Recently there has been a lot of dissemination of the violation of Twitter accounts belonging to public figures by "hackers" who usurp their identities, issuing messages and taking control of those accounts which the original owners cannot re-enter because access passwords change. Additionally, by achieving these accesses, they have also been able to know the passwords of the email accounts of these people and therefore have managed to violate them and change the access data, thus also preventing their owners from using them, also accessing personal information and confidential of each one of them.
This situation helps us to remind you that from the very moment that you or your company connect a device to the internet (computer, telephone, tablet, game console, etc.) you are running the risk that a third party may access your information in the event that you do not have the necessary security elements to prevent such intrusions. From our point of view, the Internet is the greatest invention of the twentieth century, since it democratizes information and knowledge at a global level, thus promoting all other areas of human knowledge. However, its use implies that each one of us must educate ourselves regarding not only its operational aspects, but also its security aspects.
Intrusions to systems by third parties can have many types of origins and are achieved thanks to vulnerabilities that create security “holes” through which it is possible to access a system without the corresponding permissions. These intrusions can be based on very simple aspects to the use of advanced techniques that are difficult to explain to those who do not handle the technical terms of this specialty, however, below we will try to explain the minimum aspects necessary for you to protect your identity and the accesses to your accounts in the various resources on the internet that you use.
Use of Passwords: In any type of system that you use (from your email accounts to your social network accounts, among many others) you must ensure that you create passwords that are at least 75% strong.. This is accomplished with no less than 12 characters consisting of uppercase, lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuation, which have no particular meaning. Under no circumstances use in your passwords words that appear in the dictionaries, neither the names of your children or relatives, nor their date of birth or their wedding anniversary, nor their identity card, RIF or the initials of their names and surnames., nor a combination of such data. That is, do not use personal data that third parties may obtain. In turn, never write down your access data written on "pieces of paper" that can be seen by third parties, or use the same password for your social networks and emails. You must use a different and secure password for each system.
Use of Secure Connections: Whenever you are going to enter an Internet system in which you enter your user data and password or other personal data, be sure to use a secure connection. Secure connections are those that have the initials "https" at the beginning of the link (link, URL, Internet address), that is, the http ends with a letter "s". This means that between your computer and the server to which it connects, the data is encrypted with a complex algorithm that prevents third parties from learning about it when intercepting your communications. In particular on Twitter, under the configuration area you must check the box "Always use
Do not fall for Phishing: The term "Phishing" means "Fishing for the Insane" and is the most common technique of obtaining your username and password from a third party and then usurping your identity. Phishing is normally done by sending you an email or a message through social networks (eg twitter, facebook) indicating that you must click on a link to access certain information of great interest to you. Said link will take you to a simulation of the access area of the platform of one of its providers (eg Bank, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) where you will be asked to enter your username and password in order to access it. In this way, the usurper will be receiving by yourself the data he needed to violate his identity before said provider. To avoid this,never click on links in emails or social network messages that come from strangers and above all, if you do, never enter your access data on the screens that appear when you click on that link, regardless of whether they are identical to the ones that your provider normally has (eg Bank, Twitter, etc.). In turn, verify that the link through which you are going to enter a private area on the Internet always has the real domain name before the corresponding extension; for example: if your bank is called “Banco X” and the bank's website has the domain “bancox.com”, make sure that when you enter any screen associated with the bank, the link always has that domain name at the end of the right side of the web address (ex:
Do not supply personal data: The most basic technique used by intruders is to search for all the possible personal information of the victim that will be their target of intrusion. This begins by investigating everything that is published on the internet about said person (especially if she published it herself) and continues by impersonating a person known to the victim to his relatives and / or the victim himself to obtain from the same personal data that may be missing. This technique is called Social Engineering. For this reason, never publish your personal data (eg ID, Phones, date of birth, etc.) on public Internet sites (eg social networks). Be cautious every time you are going to publish some personal information on the internet and verify that it will be kept in a private area for unique access by you and not by strangers.
Do not use Cybercafes to access your accounts: Under no circumstances do you use computers in cybercafés or public places to access your personal accounts from any type of provider, since there are mechanisms by which the data you enter through the keyboard can be captured. by third parties.
Keep your computer updated with a Security Package: It is well known that third party Trojans can steal or capture access data to your accounts and / or any other confidential information from your computer. To avoid this, you must ensure that you have installed and completely updated on your computer a complete security package, commonly called Internet Security Suite or "Internet Security Suites". These packages have firewalls (anti-intrusion walls), malware detectors (viruses and malicious applications), spam detectors (junk or malicious email annihilators), among other features.
Do not install unknown applications on Social Networks: Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook allow third-party applications to interact with your personal information as long as you have accepted said connectivity. You should not accept applications on social networks for which you are not completely certain about their security and trust.
Success for all…
