When the first Cyber Security Awareness Month was observed in October of 2004, there was no Instagram, no iPhone, no Alexa. The move toward mass digitalization had already begun well before the Y2K freak-out, but the energy, manufacturing and
financial sectors were not nearly as dependent on the security of their networks as they are now. Today, if you hear a bank has been robbed, it’s likely that it was done by criminals on another continent,
perhaps backed by a nation-state, than by masked robbers fleeing in a getaway car. In the new normal, we all have to possess some basic cyber security expertise to operate like normal human beings. And that’s the point of Cyber Security Awareness
Month. In the US, the advice users are given is framed through the slogan “Own IT. Secure IT. Protect IT.” European Cyber Security Month centers the premise “Cyber security is a Shared Responsibility” around the theme of “
Stop | Think | Connect”. Ideally, these activities focus us on the basics of cyber security as we begin the time when digital transactions peak for the year, from Singles Day on November 11—the biggest online sales day of the year—until New Year’s Day. If you want to know how ready you are, you can try out
European Cyber Security Month’s Network and Information Security quiz. Or give our Digital Life Test a try. Want to test the cyber security basics of the people in your life? Here are 10 quick questions that will help them know if they’re ready to face the digital rush of the shopping season securely. 1. What does the “https://” at the beginning of a URL denote, as opposed to “http://” (without the “s”)? 2. Which of the following is an example of a “phishing” attack? 3. A group of computers that is networked together and used by hackers to steal information is called a … 4. Some websites and online services use a security process called two-step authentication. Which of the following images is an example of two-step authentication? A. B. C. D. None of these 5. Which of the following four passwords is the
most secure? 6. Criminals access someone’s computer and encrypt the user’s personal files and data. The user is unable to access this data unless they pay the criminals to decrypt the files. This practice is called … 7. “Private browsing” is a feature in many internet browsers that lets users access web pages without any information (like browsing history) being stored by the browser. Can internet service providers see the online activities of their subscribers when
those subscribers are using private browsing? 8. Turning off the GPS function of your smartphone prevents any tracking of your phone’s location. 9. If a public Wi-Fi network (such as in an airport or café) requires a password to access, is it generally safe to use that
network for sensitive activities such as online banking? 10. What kind of cybersecurity risks can be minimized by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN)? Here are the answers1. What does the “https://” at the beginning of a URL denote, as opposed to “http://” (without the “s”)? But seeing that “s” in “https://” doesn’t mean your information is secured. Here are 5 ways to know if a website is secure. 2. Which of the following is an example of a “phishing” attack? Yes, all of them. You can even be phished over the phone. Here’s how to avoid these scams. 3. A group of computers that is networked together and used by hackers to steal information is called a … Use our Online Scanner to check if your PC has been turned into a zombie participant in a botnet. 4. Some websites and online services use a security process called two-step authentication. Which of the following images is an example of
two-step authentication? A. is the right answer. You can use email, and then SMS as your second step for authentication. But our experts recommend you use an app like Google’s Authenticator, which is less likely to be compromised, if you can. 5. Which of the following four passwords is the most secure? Any password that includes 123 or any word from a dictionary is terrible. In fact, any password you can remember is terrible. And no matter how good your password is, if you use on more than one account, it is terrible. Use a password manager to avoid terrible passwords. 6. Criminals access someone’s computer and encrypt the user’s personal files and data. The user is
unable to access this data unless they pay the criminals to decrypt the files. This practice is called … Here’s how you can avoid being extorted by malware. 7. “Private browsing” is a feature in many internet browsers that lets users access web pages without any information (like browsing history) being stored by the browser. Can internet service providers see the online activities of their subscribers when those subscribers are using private browsing? If you want to hide your activity from your service provider, consider a VPN. 8. Turning off the GPS function of your smartphone prevents any tracking of your phone’s location. If it were only that easy. A 2018 Princeton study found that a device’s time zone and information from its sensors can be combined with public information like maps to estimate your location, even without GPS data. 9. If a public Wi-Fi network (such as in an airport or café) requires a
password to access, is it generally safe to use that network for sensitive activities such as online banking? When you are on a public network, your device and traffic are vulnerable to anyone who is in the same hotspot or the hotspot owner. 10. What kind of cyber security risks can be minimized by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN)? Some VPNs—like our FREEDOME—can also protect you from bad websites that serve up phishing scams. What does it mean when a website URL starts with HTTPS instead of HTTP without the s )?A secure URL should begin with “https” rather than “http.” The “s” in “https” stands for secure, which indicates that the site is using a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate. This lets you know that all your communication and data is encrypted as it passes from your browser to the website's server.
What does HTTP in URL mean?URL protocols include HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and HTTPS (HTTP Secure) for web resources, mail to for email addresses, FTP for files on a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, and telnet for a session to access remote computers.
What does HTTPS stand for?Hypertext Transfer Protocol SecureHTTPS / Full namenull
What does HTTP mean at the beginning?What is HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)? The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is an application protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems that allows users to communicate data on the World Wide Web.
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