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Here are 10 ways to protect yourself online
PLDT's Twitter account was hacked on Thursday afternoon, which seems like a timely reminder and maybe a wakeup call for everybody who's working from home — and transitioning to digital— to please, please exercise extra caution when online.
Below, are some tips that GMA News Online has accumulated from a variety of experts on online safety.
1. Following the hacking incident: Be careful interacting with PLDT Twitter
According to Dominic Ligot, a founding board member of the Analytics Association of the Philippines (AAP), it's best not to engage with PLDT Twitter, at least for now. "Seems compromised," he explained.
FYI careful with interacting with PLDT Twitter. (Is this the right account?). Seems compromised. https://t.co/gcGouNzWSm
— Dominic Ligot (@docligot) May 28, 2020
2. Activate multi-factor authentication on your devices
Because we are online for most of the time these days, we've opened ourselves to increased online risk.
According to Mary Jo Scharde, Assistant General Counsel and Regional Lead of Microsoft Asia's Digital Crimes Unit, the best thing we can do to improve our online security is to turn on multi-factor authentications (MFA). This will "increase your account security by requiring multiple forms of verification to prove identity when signing into an application."
3. Do not share information online
This might be super simple, especially for the most tech-savvy among us, but for children and maybe even our parents and grandparents, this might not be automatic.
Please remind them not share personal details online — phone numbers, address, location, credit card details, especially.
"Don't give away too much information lalo na 'yung personal," Center for Women's Resources Executive Director Jojo Guan advised.
Meanwhile, Nino Lasin, the Child Protection Advocacy Officer of UNICEF Philippine, says it's important to remind children not share passwords with their friends.
"The only people who should know a child's password other than himself are his parents or guardian," Lasin told GMA News Online.
4. Don't respond to rude or inappropriate posts
You don't have to attend every debate you're invited to, wise people like to say. If someone is rude online, you don't need to respond.
According to Lasin, you can even unfriend or unfollow the account — yes even if it's a friend's account — if it continuously posts inappropriate content. That said...
5. Do not post inappropriate photos of yourself or anyone
Think carefully before posting photos of yourself or your family online. "Once you have uploaded a photo or video online, other people can see it and may be able to download it," Lasin said. "Never post inappropriate photos of anyone, including yourself, your family and friends."
6. Take advantage of privacy settings
Social media platforms have privacy settings to protect its users. Most of it is in the settings page of the platform. Make sure you read through them and activate accordingly.
7. Beware of phishing
Phishing is an online activity where one tries to steal information by mimicking official communication from legitimate companies or individuals — think text scams claiming you've won a raffle, or websites trying to look like an online banking platform.
According to Scharde, 91% of cyberattacks begin with an email "which leads to malicious links directly or which contains dangerous attachments."
As such, do not open emails with strange subject lines — for instance, getting an email from your best friend with a cold subject line that reads "please quote." Further, do not open emails without any subject lines. That should tell you something's fishy.
8. Change passwords frequently
In 2018, when Facebook suffered one of its biggest breaches, IT expert Jerry Liao urged netizens to change their passwords as a safety precaution. "Just to be sure, palitan mo 'yung password mo para sigurado," Liao said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview back then.
9. Have different passwords for your accounts
On Twitter, Ligot recommended for people to (1) not use easy passwords and (2) to not have the same passwords for all accounts. "Easy to compromise your life," he said.
More hygiene:
— Dominic Ligot (@docligot) May 28, 2020
- Don't use easy passwords (e.g. words that a dictionary attack can beat), use a password mgr
- Don't use the same password in all your accounts - easy to compromise your life
- Be careful on public wifi where your credentials can get scraped. Use a VPN.
In a separate tweet, Ligot recommended for people not to store passwords in a convenient place (google docs and similar). Consider a password manager instead.
Just hygiene I guess:
— Dominic Ligot (@docligot) May 28, 2020
- Never save passwords in a convenient place that might get shared (google sheets, text files, emails)
- Be careful where you put your account name/phone number/email credentials - signup sheets, promotions, brochures, events ->
10. Be careful when using public WiFI
Who doesn't love public WiFi especially when it's free, right? Well, don't use that especially when doing online banking, making an online purchase, and doing similarly sensitive online transactions. Use a VPN instead.
More hygiene:
— Dominic Ligot (@docligot) May 28, 2020
- Don't use easy passwords (e.g. words that a dictionary attack can beat), use a password mgr
- Don't use the same password in all your accounts - easy to compromise your life
- Be careful on public wifi where your credentials can get scraped. Use a VPN.
— LA, GMA News
