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Your personal data and finances most probably matter to you. In order to prevent malicious parties and applications from accessing your private digital information, it is important to proactively take measures in order for your data to stay safe. Your benefit lies in being able to navigate your digital private space without being worried about attackers stealing your data or compromising your device. This knowledge can serve as a foundation for future endeavors and can come in handy in certain workspaces.

Online threats are constantly changing and evolving. The most common dangers you will encounter on the web are malware, ransomware, spam and phishing or even larger scale attacks such as DDoS. It is important to make sure you are protected against such threats if you want to have a smooth and safe experience navigating the web. You can find several resources on our page that can help you understand how to stay secure on the world wide web.

All three terms are a form of malicious software but there are fundamental differences between them. Malware is an umbrella term used to refer to a program that is inserted into a system in order to compromise its confidentiality and availability of data.

Ransomware on the other hand is a form of a virus that gains access to your computer and encrypts your data. This often happens by using malware. The attacker then asks for a ransom to be paid, most often through less traceable cryptocurrency. Imagine your data as basically being held hostage.

Spyware is a malicious software that infiltrates the system and gathers data from a user device in order to send it to another third party without consent. Most specifically it is used to track and eventually steal and sell private user information such as passwords, banking and credit card information and specifics about personal internet usage.

There are various ways to protect your devices. The easiest method is to keep your software up to date. Make sure you turn on automatic updates for Windows as well as your mobile device if possible. This will prevent your system from being exposed to vulnerabilities and becoming obsolete.

Another important feature to keep your device safe is the firewall. A firewall is a security system designed to keep threats from outside of your device or network (like the internet) from entering into your system. Always keep your firewall turned on. Windows already has a built in firewall, which you can access in your settings. MacOS also has a firewall that can be controlled similarly in the settings. Both iOS and Android do not have a traditional firewall that can be turned on or off in the settings but there are built-in features to keep your device from being corrupted by a third party. If you’re interested in finding out more about this topic, we recommend reading our guide on firewalls.

Installing an antivirus will also help in keeping you free of malware, ransomware, Trojan horses, worms and other threats.