What's the issue?
Many of my clients are multi-device users. That is, they have a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop or desktop, at least. They use them all for email, web surfing, and social networking. Often the laptop or desktop is primarily used for offline activities and larger programs such as bookkeeping, gaming, word processing, photo editing, and music library management.
I'm beginning to recommend to my clients that they can reduce the risk of computer hacks by not using Windows-based systems for the web or email. In other words limit email, social networking, and most web surfing to phones and tablets.
Why?
Because most hacking occurs via web browsers and emails, targeting Windows-based computers. These hacks occur when user land on certain websites, click weblinks in emails or on social networking sites, and open infected emails. If you don't do these activities on your Windows computer, you likely won't get hacked. (Macs are inherently more secure and so far not widely targeted.)
You still have to be careful about phishing exploits, which can trick you to reveal confidential information on any device. If you'd like to educate yourself on phishing, here's one site to check.
As a bonus, you should notice improved computer performance. Why? Because having browsers open (especially more than one, with several tabs in each) can slow down the system.
Start by limiting web use to recognized secure sites like your bank, amazon.com, and reading news at legitimate sites like cnn.com. While on your computer you can download updates to your photo-editing software, your bookkeeping program, etc. because the updates come directly from the software vendor. The same goes for updating banking data in your bookkeeping program, which links securely to your bank.
Here's a recommendation for company managers: If your organization depends on staff using the web and email for work, you can at least prohibit access of non-work-related websites. Here's a template your organization can adapt concerning acceptable use of its computers.
When should you do it?
Try this approach for a few days: Don't do any email or social networking on your computer. Ask yourself how it's working for you. Perhaps you can tweak my recommendation for your purposes.
I know what I'm proposing seems extreme, but trying it will at least bring more awareness to how you use the Internet and what risks you're taking.
Where can you find more info on this topic?
If you'd like to get more educated about the most common online threats, check out this article by Symantec.
Who can help?
You may want to hire an IT consultant--especially if you run a business--to learn how you can reduce your exposure to online hacking threats. It can be money well spent, as business data connected via your network to the Internet (most always the case) is at risk.
In Sum
Knowledge is power. Keep educating yourself on computer security, take appropriate action, and you will reduce threats to your confidential data.
Thanks for reading. You're feedback is appreciated!
Aloha, Sam
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