In the 1990s, the World Wide Web was born and brought with it the secure deal-making promise of a new era of possibilities and dangers. Spam affected email accounts, computer viruses wreaked destruction on corporate networks and hacking became a major issue. Hackers could steal your personal data and even take over your credit or banking online account, and then sell your personal information on the dark web for a large amount of money.

Today, your online life is more complicated than ever. You’re using a smartphone; you shop online and bank online, you’re on Facebook as well as your home appliances that are connected to the internet and IoT devices are tracking and monitoring your activities. Hackers can access all of the information, regardless of whether they are part of a criminal group or a random individual with an agenda of political inclination.

To protect yourself from hackers, make strong passwords for each of your accounts online and utilize a password manager with security to keep the track of them. Consider enabling two-step authentication, which adds an extra layer of security by making you enter a code that is sent to your phone or email address, in addition to your password when you log into. Secure your hard drive to make it more difficult for hackers to access your private information, even if they do gain control of your device or computer. Also, make sure you disable “run as administrator” on your PCs, don’t jailbreak or root your phones, and close your computer instead of leaving it running all day long (all-time running ruins your device performance and opens it up to cyberattacks). With the right software tools to screen malware, uninstalling, and data encryption, you can reduce your risk.