WEEK EIGHT - INTERNET SECURITY

When I first read this week's topic, the first thought that went through my mind is the case of Curtin University's website getting hacked by ISIS. Yep, ISIS as in the very popular and (i must say) successful terrorist group that has been the center attention of many people worldwide! Crazy I know, why would the most feared and extreme organization hacked a random school's website? Maybe, to prove a point that they are indeed everywhere, or... it was not them, but someone else claiming to be them.... which actually brings me to my next point.

Hacking is no longer a difficult task. It is no longer something that requires high knowledge of IT or Computing, in fact, anyone who actually wants to do it can search it on the Internet and learn it step-by-step. Hence, I think we should raise protection and not ignore all that two-step verification process that attempts to get your account more secured because the next target could be us!

Here I tried to suggest some ways that we can do to make us insusceptible to hackers:

1.  Golden rule: If it is too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

Ø  My IT teacher told me that we cannot trust everything that is in the Internet. If you see ads that sell things in a very unbelievably cheap price, they are probably scamming you. These kinds of advertisement are very common when someone is trying to ‘phising’ you. 

       Phising is a form of fraud that attempts to acquire valuable information such as your credit card number, password, and so on. Few years ago, I was trying to open a link that said to contain a lot of free E-books. However, they brought me to Facebook homepage and asked me to log in first to my account before I can actually access the link. Luckily, my friend told me that it was a fake Facebook homepage, and the person behind it is trying to get my Facebook ID and password. Hence, I think we all need to be careful and not be too happy about the offers because it might be fake.

2.  Download and update your AntiVirus software

Ø  I think this is one of the most important steps that we have to remember. Sometimes, the AntiVirus software is already downloaded to your laptop; however, it will not perform its job properly if you don’t update it to the latest version. I sometimes ignore the update notifications because I think that it can wait. But the truth is, it can't. You need to update it ASAP! Because we will never know when you will encounter with untrusted websites and emails, and the viruses might be already in your laptop. Hence, never ignore the notifications and download before you regret it!!

3. Backup you files manually, not by the Internet.

Ø  We saw many cases where many credentials were leaked out to the world without any chances of the owner to stop it. This is because they used Internet application/software like iCloud to backup and store their files. Take, for example, Jennifer Lawrence’s nude photos. They were leaked vigorously because she used iCloud to store her pictures, and as we all know, everything that is in the Internet can be access if you have the appropriate skills. Therefore, store your files in a USB or hard disk so that it will be more secured.

I believe that we cannot ultimately stop people from hacking, but by taking appropriate steps and measures, we can avoid being their next target and victim.

Till’ next time peeps!