The most important thing to protect your computers, mobile devices and data from hackers is secure pc software. Hackers, also known as cybercriminals, break into your computer for a variety of reasons. They can steal the data, alter or delete information you consider important. Contrary to other thieves which often have legitimate purposes for the stolen items hackers have ulterior motives. They are more concerned with having access to sensitive data that is not authorized. This can happen before you realize that something is not right.
The three essential steps to ensure the security of your computer software are passwords, firewalls and protection against viruses. If you adhere to these best practices your computer will be much less likely to be compromised by hackers, malware or ransomware (software that encrypts your data and requires payment to unlock it).
Change the name of the administrator account. Choose a strong password that contains lower- and find more information uppercase letters numerals, numbers and computer symbols. Avoid using a password that is short like 1234 as hackers can use automated tools to break passwords that are easy to guess in just a few minutes.
Make sure that your operating system (OS) and other software up-to-date. The majority of software updates include security fixes to protect against hackers. Install all patches and enable automatic updates if they are available to minimize the window of time when you’re vulnerable to hackers.
If you own a laptop, or any other portable device that’s not being used, make sure the drive is encrypted. This is especially crucial for UF Students. Windows allows you to enable encryption by going to Settings > Update and Security > Device encryption. This will encrypt the entire internal drive, as well as all external drives such SD cards.