Can anything be hacked? The answer is always yes, but there are things you can do to secure your operating system regardless of what OS you use. I want to start with a disclaimer that these are basic things that any user can do on any system that will protect your devices from unwanted intrusion.
Password security is one of the easiest and most important thing that you can do to secure your machine.
It is commonly recommended that you use a combination of upper and lower case letter with special characters such as @ or !.
You should avoid using dictionary words such as @nsw3rM3!. Although you think this may be a strong password, there are many tools out there that can hack your password using what is called a dictionary attack.
It is also recommended that you use a minimum of 8 characters however, you should use passwords that are longer. Your operating system or online platform may also limit the number of characters you use, so be prepared with shorter and longer passwords.
Depending on your Operating System be sure to store a backup copy of your password in case you forget your password. Do not store it in an email or on your local machine however, I recommend that you use a paper copy and let someone you trust or hide it in a secure place you won’t forget so that digital intruders have to work harder to get your password.
Make sure to log yourself out of online and local machine accounts each time you leave. This may seem a little convenient however, recently I didn’t do that and someone was able to get into my email just by typing my e-mail providers address.
Although you’re logging out of things each time and logging in each time, you may want to also consider not using the remember my password options. If you log out, but your browser remembers the password you have done yourself no service at all.
Make sure to clear your browser cache, this will remove cookies as well as login tokens that can be read by an experienced hacker.
Don’t forget to clear your cache in your local machine. If you don’t know how to do this you can search how to do this online.
Choose a browser, not search engine, that collects as little data on you as possible. (https://vpnoverview.com/privacy/anonymous-browsing/best-browsers-for-privacy/#:~:text=Tor%20uses%20a%20decentralized%20network,address%20or%20other%20identifying%20information.)
In the digital age it is profitable for companies to collect user data and then sell it. It seems like nowadays every browser, platform and system wants to harvest your data. What makes this so dangerous is not the data, but the potential intrusions to the vendor or those who they sell it to. The more your data gets passed around the less secure you are, so it’s important to limit the opportunities for your personal data to be compromised.
Do not store any financial information on your system such as credit and debit cards.
This may seem like something simple that everyone does, but that is not true. The more comfortable you get using your system and the more conveniences you seek the more vulnerable you will be.
Like storing passwords and using browsers that collect your data, storing your financial information on your devices is a huge risk. Considering we’re in the digital age you are just as vulnerable giving your card information over the phone as you are doing it online because you’re trusting the institution to protect your information. You should try to limit transactions done online and over the phone to those who don’t store your financial information although this may be an inconvenience.
Keep your system up to date, especially Microsoft machines.
Keeping your system up to date is important because some updates fix vulnerabilities in your operating system.
It is the best interest of those who design an operating system to make sure it is as secure as possible, even if security isn’t their primary concern. Some operating systems only patch after a breach has been documented forcing them to fix the vulnerability.
Bonus:
Configure your firewall.
Each operating system, especially desktop/laptops for the home user has a built in firewall that can be configured. Depending on the maker they could limit your ability to configure your firewall by making basic services dependent or just denying you access.
If you have more than one user who uses your machine you will want to do this in the Administrative permissions or in Linux “Root” however, be careful and document all the changes that you make.
If you are not a skilled user it may be best to have someone who is much more skilled to do this for you, but make sure you have them document all changes in case you need to make changes in the future.
Limit the tasks that you do as Administrator and reserve it for important things like system wide configuration and those processes that require “root” access.
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