Often we don’t think about the dangers of browsing. We use the internet daily, and you can’t even imagine how exposed you are when you are checking even the local news. The web can be a very dangerous place, no matter if you use it on your mobile, computer, TV, tablet, etc. This is why you should consider protecting yourself. In this article, we will dig deeper into why browsing is dangerous and how you can take measures against it.
Why do you need browser protection?
You might think that browsing a website just to check the weather or the news is something that can’t cause any issues. But this is not correct because even then, you can be exposed to many attacks from hackers by clicking on an ad or a link. It is very often that your browser’s default settings are not set up correctly, and the security features are not activated. This can lead to many issues like getting malware installed on your computer, hackers gaining control over your machine and personal data, and much more.
If you think this can happen only on your phone or computer, you are very wrong. Right now, many of your home devices can be controlled by applications that are in any way connected to the internet. This would mean that all of them can be hacked and gain control over all the other connected devices. And some of those devices can be even less secure than others. Let’s take as an example a Smart TV that has an Amazon Fire TV Stick connected. Even though they have some default features enabled, such streaming devices are not the most secure. This is why you need to take additional measures. Set up Surfshark VPN on Amazon Fire TV Stick is very easy, and in this way, you will have many benefits, and the best of them is being well protected. If someone once enters your network through any of the devices of your home, then you will be highly exposed, and they can access the others as well. We already gave out measures you can take by installing a VPN, but we will focus on this even more in the following section.
How can you protect yourself?
There are many things you can do to improve your security, and let us give you a couple of tips on the topic.
Use VPN
We already mentioned that using a VPN is highly recommended for any device connected to your network. Even when just using your browser, you share a lot of personal information, and in some cases, it can be stored on your computer. Commonly, people save their names, emails, passwords, addresses, and even payment information on their computers to facilitate log-in to different sites or online shopping. For example, do you have your credit card or bank account linked with Amazon? Well, it is very convenient but is not very secure. If someone hacks your network, they will get access to all this.
This is why the use of VPN is highly recommended and simply mandatory. A VPN or Virtual Private Network will keep your internet activity secure and make it harder, if not even impossible, for hackers to gain access to your data. Such a tool will mask all of your actions over the internet and encrypt them. This encryption is very secure, and in this way, even if a hacker gets access to part of your browsing logs, they will see just gibberish. Another great benefit of VPNs, especially if you connect them to your Smart TVs, is that you can browse and stream more content. You will be able to make your IP, and it will look like you are connected from the US even if you are in Germany. So, just go ahead and get yourself a VPN — the benefits are many, and most importantly, you will be very secure.
Avoid public networks
Connecting to the free internet network in the coffee shop next door or at the airport can hide many risThoseHose networks are usually not very secure because this would limit the speed and the connection quality. But this is not something that the owners and managers of places offering free connections want, and this is why they don’t invest a lot in security. They probably count on your common sense not to access and enter any personal information while browsing using such a network. However, who doesn’t check their emails or Facebook at the airport?
This is why, when using such public networks, it is very important to be secure. One thing you can do is again activate a VPN. Even if you don’t actively open your Facebook or don’t enter your credit card details while connected to this network, if someone gains access to your device, it will be pretty easy to get all this information afterward. Many hackers can easily install spyware on your device if you are not careful about what you agree with while connecting to a free network. This is why using your own mobile internet, or at least the use of a VPN is necessary.
Don’t save your passwords, and keep your browser up to date
It is very convenient to have all of your passwords saved on your browser, and when you try to enter your favorite sites, you just need a couple of clicks. But is this secure? The answer is no because if someone gains access to your browser, they will steal every single password or another type of data you save. A smarter solution would be to use a password management tool. Like that, you will still have your passwords saved, and you shouldn’t remember them by heart, but you will be more secure because you can even choose more complicated passwords, and second, you will make them harder to steal.
Another thing you can do is keep your browser up to date. The updates don’t contain only new features or performance improvements but also security improvements. Every time a browser finds any possible breaking point or a new security feature or protocol, they will roll it out with their next update. This is why you shouldn’t just ignore those if you would like to be as secure as possible.