Lots of people are using internet as a medium for shopping, transferring money and for many other activities. In order to know the nature of business and type of transaction, website companies are interested in tracking the details of customers online. People who are new to the Internet world are especially vulnerable to various security threats. There are special cyber criminals out there that are ready to steal users web transaction activities. These kinds of unethical activities put forward the idea of online privacy and more web users now-a-days are interested in protecting their transactions online.
The duty of the government is to protect their people from potential threats. In the case of the Internet, governments propose several different policies to protect online customers from potential cyber crimes. The USA privacy policy act and EU acts are considered two best examples of government measures. Other than government, there are private companies such as Microsoft, Google and many more who came up with an idea of privacy policy. They all have their own solutions to check websites that are indexed to detect malware and other potential threats. The depth of cyber threats is much larger than these protective measures. However, web users also should follow some vigilant steps to avoid possible cyber threats.
A web user can employ different measures to secure his web browsing. The first step is to ensure the security settings of the web browser and of the system. Both system and the web browser have various security settings and the user should modify it in accord to his web activities. Normally all Windows operating system offer a firewall system to prevent unauthorized programs access to the system. This is one of the mandatory programs in any computer system. But, the user should verify the status of the firewall.
Cookies are sweet in real world, but in virtual world, cookies mean trackers. However, almost all websites have cookies. Most popular web browsers have a setting which will remove all the cookies after the browsing session is finished. Not all cookies are dangerous, but it is a difficult job for a common user to distinguish good cookies from the bad ones. It’s best to just remove them after browsing.
Removing history, cache and other login details is another preventive measure to protect the computer system. These days it is possible to scan links on a website. Online free link scanners allow the user to scan a website and detect possible threats. Using public computers to access social media sites and email also bring threats to the user. Use passwords that contain character, number and letters and remember to LOG OFF when you are done. Simply closing your browser does not guarantee your session is logged out properly. Finally, if you can remember all of your log ins (and most of us have at least 5-10 different areas we log in to) remember all the login details in your mind, never store them on the computer. The best practice is to write your password down and store them in a lockable fireproof vault.