Everyone understands the need for privacy in modern times, why it cannot be compromised and what the consequences are should that happen. This goes a lot more in the cyber world, where privacy is being intruded upon right and left. Your personal information and data is very important and should not be shared without your permission.

How then, can one protect one’s computer from hackers, knowing that they are usually professionals who are bent on breaking through your system’s security in order to access your personal data?

Know that without taking any security measures, your computer is open and at risk of being hacked into, regardless of the operating system you are using. There are a number of steps you can take to ensure that your system stays safe from foreign attempts to compromise its security.

Use Encryption Tools

These programs can be used to encrypt text, files, folders or entire hard drives, and are very effective in keeping your data safe from others. They use various algorithms to encrypt the data, which cannot be decrypted without having access to the key. Some of these encryption tools include:

• GNU Privacy Guard: GnuPG is free software that is an open-source implementation of the Pretty Good Privacy encryption tool. It not only provides you with a means to encrypt your stored files, it also allows encrypted communication over the internet. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
• TrueCrypt: It is also a free and popular open-source encryption tool with which you can encrypt hard drives and even removable USB flash drives. Its encryption is real-time, which means that files are decrypted as you access and modify them (on-the-fly encryption). TrueCrypt is also available for Windows, Linux and Mac.

Firewall

By controlling the incoming and outgoing traffic in your network, a Firewall protects your system from online threats. Windows has had a built-in Firewall ever since the release of Windows XP, but in order to secure a two-way protection you will have to install another dedicated Firewall. There are a number of freely available and downloadable Firewalls that you can choose from, including ZoneAlarm, Sygate and Comodo.

Use an Antivirus

There arevarious antivirus softwarefreely downloadable that can be used to scan your system for viruses and remove any threats. However, it is advised that you buy a paid antivirus because of the increased security it offers. Although most viruses are made to target Windows, since it is the most common operating system in use, Mac and Linux users are also not completely safe and should get an antivirus installed.

Backup Your Data

The necessity of this measure cannot be underestimated. Some threats can be missed by your system’s security and can wipe out your entire data. For this purpose you can use default backup tools already built in your operating system, or download dedicated software that will back up your important data from time to time.

Still, when it comes to business, not hackers only can reach your confidential information – your own partners or employees are able to do so. You can minimize the risks of data leaks by your employees installing and running mobile tracking app like this at http://de.mspy.com/ onto their corporate mobile devices.

Although you cannot guarantee 100% safety of your system from external threats, with the aforementioned steps you can drastically lower the chances of your system getting infected.