Engaging in safe practices while utilizing our devices is of the utmost importance. There are various ways that we can ensure the safety of our computers and other devices from the malicious attacks that cyber criminals attempt. With threats from malicious code that criminals may use to phishing and other means that these cyber criminals utilize to gain private information from people, how safe our computers and the information on them is boils down to our adoption of safe practices. One way that we can ensure the safety of our computers is by being diligent about keeping our computers, as well as the anti-virus software installed on our computers, up to date. With thousands of new viruses and variations of old viruses being released by hackers into the public every week, it is of the utmost importance to ensure that you keep your computer up to date. Another way to ensure that your computer is safe is by being aware of the things that you are downloading. There exist viruses called trojan horses. These can infect an unsuspecting person’s computer when they download a program that is designed to infect their computer with this virus. It runs in the background, usually completely unnoticed, and can steal information from you that way.

 There is also another type of threat referred to as keyloggers. This is a type of spyware that records and logs the keys that you press on your keyboard. This is obviously a very dangerous type of spyware, being that it has the ability to know what you are typing at all times. This means that it can record your usernames and passwords for different websites like for financial institutions. This is why having multi-factor authentication is highly recommended by most reputable organizations. Multi-factor authentication will require that you have an additional means of verifying who you are when trying to access your accounts, such as biometric information (face-ID, fingerprint), phone number, or a secondary email. These are some of the many different threats that someone can experience, but ultimately the safety of your computer comes down to how seriously you take the need to engage in safe practices when online.