Tech Hygiene - Why Cybersecurity?

How do we have the best hygiene? Well, we have the scrubber now in the password manager app, but how about the soap to clean out the nasties, viruses, and malware? Having a scrubbing brush is all well and good, but how well does it clean without soap? This is where cybersecurity comes in. It’ll go in and clean out the nasty things that can be put on your computer and see every file to check for issues.

Safely Surfing:

Cybersecurity will do the first step, attempt to protect you while you’re surfing the web. A good one should warn you not to go to the sites that pose a risk, sites that carry malware and viruses, and even links that could contain them. Having ‘Safe Browsing’ working will be your guardian angel looking over your shoulder on your tech, making sure you aren’t straying too far off the safer site path. (Safe browsing is usually a browser plugin.) Now, I did say attempt to protect as it will just attempt because some things will slip through the cracks and scare you into clicking something that wants to do not-so-nice things to you and your device, so you need to be aware of tactics and strategies that scammers use. Coming in the next ‘Social Engineering’ tech hygiene blog.

Virus/Malware Scans

Deep cleaning with the cybersecurity soap is the next step for cybersecurity. A competent cybersecurity should be doing the occasional scan in the background to ensure it keeps checking possible threats, and all of them should have a full scan function. Both can be scheduled based on times that work for you. Quick scans should be at least once a week or even daily, and full scans take a while and should be about once a month or a fortnight, depending on your preferences. You can do it in the background and keep on working away too. Scans help with the next element of performance too.

Performance Enhancement:

Computer running slow? Struggling with a sluggish and hard-to-use computer? Cybersecurity may help. While it’s clearing out the nasties, it will be finding things that shouldn’t be on your computer, which is slowing it down. Running scans improves performance, especially on those slower computers that are getting long in the tooth. Sometimes there are occasional things that are clogging up the computer, like older software updates or system updates, cache, cookies, and anything else that might be slowing that poor computer of yours down.

Data Encryption:

Data encryption is also available. This is usually in the form of a folder that can hold sensitive items like bank statements, health info, and anything else you might treat as sacred, like your mum’s secret biscuit recipe. Don’t need those mass-produced in some foreign country! All jokes aside, this is a great way to keep important things private and secure even if someone is able to get your data from the computer.

VPN:

Why does my antivirus have a VPN? What is a VPN? Well, it’s some fancy tech thing! Oh, okay, I’ll explain it and give you the pros and cons. A VPN is a virtual private network; it essentially keeps your browsing and internet data safe from hackers and your provider. It’s like a tunnel that protects you from peeping eyes, or like you’re sending a piece of mail in a safe instead of a paper letter, and the receiver gets it magically unlocked because they have the key at their address. I’ll write a whole blog about this one because there are heaps of pros and cons, but the short and sweet version is: it’s great for open networks and hiding things from peeping eyes and can be great for geo-locking you to a new location but placing that virtual network wherever you like in the world. Like when you’re overseas, your Australian websites will work like normal because the internet thinks you’re in Australia. Cons: it can be or really protective about incoming and ongoing internet traffic, and I have seen it break the use of the internet on your device, especially from cybersecurity software. It’s kinda like an overly protective dad: “That website is fine, Dad!” And he replies, “You’re grounded!”

“Okay, enough, my brain hurts,” I hear you saying. The last question is, what cybersecurity do I think is the best? Well, it depends on your own preference and what has been used before or what you need protection on. Do some research on the best cybersecurity and if you’re still stuck, I’m a phone call or email away. If your brain is still hurting and you need some proper help on plans and setting up the computer, you can contact us today!