Merry Glitchmas

This year we've been bombarded with a pile of scandals that centered around the cyber security of this nation (or lack thereof). Recently I was convinced that these stories were dying down but it appears I was wrong, finding yet again that the media is filled with stories of hacking.

There is a lot of scare mongering in the press around personal data breaches and tips featured that would help with this problem. Unfortunately, this is not the extent of the problem as personal hacking is not likely to happen. The true problem we face is one of companies being hacked in order to gain personal data and financial data, something that is not the focus of these campaigns.

Since Christmas rapidly approaches, many of you will be obtaining new smart devices which, in turn, means more personal data holders that could theoretically be hacked. This is why I wrote this article, to help protect you all from having your details stolen and your holiday season ruined.

I recommend that if you would like to defend yourself from the threat of hackers, you read up on ways that hackers would gain entry to your computer and get to grips with them. For instance, don't open attachments in emails from people you don't know and don't ever send a company personal data by way of a message: the company would never ask for this.

I also would recommend that you only enter vital information when signing up to things, in an effort to minimize the personal data that can be stolen.

Never use the same password for multiple services because, otherwise, if a hacker obtains your password for one service, they have your password for all services. This would put at risk your social media, bank details and internet history at risk.