Digital Defense – Safeguard your Devices from Hackers

How secure is your personal device? Do you have passwords on each of your personal devices? What are the best practices to protect your devices from potential threats? Below, we’ll explain the most common threats that you and your devices face and how to secure them to the best of your ability.

One of the top threats to your personal devices is hacking. Unprotected devices are vulnerable to attacks in several different forms.

                Phishing: Hackers can get access to your device and sensitive information through phishing. Phishing is when a hacker impersonates a trusted person such as a company, a coworker, or even family and friends. This impersonation is done through emails and texts which will prompt you to click malicious links or send back sensitive personal information. Phishing emails/texts will often create a sense of false urgency to bait you into clicking links or sending information you normally wouldn’t. They will do this by threatening to cancel/shut off service or take legal action if you don’t respond. To help guard yourself against phishing attacks it’s best not to panic, and always confirm whether an email or text is coming from who it looks to be sent from. You can inspect emails for suspicious characteristics such as misspellings, poor grammar, and link addresses that don’t match the sender’s domain. If any of these look suspicious it’s best to block the email address to help protect you in the future.

                With text messages, you can look at the actual phone number. If it doesn’t match what you have saved in your phone for that person and the text is asking you to click potentially malicious links, then it’s most likely a phishing attempt. It’s best to block the number immediately and then contact the person who was being impersonated to confirm it wasn’t them who was sending the text message.

                Public Wi-Fi: Another way that hackers can gain access to your personal devices is through public Wi-Fi. Hackers will use public Wi-Fi to install malware on your device which can steal personal data and intercept calls and texts. When using your phone, it’s best to use mobile data when in a public space to help protect your personal information. If you have to connect to a public Wi-Fi network, be sure to verify with the provider of the Wi-Fi that the network is legitimate. While connected to public Wi-Fi be careful not to access anything with personal or financial information, especially your mobile banking app.

                Infected Cables: Lastly, a newer form of hacking comes in the form of infected cables. Hackers will leave seemingly harmless phone chargers out in public spaces that will give them access to your phone as soon as you plug it in. There are several forms of infected “cables” such as: charging cables, charging blocks, USB mouses, and USB keyboards. It’s not just in public places where this can be a threat to your personal devices. Hackers may pose as legitimate sellers on e-commerce sites like Amazon, eBay, and Temu. When shopping on sites like these it’s best to only buy from verified sellers or purchase these things in person at a legitimate retailer to help prevent your personal information from being stolen.

Using antivirus software from reputable sources is a good way to start protecting your devices from these threats. There is no magic solution to protect yourself from hacking. Still, using antivirus software and being careful with how you use your devices can make it much harder for hackers to gain access to your sensitive information.