How to Fight Back From Cyber Attacks Using Antivirus Software

 How to Fight Back From Cyber Attacks Using Antivirus Software

Cyber- attacks on Your Computer

Cyber-attacks are a threat to all of us. They no longer only affect corporations or public institutions. The computers, tablets, cell phones, and other smart devices of private individuals and smaller companies are also specifically threatened - if you don't take adequate precautions. Our columnist Udo Vetter explains how to protect yourself against cyber- attacks.

I don't know about you. But I do suffer from the flood of emails that reach me every day in my law office. Unfortunately, this includes a considerable number of messages whose senders are only intended to defraud or harm me.

"Do I know the sender? Does he have a reason to contact me?"

Identity Theft - Private and At Work

These people want my access data for online banking so that they can empty my account for me. Or they want to hijack my office network to use it as a spam sling or to block all of my data. Then I should pay the blackmailers money if I want to have access to the hard drives again.

Unfortunately, the hackers are very resourceful to outsmart you and me. They arouse curiosity, for example, because the subject of the email speaks of an "invoice". Or of a “last reminder” or “termination”. In other cases, express delivery is announced. Or really bad: The recipient is made insecure by the prospect of a visit from the bailiff, or even one House search by the police.

All of these emails have one thing in common: The recipient should only find out more when he opens the file attachment. But clicking on the attachment activates an executable program (Trojan horse) that installs malware on the computer.

With a different scam, the user should click on a link in the email. The sender pretends to be a reputable company (e.g. the house bank or the e-mail provider). If the user complies with this request, he ends up on a page that is deceptively real. There you should then enter your own login data - with fatal consequences, of course.

With the data obtained, the perpetrators not only clear accounts. You can then also use the Identity deception Disguise as the recipient, place orders, or get others to pay. For example, the perpetrator appears on eBay under the name of the victim and has goods paid for in advance.

Phishing and How to Protect Yourself

These illegal methods are called Phishing, Pharming, or spoofing. How can you protect yourself against it? First of all, a healthy amount of attention helps. Do I know the sender? Does he have a reason to contact me? If I cannot clearly assign an email to my business or private life, the attachment remains unopened. In case of doubt, the world will not end of that.

In the case of links, it helps if you don't follow them blindly, but go to the website of the company or bank in question yourself. You should make sure that a secure connection is established. It can be recognized by the prefix “HTTPS: //”.

Firewalls, Spam Filters and Anti-Virus Software

Provision can also be made technically, even in a simple manner. In any case, you should activate the firewall that comes with every operating system. The spam filter in the e-mail program should also be switched on. The modern filters automatically sort out a large part of the fraudulent emails and work very reliably.

Also, you should definitely get prominent antivirus software. The big providers are now selling inexpensive packages for all operating systems. This not only protects the house computer, but also all tablets and cell phones in the family or company.

Passwords and Backups

The choice of good passwords is still very important - regardless of whether you are a private or business user. Passwords should contain as many letters, numbers, and characters as possible and should not be guessable if possible. Birthdays are therefore not considered secure passwords.

It is also important to use a separate password for each account. But who should remember all the passwords? In my experience, this is not even possible. That's why I've been using a password manager for years, which is rated well in independent tests. With this software, I can easily manage all of my accounts and passwords and create super secure passwords.

Finally, important data should be backed up regularly by copying them to an external storage medium. Above all, this includes an external hard drive. This should normally be separate from the computer.