How to Make Your Home A Haven For Online Security

While there is no denying that the internet is useful for so many reasons and can provide a huge source of entertainment in terms of video streaming among other content, it is also a pretty dark place at times. With all the technology surrounding our daily lives, how do we ensure that we are never exposed to the darker sides of the internet and, importantly, how do we keep our families safe when they are online? There are so many different scams and hackers out there that seem to be determined to commit crime.

There are lots of different ways we can keep ourselves and our homes safe from cybercrime. Using a strong VPN, Password Manager and even an Antivirus are great places to start. and here are some other tips:

1. Don’t Be Click Happy

One of the easiest ways that hackers can infiltrate our household systems is by sending us an email with a link that unsuspecting readers then click. These emails are called phishing emails and the links will often ask for personal details and highly sensitive information that hackers can then use to commit fraud.

A good rule of thumb is to be wary of offers that sound too good to be true, emails from your bank or other financial providers like PayPal, or other big brands that people more often than not have an account with – the Apple store or Amazon for example.

2. Use Two-Factor Authentication

2fa is perhaps something that not every household does as standard, but it should be. Two factor authentication is an extra security measure that requires users to input a random code each time they log in.

Sometimes 2fa or multi factor authentication is when users have to provide several pieces of personal data to be verified. This authentication is especially useful when logging into very sensitive applications like banking apps.

3. Use Strong Passwords

While it can be annoying trying to come up with passwords that meet the criteria a website sets so they are hard for hackers to crack, users should bear in mind that this is exactly why they set such strict criteria in the first place. Passwords should always be random and should always try to include letters, numbers or special characters.

4. Regularly Monitor All Transactions

By regularly monitoring all online transactions, as well as keeping an eye on your bank statement, and questioning any transactions you don’t recognize, users are able to keep on top of any fraudulent activity that does sadly take place.

If a fraudulent transaction does occur, contact your bank with details so that they can forward the query to their fraud department who will be well placed to get to the bottom of the matter.

5. Use Parental Controls

The internet is a fantastic tool for our kids to use, but it does come with its obvious pitfalls given how vulnerable they can be to online scammers and other online criminals.

Computers come loaded with a whole set of parental controls that you can set up to suit your purposes. They vary from computer to computer but it will pay dividends to take the time out to make considered choices as to what controls you implement.

6. Only Buy from Verified Sellers

Buying from verified sellers not only protects you, it protects other users in future too. If we don’t buy from fraudsters, they simply won’t sell in the first place as it won’t be worth their while.

Many companies like eBay or similar will only do business with reputable sellers, but that is not to say that every website does it due diligence so do try to verify a user if you are ever a little bit unsure.

7. Subscribe to a Reputable VPN Provider

A VPN is a fantastic piece of software that should help keep all your online data safe from online hackers and scammers. Using the internet through a VPN is quick and efficient, and if you use the right provider, users will not notice any difference. However, in the background a VPN will be encrypting all your data so that your systems cannot be hacked.

Why Use A VPN To Keep Your Family Safe Online?

We recommend using a VPN to help improve your home’s online security as it means that any browsing or streaming sessions that you conduct immediately become private and anonymous – even to your internet service provider. A powerful VPN, like ExpressVPN, makes it much more difficult for a hacker to infiltrate your online system and read any sensitive data or files that you have on your computer. In fact, a VPN can improve your online security so much that it makes it difficult even for government authorities to try to look in on your online activity to keep tabs on what you and other citizens are up to.

The way that a VPN manages to make internet usage untraceable is that it automatically encrypts all data that is transmitted online. VPN providers connect users to their own servers and it is through this connection that they begin encrypting data so that their customers’ online activity remains private.

By connecting customers to one of their servers they are also providing users with a new IP address which gives them the appearance of a new location which not only helps users to then unblock geo-restricted content, it also provides another level of protection and anonymity.