How to protect yourself online for the new school year

The start of the university and college term means spending money on laptops and mobile devices. Although having grown up in modern technologies, the majority of students, according to a study by McAfee, are rarely concerned about the impacts that cybersecurity has on their devices.

The McAfee study was conducted on 1000 Canadians between the ages of 18 and 25. Here are the statistics of the participants:

• 81% reported that either they or someone close to them had been victims of computer hacking
• 37% think they will never be the targets of such computer attacks
• 40% have not installed an antivirus software on their computer(s)
• 70% have not installed an antivirus software on their mobile device(s)
• 88% have not installed an antivirus software on their tablet(s)

Large sectors such as education are full of confidential data which make them prime targets for Ransomware attacks, with hackers hoping that institutions will spend a large amount of money to recover their data. If the subject interests you, learn why paying the ransom if your computer is infected with Ransomware is a very bad idea.

Among all the free solutions, there are a few that are able to protect a computer device properly. However, many are useless, and some are even scams.

Here are some additional tips to protect yourself online:

• Use two-factor authentication if possible, as it provides additional security for your data for the websites offering it
• Never do any financial transaction or go to websites with confidential data on public Wi-Fi networks
• Always use different passwords for each website. If you have trouble remembering several passwords, you can use the good old-fashioned pen and paper method, or use a password manager
• Perform daily maintenance tasks on your computer

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Or do you have a computer and think it needs cleaning to start the school year on a high note? We recommend you our Computer Cleaning service.