Tips for creating a strong password

Keep strong password to protect yourself against cyber attacks

Passwords give the principal line of protection against unapproved access to your PC. The stronger your password, the more protected and secure it will be from cyber criminals. You should ensure that you have strong passwords for all your accounts. In case you are using a corporate network, your administrator may require you to use a strong password.

Keep in mind the following points when creating a password:

·         Make sure that the password you are planning to set is at least eight characters long.

·         It should not contain your username, date of birth, company name, etc.

·         Do not use a complete word, making it easy for hackers to crack.

·         Should be different from the earlier passwords

In order to protect your account from being a target of hackers, you should set up a password that is a combination of uppercase, lowercase, alphabets, numbers and symbols.

Many a times there are passwords that meet all the criteria of a strong password but are still considered to be weak and can be guessed easily as it may contain a full word.

For example, Hello2u! is a wonderful password as it is a mixture of all the requirements but is still considered to be weak as it contains the whole word hello in it. Instead H3ello 2 u! can be a much better option as this contains a number and some space rather than the whole word being used altogether.

Thus these are a few steps that you need to follow in order to keep your accounts safe. If you feel that you will not remember your password then it can be written down at a safe place but make sure you do not write password on top of it, making it all the more easy for someone to trace. Another great advice to keep your accounts safe is to change all your passwords every few months. Your password should be kept in such a way that it becomes a sort of mystery for others. 

Obviously, all such topics can be solved if the above mentioned steps are followed and you create super strong passwords.

5 Online Shopping Traps to avoid this season

Online shopping made it easy and convenient!

Shopping has become so easy these days just with the click of a mouse or with the swiping of your card. Doing your festive shopping online can be a great way to avoid the crowds. It also helps you compare different products and their prices and choose the most suitable one for your needs. Ordering something online takes less time than going to the market and buying something. Whether you’re buying a computer, a pair of shoes or booking a trip, shopping online offers convenience and can make it easy to find some great deals. But at the same time shopping online can also put you at a high risk of becoming a target of these cyber criminals if proper precautions are not taken. Thus to keep your personal information safe, follow these steps to avoid online scams:

Use Common Sense

Make sure that the site you are surfing for, looks 100% right. It is better to take a little time and surf on various sites rather than ordering a product that never really comes. If you are surfing on a website that has poor spellings, logos or asking for too much of personal information then it’s better to be alert and pay a little attention to it.

Buy from reputed sites

Think carefully before buying from a new and unfamiliar website. There are so many websites that you are familiar with, so try to buy from these only as they have a reputation to maintain. Even if anything goes wrong, they will always be there to help you out and provide you with the best solution. It’s always better to spend a little extra on something you know rather than losing something completely.

Avoid clicking on suspicious emails

Phishing is an easy way used by hackers to target users

You get hundreds of emails in your inbox that offers a variety of discounts and offers for you. Most of these emails contain a couple of links in it. Though some of these emails offer real deals while others may be malicious. Links in malicious emails may be used to install unwanted software’s that can cause damage to your PC. These sites may look good and real but they have primarily been set up for collecting your personal information.

Never to use Public Wi-Fi when shopping online

When you type in personal information such as credit card details, bank account numbers etc across public Wi-fi, everyone using that particular network can access your information if they want to. You are always advised to use a secure network when shopping online. Wait for sometime before shopping if you can’t get a secure network.

Review & Ratings

It is very important to do a thorough research on the products and sellers before purchasing something online. Always read what people have to say about a particular thing. Look for reviews from multiple sources.

Sometimes as you are purchasing over the internet, there are internet monsters who are continuously spying on you and your online activities. Thus it’s very important that you act out carefully and not become a target of these hackers. Also install a quality Antivirus software. 

Has the speed of your Computer reduced? It definitely needs a repair!

Boost up the performance of your PC

PC users do not find anything wrong until and unless they themselves face any issue while using a system. People believe that maintenance is only required for vehicles and nothing else, but that’s not true. Repairing and maintenance is required for everything be it your computers as well. If your system reboots again and again or if you have lost or have had your valuable data compromised then it definitely means that your system is in desperate need of maintenance. If you keep getting update or alert messages in between then it often distracts and hampers your work. A slow system accounts for a lot of frustration and brings in the thought of buying a new PC rather than recovering the old one. A slow PC is not a vice decision and leads to a great loss of productivity that leads us to spend a lot of money.

In the modern times, our PC is a great machine that is used for various purposes such as sharing of videos and images, sharing over social networking sites and also to save our important documents. Users want maximum usage for their PC but often end up taking preventive measures. As per a research conducted, an average computer user spends about 13 minutes per day just waiting for their technology to catch up.

Here are a few reasons that could result in a PCs reduced performance:

1) If a program of your PC crashes then it can reduce the speed of your PC over time.

2) Too much of temporary files have been stored on your system

3) Excess of viruses, malware etc transferred from the internet or via external drives like pen drives, etc.

4) There is not enough of free space on your hard drive

5) Your version of windows or other software is out of date

6) Your computer or processor is over heating

7) Your PC requires a memory update

There are some basic steps that one needs to take in order to maintain the working condition of a PC. There are several reasons. So in order to make your PC run in the best way keep it up to date, avoid water or other liquid spilling on the PC hardware, maintain your systems hardware and software and also install a good quality antivirus protection.

Follow these steps to maintain your operating system and data:

1) Install the latest updates for your PC. These updates will fix up most of the bugs.

2) Make sure to shut down your PC when not in use.

3) Keep a back up of rescue disk for the OS and also keep a back up of all your important data.

4) Be careful while sharing files

5) Get rid of software’s that are installed on your PC but you hardly use them.

Get an Antivirus protection for your PC that scans and cleans viruses automatically. This will update your system regularly and ensure that your PC is protected against the latest threats. It is very important that all the downloaded files should be scanned by your antivirus application before it is actually run or installed. Go for a free trial of REVE Antivirus that protects your system against all types of viruses and helps in boosting its performance. This PC security software comes with in- built PC tuner. 

4 Best Instagram Security Tips that you should follow!

Instagram Security tips

Instagram first time came up in the year 2010 as an iOS photo sharing app, but nobody had imagined how big and popular the service would actually get. Today Instagram is accessible over all major mobile platforms and has more than 400 million clients all across the globe. The key components of Instagram are Photo sharing and short video sharing. Facebook had acquired Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. Like all the other social networks and media sharing services, there are some privacy and security risks that Instagram users should be aware of and need to follow. There are about 20% internet users who are active on Instagram and most of the people using this app are mostly young people below the age of 35. So in order to be safe and not indulge in wrong activities parents of young adults should keep a track of their child’s Instagram activities and should ensure that they are not exposing themselves to unwanted online risks that can lead them into a big trouble later.

Here are a few security tips that Instagram users should follow in order to protect themselves against all kinds of malicious threats online:

1   1. Use the privacy settings carefully

Choose such settings that inform you or alert you when a person sends you request or follows you. This way no one will be able to see your pictures or keep a track of your activities as it will not be available in the public domain.

     2. Be smart while choosing your profile picture

If you choose a profile picture that shows your face clearly and your name is also clearly visible, then it is very simple for the hacker to gather information about you and use it for their benefit. Thus you are advised to use a generic image or even if you want to share your image make sure the settings are rightly chosen.

3   3.Switch off location sharing filters

When you post an update or share an image your exact location is shared. It can allow unwanted people to know about your exact location and can then start following you. This can be a danger to your privacy and integrity.

     4.  Be careful before sharing pictures

      Every picture that you post on the internet can reach up to thousands of people which can be misused easily. So be a smart user and avoid posting pictures that you don’t want the world to see. Refrain yourself from posting offensive, personal and compromising photos.

     

     There are thousands of photos being shared on Instagram each day and it’s seen to be the perfect platform for photo lovers. But with so many photos and videos being shared it raises the possibility of your security being compromised. Thus we can avoid the risk by taking the right precautions. 

Your Mobile Phone is a serious threat that must be secured!

Your Mobile Phone can be a great target for Cybercriminals

Cell phones have constrained a radical movement in the way individuals manage their everyday exercises and how associations benefit their clients through the use of this device. Earlier, one could easily find out a difference between internet, intranet and the internal corporate network. In today’s technology driven world, be it small or big cell phones conveying information, sending messages, social networking, gaming, downloading, etc all has become very easy. This has opened doors for cybercriminals.

As per reports, we can see that the supply of the number of smartphones has exceeded that of desktop and PCs. Nowadays, mobile phones are available in different prizes and models that are easy to afford. These devices can be used for different purposes, including sending and receiving electronic mail, storing documents and preparing presentations, storing data and more.

Even before the advent of smartphones, malicious programs and viruses were recognized as a threat for mobile devices. There are several applications that have come up which allow users to view and manipulate the financial accounts and shopping accounts which are linked up to credit cards that have become a common place for hackers. You can become a target by simply getting a text message or malicious software that is already installed on your device. The number of malware attacks is increasing at an alarming rate.

With less education about mobile threats and lack of security on these devices, users seem more inclined to become victims. Moreover, there is increase in issues from applications that upload malware. This opens opportunities for internet monsters to use these apps to install a backdoor on such devices for their own selfish purpose such as sending spam emails or recording keystrokes to record personal and financial details. Here are some reasons why mobile devices are particularly susceptible to attacks:

1.       Some applications are already installed in the mobile devices through third parties, this makes it susceptible to the distribution of malware. There is no proof of what applications they have installed, is it genuine or not.

2.       There are no default browser permission rules in a mobile device. This makes it all the more vulnerable to malware attacks.

3.       Users often check their emails on mobile devices and the no restriction of mobile browsers make it all the more difficult to identify which ones are the fraudulent sites. This increases the risk of your device being attacked.

Follow these steps to enhance your mobile security and keep your data protected:

      1.   Use strong and effective passwords. Make sure to change them regularly.

2    2.  Keep back up of all your important data and encrypt all the important and sensitive data so that it is not misused.

3    3. Use an updated and powerful Antivirus and Anti Malware software that will keep your device protected from all kinds of malicious threats.

      4. Think before you click, download or open an attachment. No matter how tempting an application looks, make sure to download it from the app store or from any trusted website otherwise just leave and walk away.

What is a computer virus? How is it dangerous for us?

Protect yourself against computer viruses!

In today’s technology driven world everyone uses the internet to cater to their needs. The percentage of online users has increased be it for online shopping, reading, working and so on. But do you think it to be completely safe?Sometimes when we click on a link received in our email or open a website a malicious program enters our PC known as virus which is very dangerous and can lead to crashing our computer and make it slow. Through these viruses, our sensitive information can be misused. Computer threats can be a nightmare for you that can cause extensive damage to your system. This can even disrupt the performance of the system. So let’s quickly know about what a computer virus is and how it can harm us?A computer virus is a malicious program that when executed replicates itself by reproducing itself or infecting other programs. When this replication is complete, the affected areas are said to be infected. However, not all viruses attempt to hide themselves. One of the basic characteristic of a virus is that they are self replicating computer programs that install themselves without the user’s knowledge. Computer viruses are usually spread through email attachments or instant messages. Viruses can be disguised as attachment of funny images, greeting cards, audio and video files and much more. This is the reason you are always advised not to click on any email attachments unless you are completely sure about who it is from and what it contains. A simple virus is also very dangerous as it produces copies of itself very easily. It is also dangerous as it can use up all the available memory in your system and bring it to a halt. There are many viruses that are capable enough to transmit it through different networks. There are very few viruses that are harmless, but most are malicious and cause widespread damage. Some show immediate action, while others remain silent for weeks or even months, but work slowly in the background without making you aware about it. Computer viruses can also spread through downloads over the internet. They can also appear to be hidden in illicit software or other files that you may download.

To help avoid computer viruses, it’s essential that you update your computer on a regular basis, be aware about the latest online threats, run your system on a secured network and be careful while downloading files and opening attachments. Out of all the best solution is to install a reliable security software.

Expert Tips to Avoid becoming a victim of Ransomware

How to avoid being a victim of Ransomware!

The use of internet is increasing at a fast pace, opening large number of doors for the internet monsters. Big organisations and government agencies are moving towards a digitized world which leads to greater risk for them, making them vulnerable to cyber attacks. Survey shows that an increased number of ransomware attacks have been taking place over the past few years. Such incidents display a clear trend that malware attackers are steadily shifting to serious money making through ransomware attacks. Ransomware is seen to be a highly money making mechanism over the last few years.

Big businesses and local governments have been the recent targets of ransomware and are expected to be targeted in the future. Also, everyday users of the internet like us are also targets of ransomware. Most of our sensitive data is stored on our PCs that can be traced by these cyber criminals who use it in order to blackmail users and demand for ransom in order to get back your data.

At REVE Antivirus, users are proactive to protect themselves from threats rather than being a target of these cybercriminals and agreeing to all their terms. Criminals are looking for new ways to get into the wallets of hard working folks. What should users do to make sure that they do not become a victim of ransomware? Follow these simple tips to protect yourself against ransomware:

BACKUP AND KEEP DATA SECURE

We live in a computerized age where we are putting away everything from our personal documents to professional ones over our devices. If anything happens with your device, you will lose all your data. Thus it is important that you store your data on the cloud so that it can be retrieved even if you lose it. To be a little safer, make sure to save all your important data on external drives as well like USB drives, hard drives etc.  In case of ransomware, securing your data offline is extremely important.

Update Regularly

Do you often get pop up messages giving you update notifications but you hardly pay attention to them? Then be active and make this as your priority. Regular system update is very important if you want to keep your sensitive data secure. These updates help you to get rid of vulnerabilities that are found on your system. At times, it seems to be a pain to install the latest windows update. But neglecting them can result in your system being vulnerable to attackers who look to destroy it completely and provide maximum harm.

Have a security Software

Installing good antivirus software helps you to keep your PC protected from all kinds of malicious threats such as worms, virus and Trojans. Antivirus software comes up with high end solutions such as advanced scan engine, parental control, websecurity and more. When a type of ransomware is found in your system and you have an antivirus software installed in your PC, it can stop you from clicking a link or opening up a malicious file that it detects. Mobile phones could be more at danger given the amount of personal information that is stored in it.

Disconnect from Wi-Fi or unplug immediately

Many a times you suspect a file to have ransomware present, but you are not sure about it. The best way to protect yourself is to disconnect yourself from the network immediately this might mitigate the damage. It takes a lot of time to encrypt your files, so you may be able to stop it before it succeeds in damaging them completely. This technique is not seen to be completely secure or you may not be fortunate enough to move more rapidly in protecting your data than the malware, however disconnecting from the network might be a much better option rather than doing nothing at all.

Ransomware certainly is seen to be very frightening, but related to it, there are many problems that can cause a lot of destruction. Thus it is always the best practice to protect oneself against loss of data with regular backups. This way, no matter what happens you will not be losing your sensitive data and can start it all back as before. Thus, the best way to fight against ransomware is to act as an active internet user and enhance your knowledge about it and keep yourself away from becoming a target.

5 Myths about Installing an Antivirus Software

Why not to install an Antivirus software!

As digitization is on its way, cyber hacking and online security breach is emerging at a fast pace. Big businesses and government companies are moving towards digitization but what they should not forget is to check their products for cyber security. Open source is now prevailing even more and it is predicted to become even more prevalent in the coming years. At times, we experience a pop up window flashing over our system.  Responding to such seemingly genuine alerts can pose a serious threat to our PC. This is the reaction that cyber criminals eagerly wait for. By making you click on these unwanted programs, hackers try to grasp all your sensitive information and demand huge ransom in order to return it back. Thus it is very important to become active users and make sure to protect your sensitive information from hackers. Therefore one Should install a good Antivirus software. Many a times users feel that they just use their system to do office work, so an antivirus software is not required. Still there are lots of risks involved.

Read these 5 common myths that stop users from installing good antivirus software:

1        You only visit safe websites

Many a time users feel that they visit websites that have no risk. But this is not true. Every website has some sort of risk involved in it. In today’s time no site is considered to be a fully trusted site. Cyber threats are no longer limited to websites such as adult and gambling. Hackers have long moved on to target more popular and trusted sites that are used to spread malware and infect users. As per surveys, around 80% of infected sites are legitimate trusted sites.

The best way to protect yourself against this is in addition to a URL filtering solution, you should also have a web malware detection to scan all the website content.

2        Security software slow down your system

One of the common complaints that users express about security software is that it harms the performance of its PC. This makes the user frustrated. The main reason your computer slows down over time is not due to installing an Antivirus software but due to regular updates taking place and also because of the presence of spyware in it.  A spyware is a malicious program that is designed to install itself and run on a PC without the user’s knowledge. The presence of these unwanted malware programs that spy on your online activities lead to disrupting the performance of your system.

3       Using a secure browser offers better protection

Even though chrome is considered to be among the most secure browser, still it is not far behind from being attacked. Every browser has new vulnerabilities coming up each day. Nothing can be completely safe; you are your own safety master.  It’s not surprising that as a browser like chrome becomes popular with users, it also becomes more of a target to hackers. Hackers make money by infecting these systems. More people using these browsers mean higher opportunities for hackers.

4     All Antivirus apps are the same

A variety of Antivirus software are available for us, each one offering different features. Thus choosing from this wide variety makes it quite confusing for us. But it’s very important to choose the best Antivirus software as choosing the wrong software can leave you vulnerable to common malware disrupting your system and putting you into great trouble by acquiring your sensitive information.

5         It can’t infect your PC if you don’t download anything

Most people think that malware is a problem for people who download certain files and folders. This is an age old perception that does not fit in true now. It is not necessary that a hacker will target you only if you download a software online. It can even get into your PC simply by opening an email attachment or visiting some suspicious sites.

Malware is a serious threat that can target a large number of people if they fail to take it seriously. A user can go for months or maybe years without being infected but once they are targeted it becomes very difficult to remove. Thus it’s essential to overlook the myths and safeguard yourself with a good antivirus program.