Cyber Security & It’s Importance

 Cyber Security & It’s Importance

 

After hearing recently some news related to computer security problems in large companies, it may be interesting to address some concepts related to this matter.

What Is Internet Security?

Internet security is that the application of data security to the sector of computing and applies both to information stored on computers and to information transmitted over the communications network, such as the internet.

Because It Is Important?

The value of the information itself must be kept in mind. Let's think about bank details, passwords, photos or even our hobbies. All this is very important and must be protected, because there is always the possibility that someone outside of us misuses it.

Technologies Used Against Internet Security

We can classify the technologies used against internet security into two large groups: Social and Technical. In the case of social technologies, great computer skills aren't needed. They are supported applying deception methods to computing and always require the voluntary intervention of the user of the system. The technical engineering does require high knowledge about computer and, unlike social type technologies don't require the intervention of the user of the system.

Phishing

Phishing is the typical example of a social security attack. It consists of the impersonation of a trusted entity through a link in the email in order to obtain the credentials. The user receives an email that features logos or images that have been collected from the actual website to which the fraudulent message refers and with the request that they click on a link in the email. This link will take us to a fake website and ask for our credentials.

The main advice to protect yourself from phishing is to never access web pages through links provided by email.

Malware

Viruses, Trojans and worms belong to the category of technical engineering and would allow taking control of remote computers or modifying their operation and capturing information (Keyloggers).

The Keyloggers are specific tools designed to record keystrokes keyboard of a computer to save them in a file and send it via internet. Thanks to this program, criminals can steal a large volume of confidential information without the victim being aware of it. To protect ourselves from malware, we must avoid downloading and installing unknown programs. It is very important to keep the operating system and all installed programs up to date.

Pharming

Pharming requires advanced computer skills and consists of modifying the information provided by DNS to impersonate a trusted entity.

The pharming is a form of online fraud very similar to phishing in that fake websites are used, but unlike phishing not required that the victim accepts a message "decoy" as pharming redirects its victims to the site Fake web, even if you correctly type the web address of your bank or other online service in your internet browser.

How does our computer know which IP address corresponds to the bank's website that we just put in the Internet browser? The first thing it does is consult a file of the operating system, generally called hosts , where it stores some IP addresses widely used by our equipment, and if it does not have it, it makes a query to our service provider (the one that gives us Internet access) and it tells you what the IP address is.

The most common way of suffering a pharming attack is due to someone accessing our computer and replacing our hosts file with false IP addresses. Therefore, the best way to protect our system against these attacks is to have a good Antivirus Software installed and to keep it updated.

Man in the Middle (MITM)

It consists of capturing the traffic between sender and receiver to obtain information. For example, in an email MITM attack, the attacker could redirect all emails to an alternate address or modify the information before sending it to the correct recipient. Another example we can have when we connect our Smartphone to an unencrypted Wi-Fi network, the attacker could have access to everything we do.

The best way to protect yourself against these attacks is to connect through known and secure networks and check the validity of the certificates provided by the browsers.

Conclusion

Much of the computer security is within our backup on cloud, ensuring that our computers have the latest operating system and antivirus updates installed and not downloading and installing programs from websites that we do not trust.

 

 

Antivirus makes Digital Life Easy

 Antivirus makes Digital Life Easy

Computers have become an integral part of our daily lives, allowing us to work, keep in touch with friends, and waste time. However, a virus can quickly destroy this routine, leaving you disconnected from the world around you. Fortunately, there are ways to prevent a virus from infiltrating your computer, allowing you to stay connected at all times. Having a good Antivirus Software can mean life or death for your computer. With so many computer viruses out there, protecting the security of your computer should be one of your top priorities. Apart from stopping viruses, most Antivirus Software have other functions, such as firewalls, that ensure the complete security of your valuable computer.

Computer slowness

One of the main symptoms of a computer virus is the slowdown of the computer. Web pages take longer to open, files take longer to download, and overall response time to commands will take longer. While this may be just annoying for some, it can be devastating for people working with a time limit. For example, if you were a freelance writer who had to have a job done in a certain amount of time, and you had to collect research from the web to finish that assignment, a slow computer could make it more difficult to complete the job. In some cases, you may miss the deadline.

Email

Sending and receiving email has become a key element of daily life, but a computer virus can have a negative effect on your ability to do so. Depending on the severity of the virus, the email messages you send may never be received, and the emails sent to you may not be received. In some cases, the mail itself can be sent, but the attachments will be removed. Regardless of the content, when you send an email it is because it has a certain importance. A team that can no longer do this will leave you less connected to those in your inner circle.

Freezing and disposal

A computer virus can randomly cause computer crashes, forcing it to restart. Whether you're writing an important document, researching a project online, or just browsing the web for fun, these frequent freezes can get quite annoying. Even if your computer doesn't freeze, documents and files can be automatically deleted, forcing you to compose them again. These files can be deleted at the same time, or one by one. An unexpectedly deleted file, especially one that is necessary for work or school, can cause a major headache. Antivirus Software.

Locks

Perhaps the worst thing a virus can do to your computer is make it shut down completely. Once it crashes, all unsaved work will be lost forever. The more frequent the crashes, the more problematic the issue you will have. The virus will overload the disk space on the computer, causing the crash. In some cases, the virus will take up so much space that an antivirus program cannot install itself. If your computer is virus-free, be sure to install an antivirus program for future protection. Always back up your important files to an external hard drive, flash drive, or similar device to avoid losing valuable information.

Advantages of Antivirus Software

Having a good Antivirus Software can mean life or death for your computer. With so many computer viruses out there, protecting the security of your computer should be one of your top priorities. Apart from stopping viruses, most antivirus programs have other functions, such as firewalls, that ensure the complete security of your valuable computer.

Virus protection

The biggest and most obvious advantage of installing antivirus software on your computer is that it will prevent viruses such as Trojans, malware, and spyware from entering. Viruses are classified by severity from harmless to outright atrocities in the system. Not only can a virus destroy all the valuable data on your computer, it can also render it completely useless by infecting and destroying processes vital to the computer's performance.

Personal information protection

Hackers and viruses go hand in hand. A good antivirus program will protect you while you browse the Internet, preventing hackers from gaining access to personal things such as credit card information and access to bank accounts. The firewall feature included in most antivirus software will block any unauthorized incoming connections, preventing hackers from putting their claws on your life and computer.

Save costs

Although some Antivirus Software are quite expensive, there are good options for those who want something relatively cheap or even free. There are many free antivirus programs available that will protect your system just as well as a subscription-based antivirus program. Even if you choose a program that you have to pay for, the cost of the program and of the subscription to its service will surely extend the life of your computer, which means that you will have to buy new computers less often than those who do not use antivirus software.

Comfort

Although it may seem uncomfortable to have to do virus scans and have to worry about the security of your computer, you would have to worry more without adequate virus protection. A computer that is open to viruses and hackers often shows early signs of use and significantly slower speeds will be seen, making normal computing overhead take longer and more annoyance. Let's say your system gets infected by a virus. Without protection you would be at the mercy of the virus and would have to spend time trying to find it, erase it and restore any damage it has caused and it will surely still be there, even after erasing it. Nevertheless, with the appropriate Antivirus Software activated and working, you will simply receive a notification that a virus has been detected and will ask you if you want to delete it. These notifications usually appear as soon as the virus is detected, leaving it without enough time to cause damage.

 

What You Should Know About Parental Controls

 What You Should Know About 

Parental Controls

If you're a first-time mom or have young children, chances are you're worried about keeping them safe online. To do this, knowing the parental control tools  is essential.

Although this concern may seem advanced when you have a baby, the truth is that the dangers on the internet appear at an earlier age, so the anticipation with which you dedicate yourself to research how to keep them safe will work in your favour.

In fact, it is estimated that in Chile  20% of children have strangers as contacts on their social networks , a figure that shows the importance of informing your children from an early age.

The common thing among those born between 2010 and 2025, belonging to the so-called  “tactile generation” or “Alpha”,  is to have access to the internet much earlier, a situation that has been enhanced by  confinement  and classes through the internet.

To give you an idea of ​​how important  parental control is , you should know that in Chile  complaints of grooming and improper sexual abuse registered an increase of 19% in relation to 2018 , and that  Tik Tok , one of the most used social networks by minors, is one of the main means used by bullies to approach them.

But what is parental control?

It is a series of practices that allow parents to monitor and set limits on what their children consult on the web, either through services such as Google; social networks such as Facebook, YouTube and Tik Tok; or streaming apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

In the case of minors, this form of control cannot be considered an invasion of privacy and responds to purposes such as avoiding exposure to inappropriate content, preventing situations of harassment, emotional problems related to the use of social networks and even unauthorized purchases.

As a first security measure, install a parental filter:

• The application or software you choose will allow you to remotely monitor the child's activity.
• It will report how many hours you surf the internet, which pages you visit and with whom you interact.
• It will allow you to create a "blacklist" of sites and block certain words.
• In some cases, you can send notifications in real time if the child is exposed to risky content.
• To install a device parental control filter, follow this  tutorial .

Some parental filters you can try

• Qustodio: it is the most used application for this purpose in the world, as it is free and highly effective.
• Norton Family and Kaspersky: they have a free version and a paid version, which offers greater benefits.

Parental control Google

You can use Google parental control to block sexual content in a few easy steps:

• Enter the browser.
• At the beginning of the search, click on "Preferences", "Search settings", "Safe Search filters", "Hide explicit results", "Save".

YouTube parental control

To have greater  parental control YouTube  there are three alternatives:

• Open the account you want to protect. Click on the “Settings” option and then on “Restricted mode”. This way, YouTube will filter adult content automatically.
• If you find violent or inappropriate content, you can cancel it, following these steps: go to your YouTube account, find the channel you want to block, press the three vertical dots that appear on the side of the video. Click on "Report" and specify the reason.
• To prevent YouTube from recommending content from a specific channel, press the three vertical dots that appear next to the video and choose the option "Don't recommend the channel" or "I'm not interested."

 

Why Parental Control on the Internet

 Why Parental Control on the Internet

 

It is true that we live in a time where there is a rapid increase in the use of the Internet, where more and more, there is a more frequent and constant contact with this tool; both in the workplace, school and family.

 

It is also true that the Internet has made it possible to incorporate a whole series of very interesting and facilitating elements and applications, which allow an improvement in the quality of life; but it is also true that there is a negative aspect to which any user who does not know how to correctly manage interaction with this medium is exposed.

 

Here, parents must be clear that their task as educators involves knowing how to transmit all those possible elements so that their children make a positive use of the Internet and can be protected from the dangers that exist; since the network contains a set of threats for minors that parents must be aware of in order to put the appropriate means to control or avoid them.

 

Some aspects to consider:

• Existence of cyberbullying among minors through the network.
Children could have contact as victims, bullies, or bystanders.

 

• Presence of grooming by an adult to a minor, in which they seek to establish a relationship with sexual content through different forms of emotional blackmail.

 

• The inappropriate use and dissemination of information with personal data , photos, videos ...

Through social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, and that can seriously affect personal privacy.

 

• Internet addiction, when the connection time is excessive and makes it difficult for the minor to participate in other settings.

 

• Other network risks , such as viruses, that can affect family computer support.

All these elements are characterized by rapid evolution and constant change.

Therefore, it is essential that parents know them in order to act and establish clear criteria on the interaction model that children should have with this technology.

 

Where to start?

 

• Involvement in the use that minors make of the network.
This includes from the physical presence, in the case of the navigation of the smallest, to being interested in the pages they consult.

 

• Location of the computer in a common use area of ​​the house.
It is recommended that it be a place of passage that favours the visible use of what is being done.

 

• Establishing clear usage guidelines regarding browsing time and frequency.
To establish the norms, the age and maturity of each minor must be taken into account.

 

• Conveying the importance of privacy, both your own and that of others.
Make them aware of the prudence when it comes to disseminating personal information, and help them create access codes - secure passwords that do not provide information to strangers.

 

• Warning of other possible risks.
For example: encounters with strangers, downloads of files of unknown origin.

 

• Installation of external control systems.
To help control access to certain content.

 

• Always keeping the security tools of the computer terminal up to date.

With the inevitable digitization of today's world, access to the Internet for the little ones is inevitable and some dangers could arise for them. Denying them access is not the solution. This could make it difficult for them to do their homework, communicate with friends, or follow their academic training courses. In addition, many times it is the youngest who teach parents how to use or configure electronic devices.

 

As a parent, you must make responsible use of control tools to protect them. If you are not very clear on how to start, from TP-Link we tell you how technology can help you:

 

·      Supervision and web control. This is the mother of parental control features. It allows you to check the websites most visited by your children, as well as establish a "black list" of sites with restricted access.

 

·      Blocking applications or programs. This option allows parents to determine which programs or applications will be accessible. They usually work through a password that must be verified to enter.

 

·      Actions that have a cost. Years ago Google was in a unique situation, a 12-year-old boy had “inadvertently invested” 100,000 euros through Google Ads because he wanted to become a youtuber . Can you imagine their parents? Another great function of parental control is to limit these actions.

 

·      Time limits. Do you know how much time your children spend on the Internet? This function designates and limits access hours. Thus, you can give them more time on weekends or prevent them from entering when they should be sleeping.

 

 

Parental Control- The Importance of Protecting Kids Online

Have you ever wondered how much time your children spend in front of a device without your supervision? Yes, it is time to establish limits and, above all, to educate.

The new generations grow hand in hand with a device, as technology evolves, our children are marking their steps. Inevitably, today's minors can stay away from technology and, with it, from the threats posed by the digital world. So here we explain the importance of setting limits, educating them, and promoting the importance of online safety.

Understand the dangers online

It is about educating our young people about the risks they run in the digital world, do not be alarmist with them, you can talk about this in their day-to-day talks. Surfing the internet means a world of potential threats where your children can be easy targets for cybercriminals. We explain the main vulnerabilities that can be found:

1. Phishing: Having an email account or social networks brings them closer to falling into phishing scams , these messages try to manipulate users to obtain confidential information and download malware . Young people should be on the lookout for emails with messages too good to be true or requesting to enter their login details in an alarmist manner. Phishing emails can appear to be real, criminals use trustworthy company names to attack, but with email addresses that raise doubts. When faced with a suspicious email, it is important not to click on any links, provide information, or respond to the email. 

 2. Passwords: Tell your children the importance of having a reliable password that they do not share with anyone except their parents, as well as the importance of having a password for each account. If criminals manage to obtain your children's password, and use the same password for all their accounts, they will lose all their sessions in one act. We recommend making use of a password manager such as Avast Passwords to easily keep track of all your children's accounts.

3. Public Wi-Fi: No matter what your children's activities are during the day, at some point they will have access to a public Wi-Fi network, which represents a danger. The attackers take advantage of the existence of these public networks to create a fake Wi-Fi and thus be able to attack the devices. That is the importance of using a virtual private network (VPN) , you can learn more about what a VPN is and how it works.

Let's talk about Parental Control

Parental Control provides parents with monitoring and limitation tools for minors when using various platforms and applications. Parents can restrict searches, the type of content displayed as well as downloads and purchases for minors.

Most of the devices our minors access have parental controls, for example, if your child is in contact with an Android device, the official Google Play Store has the option to limit the content to download or buy. In the case of applications, each one must be configured with the platform's own parental controls.

Netflix, for example, allows account holders to create different profiles where the content will be classified according to the previously selected age, it even allows PIN blocking for accounts with access to any content, in this way parents can make sure that their children will always use the account created specifically for them, without access to the others.

The limits established by parents through parental control settings go beyond blocking certain content to minors. Microsoft has just announced (site in English) the launch of a new feature that allows minors to limit the use of applications and platforms such as Windows 10 and Xbox One. Parents will have control over the time their children spend inside applications and games specifically, rather than setting a time limit for device use. You can set a specific time and schedule per day for your children to have access to Netflix or other entertainment applications, this way you can limit the time they use on these platforms, without restricting the use of their device.

Protection for all

In addition to the restrictions and limits established through the parental controls offered by the different platforms, as well as educating and promoting online safety, we recommend using complete protection against  malware , webcam hacking,  ransomware , password theft   and more. . Avast Premium Security  offers total online protection for all your devices and platforms in one place, covering up to 10 devices, so you can protect your family's desktops, laptops, phones and tablets with an easy-to-manage Avast account. .

 

One Should or Shouldn’t Use ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

 One Should or Shouldn’t Use ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

 

Using antivirus is very common these days, thanks to the number of viruses that attack our computers and smartphones on a daily basis. The main objective of antivirus is to defend technological devices from harmful viruses, worms, and Trojans that usually infect them.

Antiviruses are programs that detect viral activities in real time, in addition to examining periodically or according to the user's preference; As soon as it detects the presence of a virus on the computer, it proceeds to eliminate or remove it; they must be updated every period of time, taking into account that it detects harmful codes at every moment. Users who use them can keep calm knowing that their equipment is protected from computer pests. Just as antivirus have many notable advantages, there are also a few negative points such as the fact that they make operating systems slow, take up a lot of memory space and thanks to their continuous update feature, they take up more and more.

Does using antivirus really benefit my computer?

In the following article we will present the advantages and disadvantages of using antivirus

Why Antivirus

Clean computers: With the arrival of technology in the 80's where the exchange of information between computers and the Internet began, the appearance of computer viruses also began, which caused various damages to the computer such as: changing key sequences, deleting files and hide private information; It is then when using antivirus was the solution for the problems that began to appear in the equipment, guaranteeing the monitoring, extermination and defense of the computers. There are many options that exist in terms of antivirus, taking into account that each time users send and receive more information through emails, in the same way harmful codes are sent and received.

 

Repels unwanted elements: Antiviruses usually fight with other elements of unwanted software such as spyware, malware or rootkits, it also protects against hacking attempts and that is why it has a firewall, that is, software that blocks remote connections, as well as a database that has all the virus definitions available, as well as an encyclopedia of these.

 

Internet Security: Most of these programs have online monitoring, which allows an alert to be displayed to the user when they have accessed an infected site and thus manage to contain the virus; The next step to be followed is to prohibit access to this site for all users who use an antivirus on their computer.

 

Low costs: Despite the existence of several antivirus that generate high costs of money, there are also other options to protect your computer; some of these programs can even be acquired for free (providing the same service as a paid one). Even if you get an expensive antivirus, it will always be more profitable to pay for this service than to buy new computers every 3 months.

Why Not Antivirus

Slow systems: Using antivirus without a doubt brings many advantages for computers, but it also generates certain inconveniences when using them, depending on the processor and RAM that your computer has, this program can be harmful, since the system becomes slow due to the continuous monitoring of antivirus.

 

More than two antivirus: Sometimes a single antivirus does not provide the complete services we need, that is why at times the user decides to install a second antivirus, this being a very bad decision since the two antivirus can be incompatible, resulting in both are disabled by not protecting the computer, leaving the path free for unwanted software and malicious code; that make your computer or cell phone useless.

 

Continuous updates: These types of programs require constant updating, since they are prone to saturating with malicious code and unwanted software; repeated updates generate discomfort for users, as well as the expense of resources to download new versions of the same antiviruspreviously purchased. It may be a solution to program it to update automatically, but if you don't have a good internet connection; this configuration will generate a bad waste of resources.