We live today in a world where privacy is a luxury, where cybercriminals are looking for potential loopholes to tap in, accessing your credentials and data effortlessly. Most of the times ignorance can lead endless regrets for every decision you take in the digital world. You need to be cautious to refrain leaking essential data to Hackers. Big names like Facebook, Tumblr, and even ATMs fell prey to hackers. While recently, 40,000 customer’s credit card details were stolen from the China-based smartphone OnePlus. Malicious software was injected into the one plus payment page recording to steal all credit card details.

Which is why it’s essential to use countermeasures to prevent such threats over the web and on your device. It’s imperative that we provide a list of things you need to be careful about and to build an active shield of defense to keep your data intact.

1. Keep your antivirus active

Why is it important to keep your antivirus updates? There are new threats emerge every day; new loopholes and vulnerabilities appear in operating systems and devices. If you do not update your antivirus with every recent patch, you may be exposed to these threats and vulnerabilities.

Anti-virus can be tricky to tackle and keep a check, but since the web is filled with viruses and threats, we overlooked them because our operating system or the anti-virus holds a check for us. Without it, we will be vulnerable to hackers. A working anti-virus acts as a guard and prevents, spyware, malware, and virus which can harm our online security. Even if it doesn’t stop, it notifies the threats for you to be alert and take precautions.

2. Trust HTTPS only

Often we complain of theft and fraud online when we use our credit card details for shopping. We fail to check if the website is a trustworthy one or not. On the URL section, there’s written HTTP. If you want to browse and shop on the web safely, make sure the URL is HTTPS instead of HTTP. HTTPS has a more secure encryption which isn’t easily hacked on tempered with. Note that HTTP may switch to HTTPS or vice versa, keep that in mind and you’re safe.

3. Install VPN

When all fails in the digital world concerning security, VPN is the only knight in shining armor. VPN connects you through a network from which will make your IP address untraceable, and your real IP will be anonymous making you invisible to unwanted hackers. Even on a public WIFI, you can protect your transactions and online activities through VPN. How? VPN connects you to a server of your choice diverting all traffic and online activities to that server making your security thick as a titanium Vault. You can use a best and secure VPN server located in North America while you’re sitting comfortably in Russia to encrypt your internet traffic.

4. Join secure WIFI connection

Your device is always vulnerable to cyber threats when you wish to join to a public WiFi hotspot. Not every WiFi is free, you may be paying for it with your valuable information. Hackers set up mirror WiFis to trap users and steal their online identity and financial information. There’re many cases reported of hack in the USA which was occurred infamous coffee shops, pizza joints and airports.

A VPN can help you secure your data on a Public WiFi by encrypting it.

5. Employ strong passwords

As weird as this sounds, weak passwords can be hacked easily because hackers figure out a pattern to bypass your weak passwords. I’m sure it’s a burden just to change your password and going through the verifications before it. But if it’s weak, then even the best encryptions won't give you much assurance. It’s better to frequently change your password and avoid using the same one for multiple platforms to ensure security. Nowadays two-factor authentication is being used on Facebook, Gmail, and many other websites to keep the spammers and hackers away.

By now you’ll have an idea of how to prevent hackers from accessing your device and data, because one innocent mistake could lead your private information being leaked or shared over the internet, making you vulnerable and helpless. Which is why we have presented these top 5 tips to secure your device from unwanted hackers and spammers, who are roaming around to get a chance to hack your device.