Types of Computer Security Threats and How to Avoid Them

It’s a dangerous world out there!

Doesn’t this sound dramatic, indeed but when we are referring to the world wide web and computer security it makes sense. Computer security threats are uncompromisingly inventive. These threats are advancing each passing day and are discovering innovative ways to steal data and harm your system. Therefore, to stay protected from them you need to arm yourself with knowledge about them, resources to protect against them to stay safe online.

Today, we will discuss with you some common examples of online cybersecurity threats and how to deal with them.

Common Examples of Online Cybersecurity Threats

Computer Viruses are most well-known amongst online threats, they are programs written to alter the way your system works, without you even knowing about it. A virus has the capability of multiplying and working on its own,  as a result causing damage to the computer and all processes running on it.

So, to avoid being caught by viruses you need to keep a watch on your online activities, and start evaluating each free software download, file sharing, emails from unknown senders, as they play an important role in spreading infection on your machine. Undoubtedly, most web browsers today have security settings and they offer security extensions but you can’t just rely on them. To stay protected what you need is information about how virus works and an effective anti-virus with real time protection to safeguard your machine from both offline and online infections.

Spyware Threats are serious fears for every online PC user. They are programs that spy on you and keep a check on your online activities, program installs without you even getting to know about them. They work in the same manner as their name suggests. Spyware threats are usually bundled with free products and they are installed on your system to collect your personal information for their personal gain.

Also Read: Cybersecurity Skills Gap A Threat

But keeping them away isn’t that difficult, you just need to read to all the terms conditions that you agree to while installing a program, signing up for a site or performing any online activity. If you see that a site mentions they will track your activities then alarm bells should ring and you need to become suspicious about why will you be tracked in the first place. And of course, if you come across to a deal that seems too good to be true, don’t fall for it without investigating.

Always keep firewall enabled that keeps a check on your online activity and warns you when you are about to anything that may harm your data and your system.

Hackers and Predators what do you think these threats are created on their own? No, definitely not. Humans like us design computer security threats and malware and we call them hackers. They create these nasty software to harm the system for their own personal gain. Using these software they break into you system, steal information and lock the data out so that you pay them to gain access to your own data. Nothing can protect you from such devious threats as no online tool is efficient enough to detect a ransomware before it even tried to lock you out of your machine. Therefore, to stay protected from them you need to always keep a strict check on your online actions and if you hear about any ransomware then you need to know how it works. This will help you not to fall straight into the hands of those hackers and predators.

Phishing besides these, there is another threat that’s lurking around and this one masquerades as a trustworthy person or business, and then it tries to steal your data. Phishing attacks are usually designed to steal sensitive financial or personal information by sending fake emails or messages to either the HR or financial department within an organization or they send emails to individuals stating it is from a bank. These are some of the most successful attacks and many a times a security program finds it even before it gets its hands on your data.

Must Read : Same Old Cyber Security Failures

Hope these common examples might help you to know about cyber security and how nasty they can be. At first look you may not get to know them, but still you cannot overlook them and you may become a victim. Cyber security threats are really dangerous and they can be harmful, so you need to be careful while you are online.