All language subtitles for 02. How to protect yourself

How to protect yourself. Best practices. We divided this chapter in four parts, the first two will
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be focused on how to protect your devices and the last two will be focused more on your data.
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First, the basics.
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Let's see how we can protect those devices.
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And we're talking here about devices like smartphones, PCs, laptops, tablets and the way they're
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connected with the outside world.
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The first is the antivirus & firewall, and probably most of you already use one, and in general, the most
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vulnerable devices that should mandatory have one are the Windows machines, like laptops and desktops.
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It is highly recommended to use an antivirus and most of them include a firewall as well.
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And there are some free solutions out there,
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if you do not have a budget for a paid antivirus, if you want to go for a paid version
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most of the vendors like McAfee, Kaspersky, ESET, BitDefender and so on are offering licenses that can
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be used on multiple machines, so like that you can also secure the other devices in your family, including
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the mobile ones. If you want to install one,
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we will leave a link in the document from the resource section where you can find a list with free and
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paid solutions.
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Now that your device is partially safe due to the antivirus solution, let's see what's happening with
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your data when it goes beyond your device, when you connect, for example, to a public Wi-Fi, what
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most people don't know is that this is the easiest way to get hacked.
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But let's see how this scam works.
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We'll take an example with Bob as a regular user that once at the airport connects to an unsecured,
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free Wi-Fi network.
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Little does he know that this was created by Eve as a fake Wi-Fi hotspot to lure unsuspecting victims
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to join her network and enter their credentials on different platforms.
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The hackers achieved this by using locally hosted fake pages similar to popular websites like Facebook,
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and they will grab your credentials once you enter them, including a possible MFA code or even more.
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This information can then be used to gain access to other accounts,
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if, for example, you're using the same password on different platforms. Now that you know how you might
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get hacked,
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let's go back to see how the VPN can protect you.
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The VPN is basically a software that creates an encrypted tunnel from your device to the VPN server
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and everything that you access will go only via that secure channel.
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Most of the VPN solutions out there offer on Wi-Fi protection,
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and when you connect one on an unsecured network, the VPN will automatically connect, thus protecting
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you from the unfortunate scenario that we just saw earlier.
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You will find a link with the best solutions out there in the document from the resource section.
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But if you are traveling a lot and using mostly public Wi-Fi, you should maybe consider a paid version
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that offers, of course, better speed and connectivity.
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Now that we saw how public Wi-Fi can cause harm, let's go back to your cozy home, your safe zone.
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But is your home Wi-Fi really secure? If you're using a more recent equipment
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it probably is, since the hackable algorithms are not used by vendors anymore.
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But how can you check and make it safer?
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Well, there are a few easy actions that we can take.
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We are focusing our examples on the routers that are provided by your ISP, ISP means Internet service provider
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and is the company from where we get the Internet at home.
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But if you have a personal router, you should be able to modify all the settings below.
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Number one, change the default login.
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Most of the ISPs are using a certain pattern for default passwords,
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and if that is leaked, hackers may have your router's user/password.
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It is better to change the password of all the accounts you have access to.
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Number two, change your SSID, SSID means the name of your Wi-Fi network.
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This is due to the fact that your ISP uses a generic template for the name of the Wi-Fi network,
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like in our example, your ISP and a code.
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If there is any known vulnerability of some of your ISP's devices, hackers can just walk around and hack
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them because they can see the network's name. It's better to change it to something else or even further,
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securing your SSID by hiding it.
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We will leave a link in the document from the resource section with a Step-By-Step tutorial on how you
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can perform that.
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Number three, strengthen Wi-Fi encryption.
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There are currently three main algorithms, the WEP, Wired Equivalent privacy, the WPA, Wi-Fi
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Protected Access and WPA2. From these, as in our example, you should use the WPA2, or if your equipment
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supports the WPA-AES to address this, uses the cipher to protect transmissions and the encryption method
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that makes it almost impossible to hack.
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Number four, turn off remote management. From your router, you should be able to turn off the possibility
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for remote management in order to not allow external users to try to use and take advantage of any vulnerabilities
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or to brute force your password.
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Now that you know a few things, let's move to the second part of the securing your devices.
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In this section, we will talk about software updates, operating systems and apps, how to avoid being
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scammed by fake websites and why you should enforce the principle of least privilege if you have unexperienced
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users accessing your devices.
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Number one, you should always keep your software up to date.
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But why is really that?
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Well, it's because this is the easiest way hackers can exploit vulnerabilities and gain access to your
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devices, accounts and so on.
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When there is a major update that solves a critical vulnerability, the hackers will use it to find
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devices that are not updated and try to breach them using the information provided by the update. Number 2,
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enforcing principle of least privilege.
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If, for example, you have different users that are unexperienced to use your, let's say, Windows
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machines, you may want to create a separate account for them that doesn't have local admin rights and
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even further implementing some restrictions, like not having access to certain drives, folders and
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so on, to prevent any damage or accidental deletion of documents and software.
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Example, if they download an infected file, then without any local admin rights, the virus cannot do much
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harm.
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Number three, how can you avoid falling for phishing attempt or how do you actually see if a website
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is legit?
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Well, let's see
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in our example. There are a few steps to identify, for example, if a PayPal link is legit.
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Number one, always check the domain name.
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Scammers are becoming more and more creative and they are using subdomains like PayPal.YourPayment.net
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which looks legit because it has the PayPal subdomain and the other words are somehow related.
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But in reality, it's actually not an official website.
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To the second step is a bit more advanced because it involves diving a bit deeper into your browser's
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menu. If a website has the green address bar or as in our example, the lock, it means the connection
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is secure and no third party can eavesdrop and steal information.
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However, this does not make it safe.
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That's because you don't know who is on the other end of the connection, because the scammers can register
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an SSL certificate on the account PayPal.YourPayment.net and everything would seem to be
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OK from the browser's point of view.
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Fortunately, this information can be further checked.
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And here is how you can do it.
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In our example, we are using Google Chrome as a browser, you can click on the lock, click on certificate
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and in the new window check "issued to". In our case we should have their www.paypal.com, which is
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the official PayPal domain, and which means that the website is legit.
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If you have any other type of mixes, even if they contain PayPal, it's probably a scam website.
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You can find a link with further information in the document from the resource section. Now that you know
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a few things about how to secure devices and how they connect to the world,
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let's take a look at your data.
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The basics.
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We will touch here 4 areas, the first one, how to encrypt your data.
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We will focus this on Windows and Mac machines.
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For Mac, you have the file vault that can be directly activated.
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And for Windows, you have the bitlocker that is available on most newer Microsoft operating systems.
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And now let's see how complicated it is to encrypt your drive using a bitlocker.
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Can we make it in 30 seconds?
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As I mentioned earlier, this option is available on most newer Windows operating systems, but let's
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actually see how you can do it.
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You right, click on the drive that you want to encrypt turn bitlocker on.
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Then select different things like the password that you want to encrypt with, then next next, start encrypting
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and the encryption will be in progress. Depending on how large a drive is, it will take a longer or
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a shorter time.
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If you want to see all the steps, you can find the full tutorial in the document from the resource
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section.
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Next, how do you back up your data?
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Well, this can be done using one of the cloud storage solutions like Google Drive, Dropbox, one drive,
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Apple Cloud and so on.
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If you're OK, of course, with uploading your data to the cloud, or you can also do it locally, offline,
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using, for example, a Mac time capsule or other external hard drives with backup software embedded
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for Windows and Mac.
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We will provide a list with the available options in the document from the resource section.
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Since the backup is quite important, I will spend a few extra minutes here because I've heard this
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phrase quite often, what can happen?
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I have the new X brand is bulletproof,
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my data is safe, it was super expensive...
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Well, I should tell you a few stories that I lived. Once,
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my house was broken into and they stole my laptop.
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Fortunately, my drives were encrypted with bitlocker and the data was synchronized with Google Drive,
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so I didn't lose anything and they didn't have access to my data.
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Also, some years ago, I had many friends that were storing their data on external hard drives.
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They were quite cheap, but I don't really recommend it.
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Back when I used to work for a distribution company, I was often going to the guys at the service and
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guess what kind of devices were in a huge pile of broken items sent for warranty.
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I'll let you guess that... Nowadays the SSD external hard drives are much better,
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but still, I wouldn't rely on keeping your data on one single device, even if it's the most expensive
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and the shiniest on the shelf.
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As I work many years within the IT department, I got some crazy stories on how data can be lost, like
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the laptop was stolen,
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the laptop was run over with a car, forgot it in the rain, forgotten a train, dropped from the balcony
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and so on.
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So to conclude this, always keep your data in at least two different places and if you're using mobile
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devices, always keep an extra eye on them.
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And now, going back to our list. Three, as we saw earlier in the bruteforce section, we should always
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use strong passwords and do not use them across different platforms.
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We highly recommend you to use a free or paid password manager like LastPass, KeyPass,
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Lockwise, and please refer to the previous chapter if you didn't watch it yet. Four, MFA.
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But first, what is this MFA?
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Well, this acronym stands for Multifactor Authentication, which is an authentication method that enforces
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the user to have two or more authentication factors to gain access to a resource such as an online account
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application or device.
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The multifactor can be a mix of password, plus a code that you get via SMS, voice call or from an
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authenticator application.
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And now jumping to our example, we have two scenarios, Bob, with and without MFA. In the first
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case, Bob is able to login to his PayPal account using just the username and password.
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And in the second one, he needs an extra step an SMS message sent to his phone that he defined
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in his PayPal account.
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This makes it almost impossible for hackers to access his account unless, of course, they have access
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to his phone or clone his SIM card.
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So now that you know what it is, please use MFA whenever possible.
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Some platforms already force you to use it,
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and this is the best way to secure your online accounts,
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but even your own Windows or Mac devices. Adding an extra step keeps the hackers away,
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well, at least for now... We will drop a link with further details in the document from the resource
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section.
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And now let's see some further advanced tips.
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Further securing your data.
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My personal favorite, the 3.x backup, what does it mean?
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It's having a secondary device in case you lose/break your smartphone, a backup SIM, and some backup
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MFA codes written somewhere or embedded in your mind if you have such a good memory.
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Having all this will give you a door to access your account if your main smartphone is lost and you
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have, let's say, MFA activated for your main account.
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Second, the screen, what many people don't pay attention to is that if you're, for example, traveling
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a lot and sometimes working from the airport or public places, other people may see some confidential
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or personal information that they can later use, like, for example, your account and what password
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you typed.
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Please always be careful, and if you're using a laptop, for example, you can also go for a privacy
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screen so like that people cannot see what you have displayed at a certain moment.
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Third, always but always pay attention to your personal data.
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Always double check before you enter this information.
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If you consider that some information may be too confidential, it's most likely a scam.
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For example, a bank will never ask you for the PIN code.
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Always set an alarm in your mind to pay extra attention whenever some personal information are requested.
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Last but not least, the communication channels, as you know, recently, there were many discussions
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on the WhatsApp privacy rules and some messaging platforms were even cracked by the authorities like Sky ECC.
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Of course, there is probably no ideal app for communicating, but we will have a link in the document
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from the resource section with applications that are taking privacy rules seriously. And with this we would
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like to close the personal protection chapter.
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Now you know more about how you can protect your devices, how you can protect when connected to a public
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Wi-Fi, how to secure your home network, how to spot phishing websites, how to encrypt and backup
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your data, best practices for passwords, and what the MFA stands for, and how it can be used to secure
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accounts. As discussing the slide before you can find all the links in the document from the resource
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section.
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And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask us.
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Thank you and see you soon in our next chapter.