If you have been hacked or know someone who got hacked than this is for you. we are going to jump into the problem, how it typically happens and how you can do more to help your chances.

The problem:

Unfortunately, there are people out there actively seeking to steal from others. whether they are stealing money, personal information, social media accounts and other things it still sucks to lose everything that you have worked for. i have seen multiple times where people lose social media accounts with a high following. i was messaged multiple times where people were asking me if i can recover their account. I was a bit confused on why people assumed i could help but i guess because i run a tech account it was sort of related. i am not a hacker! so this isn’t my area of expertise. what i do know is preventative measures and things you can do to help your chances. both my personal and business accounts have been targeted and i managed to regain access to both of them almost immediately. after i implemented all of these strategies i don’t even worry anymore.

How it typically happens:

Typically, most people aren’t too mindful about their privacy and how much they are giving up. connecting to public wifi’s are a huge risk. what are public wifi’s? school wifi, McDonalds, Starbucks, dunkin donuts, public libraries, restaurants, schools are safer but still public and even your friends house. i have known people who have key loggers(software that records everything you type) and i have personally seen people get spiteful of their friends and use that data against them. its a real thing. another way it typically happens is just being a happy clicker. clicking everything that comes into your emails, links they find online, on articles and just anywhere really. opening up emails alone are a risk which is why its good to have antivirus to catch anything downloading in the background. point is that it can happen without you ever noticing.

solutions:

There are 3 solutions and i’ll include a bonus solution for business owners.

solution #1 - vpn software

What is VPN? - to keep it simple. it is software that creates almost like a safe tunnel for your data to travel through. it protects your internet connection and creates a safe way for you to use public wifi. it protects your identity and your data. if a hacker attempts to peep into this tunnel all they will see is unreadable data. its like you trying to listen to a conversation between 2 people that speak completely different languages except that there isn’t a single translation available anywhere.

We use surf shark as our vpn software. It’s very easy to use. it has antivirus and it also has “true incognito mode” which truly hides you as you browse through websites. this is helpful because since it hides your identity you are able to get good online deals in flights and other things. of course, there is nord vpn and other companies so definitely do some research. they all do the same except some have more or less features.

A cool plus to this software is that if you place your location to a different country it actually allows you to access different content and online games. for example you can use some vpn’s to change your location to have access to other content not available in the u.s on Netflix. you can also use it to play games on nintendo switch that aren’t available in the u.s. super interesting.

here is the referral link if you want to look into it. it gives you 30 days for free: surf shark link
If you need us to help you install your vpn software. you can book an appointment with us here : mars repairs book your vpn appointment

Solution #2 - 2 factor authentication and third party apps

Your bank, social media, google and other accounts typically have something called “2 factor authentication”. most people find this annoying and don’t like setting it up. i hate to say it but sometimes we have to do things we don’t like. this prompts you to put in security codes every time you login on a different device. it sends the code to your text messages and you type it in and you are good to go. there are third party apps like authy that auto generates a new code every 30 seconds. this is much safer. we use this for our accounts and its super helpful. you can connect this to various accounts. if someone ever contacts you randomly asking for codes do not give it to them. banks especially never ask you for codes. its game over from there.

Name of app : authy (its free) available in apple store and playstore.

solution #3 - preventative measures

The best way without spending any money overall is preventative measures. this includes simply being mindful on what you do online. avoid clicking on suspicious links, avoid opening up suspicious emails (they tend to download code right away and some hackers embed viruses that activate the moment you open an email), and avoid connecting to public wifi’s especially if you have no protection. avoid getting scammed and if you are ever hit with a random call from a company asking for personal information, security codes or access. ask what the call is about and then say you will call back on your own. then search up the companies real phone numbers and ask through there.

Finally, its recommended that you change your passwords at least every 6 months. it is annoying but i promise that this goes a long way. if a password is linked to your identity it compromises all of your accounts. so its important to rotate passwords by changing them completely and making them unique. i usually keep a stored away spreadsheet of all my passwords that i update as i change them. this helps you stay organized.

Bonus solution for businesses - cyber security insurance

Getting hacked can be costly in so many ways. on average small businesses lose $120k to $1.2m. business insurance will help you cover the loss of money and assets. also, if you lose customer data it will help cover reoccurring costs associated with helping your affected customers. when you get hacked you are expected to clean up the mess so having insurance will help you stay afloat and it will help you manage the situation.

All these tools are a great way to increase your chances of not getting hacked so easily. nothing is fool proof though and nothing is guaranteed. there are expert hackers out there at different levels but of course this is a bigger concern for bigger companies and public figures.

share this information with someone because it can definitely go a long way! stay safe and if you ever have questions feel free to reach out to us at anytime on social media or emails!

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