are using for work or just surfing the Net. Wi-Fi routers and QR codes can be danger points. Stay protected against the never-ending virus and malware threats. But also bear in mind the following:

1. Potentially Harmful QR Codes

QR codes can also take you to a nefarious place where malware or worse is waiting. QR codes can be programmed to link to anything, putting your privacy and security at big risk. Download a reputable QR reader app that will perform a security check on the endpoint of the QR code’s destination.

2. Insecure Wi-Fi Routers

Malware attacks on home Wi-Fi networks are on the rise because residential setups often lack the level of security and protection that is found on enterprise networks, but not everywhere either.

An attack tool ZuoRAT is a remote access trojan designed to hack into small office/home office routers. It can affect macOS, Windows, and Linux computers. It enables hackers to collect data and hijack any sites you visit while on your network. One of ZuroRAT’s worst factors is that once your router is infected, it can infect other routers to continue spreading the hackers’ access.

To better secure your home/office Wi-Fi network be sure to enable WPA2 or WPA3 encryption on your routers, change your router’s SSID (Service Set Identifier) and password, keep the router’s firmware updated.  For added protection, change the router’s password regularly. This is a big inconvenience because you also must update the password on all your devices that use that Wi-Fi network.

3. ‘Unsubscribe’ Email Scams

This is a popular ongoing scam that has a high success rate for hackers. You get an email for a product offer or another business invitation. You don’t need it and the opt-out action step is enticing sounds reasonable: “Don’t want to receive our emails? Click here to unsubscribe,” it says. Sometimes you get annoying repeat emails. Some even offer you a link to cancel a subscription. Do not select any options. Clicking on the links or replying confirms your active address. Never input your email address in the “unsubscribe me” field, either. More senders will follow.

You can delete the unwanted email, especially from an unknown sender, marking it as spam and moving it to the spam folder. You also can add that sender to your email program’s block list, or set up a filter to automatically delete it before it reaches your inbox. Try the free site Unroll.me where you can unsubscribe from unwanted emails, keep others, or get the rest in a daily digest.

4. Phony Tech Support Schemes

Some fraudsters call on the phone to tell you they are a tech support division working for a well-known computer or software company. The caller claims to be calling in response to an alert from your computer of a virus detection or malware on your device. The scammer offers to fix it if you simply provide your credit card number. Thy can do it via a text message or an email claiming the same, or a pop-up message on the screen saying your computer is at risk. The scammers want to scare you to comply with their instructions. The action they want you to take to let them fix the alleged problem will hurt your bank account and possibly let them transmit real infections.

Don’t let a scammer make you go to a website or clicking on a link. Don’t agree to a remote connection by the so-called tech support agent that initiated contact to you. Don’t give payment information in exchange for technical support you did not initiate. Legitimate tech companies will not call you and ask for payment to fix a problem they claim to have discovered on your device.

5. Facebook Hackers

They make attempts to usurp Facebook accounts. Being proactive, you can enable two-factor authentication (2FA) to require your login approval on a separate device and activate the following two additional features to block Facebook hackers: turn on the Code Generator feature in the Facebook mobile app and set up login alerts to your email.

Work and shop online safely.