When attempting to cross the base in baseball you are either safe, or not safe, which is pretty much the same with computers. Computers have made it easier to have multiple file organization, back up important files, and to work from home using a VPN, which can all be safer than having documents stored in a physical folder. However, unless we stay on top of safeguarding our systems and private data, we are leaving ourselves opened to attacks such as Browser attacks, malware, and phishing attacks.

In the earlier years, prior to computing and online file storage, all files were stored in a folder that could easily be destroyed. Unless these files had copies that were also physically stored in another location, then if there were a flood or if a child spilled something on the file that file could permanently be damaged. However, not only can we store files in multiple locations on a computer, but we have flash drives, servers, or cloud storage that we can keep several files backed up and protected. Although weather can also ruin a server, it is very unlikely to ruin more than one server if they both aren’t in the same location or to ruin the server and your personal desktop computer if both are not kept in the same area. Thanks to VPN’s we can work from home and hide our IP address even on a public Wi-Fi. In some cases, you can login to a work terminal and manage your workload remotely from home preventing you from having to take a trip into the office. Even with all these great options available at our fingertips our day can easily be ruined without safe practices on the computer.

Without firewalls, Intrusion Detection, and prevention our computers can easily become a nightmare. There are various ways our computers can be attacked and 3 of them are Browser attacks, malware, and phishing attacks. With Browser attacks it can use a user’s browser to trick the user to believe they need technical support on their system and causing the user to want to get their fake business to scan their machine. When choosing to install the software malware or a trojan horse may be placed on the computer. Once the malware gets on the machine it is designed to destroy the system or the files on the machine and if no backups of the files were created then all those files may be permanently destroyed. Lastly, Phishing attacks also make computers unsafe for user’s who are unaware of scammers. During a phishing attack a user may receive an email claiming their PayPal account has been attacked. If the user clicks the link and inputs their private information, then their private information is then stolen and used to commit more crimes. However, despite the scammers that intend to make computer life hard, it is a valuable and dependable source with proper security measures in place.