Virus

We’re all familiar by now with Covid-19, however the digital world is experiencing a big increase in malware, trojans, viruses, ransomware and scams.

If you have an iphone watch out for apple-online-guard, it looks like an official apple security notice but it’s definitely not – more details here on how to remove it

GoDaddy have also recently announced that 28,000 of their hosting accounts have been compromised.

Here are a few tips to protect yourself (apologies if you already know these:

> UPDATE – This is so important to keep your operating system, programs and apps up to date, not doing this can leave an opening for an attacker.

> LOG-OUT – If you’re logged into an online account and using it then great, but if you’ve finished log out to help with safety.

> PASSWORDS – Please ensure these are strong by using a mixture of upper case, lower case, numbers and special characters. It’s also recommended to mix the passwords up on different accounts. Use Leverage Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) where possible, this offers an extra layer of protection.

> ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE – Even a free version can offer some protection.

> BACKUP – Backup those important documents and files to an external hard-drive or USB flash-drive and keep in a separate location. Online storage is great as well, but consider how valuable the information you are backing up online.

> TO GOOD TO BE TRUE? – Attackers can lure you in with amazing offers, be aware when browsing by clicking on a popup or link you could potentially download harmful items to your device.

> EMAILS – Scammers are clever and their emails look real, however if it’s something you weren’t expecting or from an unusual source then please be careful, hover or click on the senders email address to make sure that it’s from a legit source. If in doubt try and get in touch with the sender by a different method.

> OPERATING SYSTEMS – I mentioned keeping up to date, if you use Microsoft Windows, version 7 is no longer supported. Using this version could leave yourself wide open.

Please stay safe outside but also inside as well!