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Web Hygiene

 

Hygiene? This is not a term traditionally associated with technology. The term is a helpful metaphor for requiring to making wise decisions about Computer systems or your smart devices.
Just like in human beings, where hygiene implies living clean and carrying out routine healthy activities, like brushing your teeth regularly and washing your hands, to avoid getting sick or infecting others. These includes three simple principles: utilizing products and means that suit your hygiene needs, performing these hygienic tasks properly, and creating a routine. Thus, Cyber hygiene is referring to the procedures and measures that user of computers and other gadgets take to maintain system health and improve online security. This is to say it is about teaching yourself to reason proactively about your cyber security — as you do with your day-to-day personal hygiene — to avoid cyber threats and online security issues.
 
Here are some best practices to follow regarding cyber hygiene:
    • Create a cyber hygiene policy. Creating a common set of practices to maintain cyber hygiene will make it easier to maintain hardware and software.
    • Document all equipment, hardware and software. Create a list of hardware, software and web applications used. Manage any newer installs, so they are kept track of and updated when needed.
    • Inspect the list to find unused or outdated software and hardware that could have vulnerabilities. Uninstall outdated and unused hardware and software.
    • Update all software or hardware that have updates available.
    • Ensure antivirus and antimalware software is properly installed and configured.
    • Ensure proper password management.
    • Limit those who have administrative access to the network.
    • Make sure routers and firewalls are properly set up and configured.
    • Use two-factor authentication (2FA) or multifactor authentication (MFA).
    • Physically segment computer networks.
    • Have an on-call list of workers who can respond to security events.
 
Mobile
Our mobile phone holds lots of data such personal, professional, and financial making them potential target for cyberattack. Thus, just like our desktops and Laptops, it is vital that Cyber Hygiene be extended to Mobile Phone. This is useful for 3 different purposes: maintenance, security, and trust. Below are 5 tips for practicing mobile cyber hygiene:
 
1. Get a checkup
Before setting up your hygiene routine, you may wish to check whether your details have been compromised already. This can be done through websites such as haveibeenpwned.com and breachalarm.com that let you know whether hackers have recently exposed your email password online.
 
2. PINs and passwords
Your phone PIN is your first line of protection against a potential theft. Thus, avoid using the same four-digit code for every other account in your life, and especially ensure that the sequences you use for work and home devices are different. The same goes for passwords; just because you’re using a mobile device, that doesn’t make them any less important. Make sure to protect apps with sensitive data, such as your banking apps, with passwords that are unique and use a combination of numbers, symbols, and letters.
 
3. Digital spring clean
Take stock of your application inventory and spend some time deleting apps you no longer use. You would be surprised at how many apps store personal data, and you can reduce the risk of being compromised by culling them, plus you can always redownload an app if you need it in the future. Whether it’s the gaming app you downloaded years ago for your long commute, or an old bank app you no longer use, while cleaning, make a note of which apps have access to sensitive or important personal data.
 
4. Set up your defenses
It’s important to be well-armed in the fight against malware, so kit yourself out with some robust fortifications. Antivirus software such as ESET Mobile Security secures your device against cybersecurity issues, including spyware, trojans and malicious apps.
 
5. Keep up to date

Keep your software updated to protect against vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers, including both your operating system and individual applications. Keeping your technology updated and current is one of the easiest ways to stay safe online, as bad actors will often target users who use vulnerable, outdated software.