Introduction
Hacking is a global menace that’s yet to see an effective counteraction. Hackers carry out many illegal activities under the nose of law enforcement agencies. A report says cybercriminals will steal 33 billion records in 2023 alone.
Preventive measures against hacking should be known to everyone exposed to technology. This blog will briefly explain how hacking attempts can be prevented. However, an online ethical hacking course can better equip you with hacking knowledge, and you can seek job opportunities in this sector.
What Is Hacking?
Hacking is exploiting vulnerabilities in computer software or digital systems to access data without permission. In the case of email, hackers may gain access to your personal information and all your emails, social media accounts, and more. This can result in identity theft or other types of fraud.
Hackers use a variety of methods to compromise these systems using malware, phishing schemes, and other methods. Some hackers have even been known to impersonate an organization’s members by sending fake emails to trick users into handing over their passwords.
What Are The Different Types Of Hacking?
Hacking is unauthorized access to a computer system or network. The term hacking specifically refers to breaking into computer systems, but it can also refer to any kind of tech-based security breach. There are different types of hacking: brute force attacks, phishing, and social engineering are the most common:
Social Engineering
It is the act of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. It’s a type of confidence trick for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or system access, and insiders or outsiders can carry it out.
In simple terms, social engineering is a form of hacking that doesn’t involve technical skills but rather relies on human interaction to obtain confidential data about an organization or individual. Social engineering attacks occur through phone calls, emails and instant messages, live conversations over the phone or in person, text messages as well as other forms of communication. It is used to gather sensitive information from unsuspecting victims to gain unauthorized access to networks and systems like computers, smartphones, and even cloud storage accounts.
Phishing
Phishing is a form of fraud that uses email to trick people into disclosing sensitive information. Phishing emails are often disguised to look like official communications from banks or other financial institutions, so it’s important to check the sender’s address before clicking on any links or attachments in an email.
If you do receive a phishing email, don’t respond—the scammers will likely try to get you to give them some personal information by pretending that they need it for their “company” (which doesn’t exist) to fix some kind of problem with your account.
Brute Force
A brute-force attack attempts to gain access to a system by trying every possible password until the correct one is found. It’s mostly used against web applications and can be difficult to defend against.
Brute-force attacks are often combined with other attacks in order to increase their effectiveness. For example, a brute-force attack might use some sort of social engineering to convince you that an attacker’s computer has been infected with malware and needs your help removing it. This could trick you into giving up your username or password for an account on another site. The attacker then uses that information as part of a larger brute force attack on other sites, where they have more success because they now have multiple pieces of information about you that make guessing passwords easier than usual.
How To Secure Your Phone From Hackers?
Following is some of the tips you need to keep in mind to secure your phone from hackers:
Avoid Unsecure Public WiFi
Avoid using public WiFi. If you must use it, ensure you’re not entering sensitive information. This can be done by disabling your device’s connection to the network until you are finished with your work and then enabling it again once you are finished.
If a password is required for entry into the network but is not displayed in plain text, avoid joining that network at all costs. Hackers can easily find out what username and password combinations will work on any given WiFi network if they want to get access to it badly enough, so use caution when connecting your devices.
Turn Off Your Autocomplete Feature
Autocomplete is a feature that allows you to type a few letters and automatically fill in the commonly searched words. This can save time, but it can also reveal important information about you.
Autofill gives you suggestions based on what you’ve typed before, like filling out a form or signing into your online account. It’s similar to autocomplete, but instead of saving words in your browser history or search bar, it saves them in the fields of forms that you fill out often.
Turning off these features will prevent any unwanted information from being saved or accidentally revealed when typing on websites.
Regularly Delete Your Browsing History, Cookies, & Cache
Browsing history, cookies, and cache contain sensitive information such as your login credentials, shopping preferences, or even payment card details. It is advised to clear the browsing history in your browser settings regularly.
Websites often use cached files to store images, HTML pages, and scripts for quick loading when you revisit them. However, hackers can also use these to access personal data on your computer by storing malicious code in them, which can be executed later when someone visits a website that has been hacked. Temporary files are created whenever you use an application; they may also contain personally identifiable information (PII), such as credit card numbers.
Have An iPhone? Enable Find My iPhone
If you have an iPhone; you might want to enable, Find My iPhone. This free service helps you locate your device if it’s lost or stolen. It’s enabled when you set up your device and can be accessed through iCloud.com or on another Apple device signed into the same iCloud account as your lost device.
Use A Security App That Increases Protection
You can install a security app that increases protection. There are many apps available for mobile devices which provide anti-virus protection and can prevent malware from being downloaded on your device.
How To Secure Your Computer From Hackers?
You must equip yourself with the knowledge to combat hacking attempts at any time. An online ethical hacking course can help you in this regard. For now, the following are some of the tips you need to keep in mind to secure your computer from hackers:
Use A Firewall
A firewall is a software or hardware barrier that prevents unauthorized access to your computer. Firewalls are used to block hackers from accessing your computer and stealing information.
Firewalls can be set up on routers, computers, and mobile devices. Using a firewall on all of these devices is one of the best ways to prevent hacking.
However, to determine whether a firewall is the only preventative measure you need to take for your system, you can undertake Hummingbird Networks’ web app vulnerability test to identify any potential vulnerabilities in any web applications you use. This test, and others like it, will then also assess the severity of any vulnerabilities identified, and also provide recommendations for mitigating or remedying each issue. In this way, you can find out for sure whether your firewall is enough to prevent hacking and other threats, or whether you need to add on top of it one or more of the other solutions below.
Install Antivirus Software
To keep your computer secure, you should install antivirus software on your computer and use a firewall to block malicious software from accessing the Internet. You should also use an anti-spyware package and make sure that you have complex passwords for all your accounts.
When it comes time to update your operating system, apps, and browser, always make sure that they are up to date before using them. It is also important to avoid spam as much as possible because they often contain malicious links or attachments that can infect computers with viruses or spyware.
Install An Anti-Spyware Package
Spyware is a kind of malicious software that secretly collects and transmits user data to remote servers. It can gather information about you, such as your browsing habits and personal details like credit card numbers or passwords. This information can be used for identity theft or other types of fraud.
To detect spyware on your computer, use an up-to-date anti-spyware program that will scan the computer for traces of known malware infections (e.g., Trojans, worms) and remove them automatically if found infected by them.
Use Complex Passwords
When choosing a password, it is important to use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. A strong password should not be something that can be easily guessed by someone using a brute force attack.
Keep Your OS, Apps, & Browser Up-To-date
The latest version of your operating system is the most secure, so you must install all available updates.
It’s best to use one of the major browsers—Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are good choices—and always use the latest version available for your device. That way, if there’s an update for a security vulnerability in one of these browsers or in any other software on your machine, you’ll be protected against hackers trying to exploit them by keeping them updated with bug fixes and patches released by developers over time.
Apps need regular maintenance too! Make sure that any apps installed on your smartphone or tablet are always running on their latest versions because they may contain fixes that improve security on top of any new features added in newer releases.
Ignore Spam
Spam is a type of email that you don’t want to receive. Anyone can send it, including criminals who want to steal your personal information.
Spam can contain malware or links to phishing websites and other scams. These websites are scams that impersonate those of real businesses while actually collecting and selling your personal information without your knowledge or consent.
Back Up Your Computer
You should back up your computer regularly. If a hacker gains access to either of these things, they can steal all your private information and potentially wreak havoc on your life.
We understand that most people don’t have time or patience for this sort of thing—but if you want to keep hackers at bay, it’s worth taking a few minutes every month or so to make sure everything is backed up properly.
Shut Down Your Computer
You should shut down your computer when you are not using it. This will save energy and help protect the hardware from becoming overheated.
Shutting down your computer also helps to prevent viruses and malware from running while it is idle. If someone were to hack into your account through a virus or malware, they would be able to access all the information on your hard drive.
Use Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication is an extra layer of security that requires you to provide two different types of information when you log in to an account. It’s a type of multi-factor authentication (MFA), which means you’ll need more than just your password and username to access a site or app’s features.
Two-factor authentication will help keep hackers out because they won’t be able to break through your primary login security with just one factor, like guessing your username or password. Instead, they’ll have to find both pieces of information before they can get into your account—which is much harder than gaining access with only one piece.
Use Encryption
Encryption is a process that uses mathematics to scramble data so authorized users can only read it. For example, when you make an online purchase using your credit card and enter your password on the website’s login page, your information is encrypted before it is sent over the internet.
The technology has been used for decades by governments and military organizations because of its ability to prevent eavesdropping and data theft while also ensuring that sensitive information remains confidential even if intercepted by adversaries. Today’s encryption standards are so strong that even supercomputers would take centuries to crack them—yet most people do not need such advanced protection methods.
Conclusion
There are a lot of ways to prevent hacking, but the most important thing is to reduce your attack surface. Keeping your software and operating system up to date, using strong passwords, and being careful about what you click on, and download can make it much harder for hackers to get into your system.
Following these tips will help keep you safe online and reduce the risk of being hacked. However, to learn more of these tips, you must enroll in KnowledgeHut certified ethical hacking course.
FAQs
Can I secure accounts and data from hackers?
Antivirus software is important in safeguarding our digital security and, ultimately, protecting ourselves from hackers. In the absence of antivirus software, our computers are vulnerable to unauthorized software that can threaten the security of our operating system, as well as the privacy of our personal information.
How can I become an ethical hacker?
If you do not have any computer science knowledge, earning a degree or a certification is your best option for becoming an ethical hacker.
What guideline governs ethical hacking?
An ethical hacker needs permission from the company that controls the system. Before executing any security assessments on the system or network, hackers should get full authorization.
What does “footprinting” mean?
An ethical hacking approach called “footprinting” is used to collect as much data as necessary about a particular target computing device, an ecosystem, and networks to spot the possibility of breaching them. It is among the greatest techniques for identifying weaknesses.
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