Online safety: simple tips
Many of us have got our email accounts hacked sometime or the other. If you are using a good email program such as Gmail or Yahoo! Mail, use its two-step verification process to make it tough for hackers. Even if someone gets your password, there will be an additional security ring to protect you.
To sign up for this, Gmail users go to the two-step verification section (Google it), follow the simple directions, feed your phone number and you are good to go.
Next time you try to access your account Google will send a six-digit verification code to your mobile. After you enter this you will be able to log in. The process adds an additional log-in procedure, which many may find cumbersome.
If you have a computer for yourself at home or work, which is free from malware, declare it as 'trusted'. Google skips the two-step verification for this machine; for all others rules apply. What if you lose your phone or use a different phone when travelling. There are ways out for all of these contingencies. Just spend some time to figure them out.
A recent slide show at Forbes lists 10 incredibly simple things you can do to protect your privacy. There is an epidemic of cyber crime out there. It does pay to take a few precautions, which will cost you nothing.
Here is the list: Always protect your devices with passwords; sign out of your online accounts after you are done; next time any stranger asks for your email or phone number, the answer is no. This applies to those who ask you to fill up forms in malls.
Encrypt your computer; when you are buying something and don't want the purchase to be traced back to you, pay in cash. Change Facebook settings to "Friends Only"; use an IP masker to hide your online footprint and set an email alert on your name to manage your online reputation.
There are more details in the slide show, which are worth a read. As someone said, it pays to be paranoid.
Many of us have got our email accounts hacked sometime or the other. If you are using a good email program such as Gmail or Yahoo! Mail, use its two-step verification process to make it tough for hackers. Even if someone gets your password, there will be an additional security ring to protect you.
To sign up for this, Gmail users go to the two-step verification section (Google it), follow the simple directions, feed your phone number and you are good to go.
Next time you try to access your account Google will send a six-digit verification code to your mobile. After you enter this you will be able to log in. The process adds an additional log-in procedure, which many may find cumbersome.
If you have a computer for yourself at home or work, which is free from malware, declare it as 'trusted'. Google skips the two-step verification for this machine; for all others rules apply. What if you lose your phone or use a different phone when travelling. There are ways out for all of these contingencies. Just spend some time to figure them out.
A recent slide show at Forbes lists 10 incredibly simple things you can do to protect your privacy. There is an epidemic of cyber crime out there. It does pay to take a few precautions, which will cost you nothing.
Here is the list: Always protect your devices with passwords; sign out of your online accounts after you are done; next time any stranger asks for your email or phone number, the answer is no. This applies to those who ask you to fill up forms in malls.
Encrypt your computer; when you are buying something and don't want the purchase to be traced back to you, pay in cash. Change Facebook settings to "Friends Only"; use an IP masker to hide your online footprint and set an email alert on your name to manage your online reputation.
There are more details in the slide show, which are worth a read. As someone said, it pays to be paranoid.