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Countless data breaches and high-profiled hacks in 2019 were very rampant. It led to the exposure of private information of users and leaked highly confidential information.

Hacking or data breaching targets everyone. It does not choose the rich or poor, old or young, government or private insitution. In fact, there are banks in other countries where their systems needed to be upgraded due to its weak security features.

Here are some ways to know if you are exposing yourself to malware according to a published article in Fox News:

1. Leaving your computer or device exposed

It is a common assumption that the use of anti-virus is one of the safest way to avoid harmful malware, virus, and detect ahead of time if there are attempts of hacking your device. Once your device is exposed already with a virus, it is very possible that your personal and private data will be compromised just in seconds. It is very important to that you have to update your anti-virus to ensure that the software is ready always to defend your device from any threats.

2. Thinking free means safe

Everyone loves to have connect in a free Wi-Fi connection. However, this is also very harmful because while it is true that it benefits someone because you will not be paying anything for the internet connection but this can also be a way that your device will be exposed in a malware. This free Wi-Fi is unsecured and easy to hack. Once you are connected with this free Wi-Fi, there is a big possible chance that you hackers can view what you sent, recieved, and ven viewing your personal information. In case that you need a wireless internet connection, try to consider the use of Virtual Private Network or VPN because they encypted.

3. The practice of "Remind Me Later"

Like most of the computer users, you don't want your time or your work to be compromised by system or anti-virus updates. Is this practice good? The answer is No. The reason why your anti-virus needs to be updated because there are threats in your computer that can only be resolved by updating it. If you don't want to be compromised with these updates that might take sometimes more than 30 minutes or even an hour, you schedule it in a time that you will not be using your computer.

4. Clicking before you investigate

If you recieved most of your emails in your spam then it is a red flag. Hackers have different ways of hacking a computer. Sometimes they use an email with an attachment that looks legitimate but will later on compromise your device. The best way in this case to protect your computers from possible phishing, malware attacks, or other computer threats you have to make sure to check first who the sender is and verify if the sender is legit.

5. Going with the lazy option  

The practice of using one password in all online accounts that you have is not a good one. Though, somehow it is good because you can easily memorize the password in all of your online accounts but it gives the hacker bigger chance to access all your accounts once your device is compromised. Try to use a spreadsheet if you want to use different passwords in different accounts. You can also choose to lockdown your accounts with two-factor authentication.

6. Forgetting about your online presence

You may have registered in differet websites and online accounts. Also, there is a possibility that you forgot already some of these accounts. Is this harmful? Yes, because those accounts that you did not use anymore may be used by hackers in some fradaulent activities such as applying for a bank account or loan. The best way to fix it is to jot down all your online account and delete those you are not using anymore.

7. Accepting the terms of policy without reading

This is the common prob;em of breaching, signing in terms of policy without reading it. There have been many incidents where anappliction is used as a hacking system or tool. Make sure to read everything because you account may end up compromised. There are instances where you allow the application to access your personal information and your data which is somehow blurd because you are giving an application creator to view what you have in your file. Read the policy especially its security features.