ONLINE SECURITY ACROSS PLATFORMS: A PARAMOUNT

 

HOW TO DETERMINE IF A WEBSITE IS SAFE

            The cyberworld is big that we often disregard the fact that we might be unsafe in accessing websites. Here are some tips to safety.

·         HTTPS - Normally, entering Google or any browser, we often use links that starts with “https”. The “s” at the end stands for secure. This indicates that it uses and SSL(Secure Sockets Layer) connection. If you see if the website is using “http with an s”, that means that it is secured with an SSL certificate.

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LOCK IT - If you have noticed a lock icon on the left side of the link that is actually a sign of security. The lock icon position may vary in different browsers. Here’s an example (Google).

·         Antivirus software – by using a security tool such as an “antivirus”. Oftentimes, this helps your pc to block access on websites that are unsafe. Automatically, the software will not allow the website to work whenever detected.

·         URL check – if it’s coming from a legit company, there’s no way that they will display typos. Companies will surely check all the details displayed in their sites. In some cases, grammatical errors, missing letter, changing letters to numbers, is a crystal clear sign that this might be a scam. In short, the site is not safe.

·         Check the site owners – There are times that an organization website does not display names of the people involve in the organization. Instead, they only put the name of the organization and you would know that it’s legit. However, it is always important to check the people such as those editor, content creator, or writer in the site in order for us to confirm that it is safe because it’s made by legit people.

  

HOW TO IDENTIFY EMAIL AND OTHER SPOOFING SCHEMES

            Phishing is a common cybercrime where criminals used and steal your data such as those login credentials and credit card numbers. Spoofing is a disruptive algorithmic trading activity employed by traders to outpace other market participants and to manipulate markets. For instance; when an email is sent from a false sender address that asks the recipient to provide sensitive data. When we click on this, this contains malware. In order for us to figure out whether it’s some sort of malicious scheme, here are some points that can help us.

• Check the email domain – Emails from a school usually has “.edu” as part of the domain name. That proves that you are a student, teacher, or staff of the school. In companies also, they have their designated domain name in order for the customers to identify that they are legitimately working in the certain company. In the email format, we can see the name of the sender and we quite settle on that. We should always bear in mind to always check the real email and its domain name. Furthermore, search the company name on Google to gather information about them.
•  Misspelled domain name – if it’s a legit email with the right domain name, there will never be a time that it will be misspelled. Not unless, it’s not legit and it came from bogus mails.
• Poor content email – if it’s a mail coming from a company or from some institution, the contents are surely written in formal and the correct way possible. If the email seems to be unorganized, not properly punctuated, not in proper writing format, this might be a scam and may come criminals.
• Link attachments – In phishing emails, we might have received an email with link attachments. The letter might say we need to click on the link and follow the directory in order to get some prizes. However, this is just a trick for us to open the link and acquire or download malicious files.
• Emails with “urgency” – Most emails we received always say that we won a cellphone or laptop and that we really need to respond in less than a second. First of all, how can you win something if you know that you didn’t join any raffle draw? Secondly, no one will give something for free. That email sparking “urgency” is a sign of phishing, spoofing, or scam, in general.

GUIDELINES FOR DOWNLOADING PROGRAMS AND APPS, EMAIL ATTACHMENT SAFETY

• Always check the website address whether it can be trusted so we can ensure security.
• Use active virus and malware scanners so your software will be the one identify unsafe websites.
• Trust your gut feeling. If you feel like the site cannot be trusted, then find something else.
• Check the download links if it’s really the direct download link.
• Install the file with all the safety measures implemented.
• Do not give your email address during installing process.

 

HOW TO AVOID PHISHING SCAMS

Scammers often exist online. They have so much time create bogus mails just to illegally get money from the victims. Here are some tips for us to know when it’s a phishing scheme and on how we can protect ourselves.

• ·         Scammers may sent us a text or email asking for our personal information. Do not give any if you know that you haven’t even met the sender.
• ·         A common trick is they say “there’s a problem with your bank account information”, “there was a suspicious login in your account”, and “offer free stuff”. First of all, if there is unusual use of your credit card, the bank will notify you. If they use a domain name of the company, which is one area we should all look at because that is undeniably fake.\

Here are 4 quick tips of protection:

1. 1. Protect your computer by using security software
2. 2.    Protect your cellphone by setting it to update automatically
3. 3.    Use multi-factor authentication across all accounts.
4. 4.    Back up your data.

HOW ORGANIZATION USE COMMON SAFEGUARDS TO PROTECT OTHER USERS ON THE NETWORK

• ·         Firewalls – According to CISA, it provide protection against outside cyber attackers by shielding your computer or network from malicious or unnecessary network traffic. Firewalls can also prevent malicious software from accessing a computer or network via the internet.
• ·         Proxy servers - A proxy server is a system or router that provides a gateway between users and the internet. Therefore, it helps prevent cyber attackers from entering a private network. It is a server, referred to as an “intermediary” because it goes between end-users and the web pages they visit online.
• ·         Username & Passwords – In any platforms online, we are always ask to make an account, username and a password. Passwords provide the first line of defense against unauthorized access to your computer and personal information. The stronger your password, the more protected your computer will be from hackers and malicious software.
• ·         Audit trails – According to audit board, audit trail is key in defending against security breaches and protecting against internal fraud, and critical to maintaining compliance in financial reporting for passing both internal and external audits. Any industry handling sensitive information needs to maintain solid audit trails for their data. Furthermore, An audit trail is important because it's used to verify and validate financial, software, and business transactions by tracking selected user activities or accounting financial statement amounts back to the transaction, event source, and data access used to create or modify a record.