5 simple steps to keep yourself safe online

Use a spam filter for mail

The lion's share of all incoming emails is spam, some of which may contain malicious attachments. Such newsletters are an incredibly simple yet effective way to infect your PC.

Unfortunately, you have no control over who can send you emails. As soon as your email address hits the scammers' database, it is bombarded with fake promotions, exclusive offers and other junk.

Particularly dangerous are phishing emails that resemble official mail from banks, large organizations, and web resources where you were registered. Their purpose is to mislead you and direct you to a fake site where you will be asked to provide some personal information.

You can fight such malicious emails only with the help of spam filters available in popular email services. Often, some garbage is blocked without your participation, but if this does not happen, just mark one of the suspicious messages as spam so that the service will filter mail from the selected recipient in the future.

Never open suspicious attachments or follow links in emails from unknown senders.

Switch to an encrypted email service

your personal data: Go to an encrypted email service

A special mail service with encryption of all letters can secure your mail. Examples: ProtonMail, Tutanota, Mailfence. They offer both free plans with limited space in the cloud and paid ones without significant restrictions.

Use reliable browsers and extensions

In addition to email, many threats to your online security come directly through your browser and installed extensions. It's important to use proven programs and add-ons installed and approved by millions of other users.

One of the most reliable browsers with a constantly updated security system is Mozilla Firefox. Unlike the same Google Chrome, it does not follow users and does not allow itself too much.

If you need to install any extensions, be sure to read the reviews first, compare them with the number of downloads, check the developer information. There is no guarantee that a harmless note-saving program is not fraught with malicious threats.

Use extensions only from well-known and reputable developers who value their reputation.

Follow only verified links

A simple click on a link on the Internet can redirect you to a phishing site or even trigger the download of a malicious file to your PC. Moreover, such links can often be found on large sites that do not have time to moderate user posts.

Special anti-virus utilities and browser extensions can ensure that the web pages to which the links lead are harmless. You can also check the safety of the link on special sites such as Scanurl and Phishtank.

Separately, we can note a tool for checking sites from Google, called "Safe Browsing". You can use it to find out about the presence of harmful content and check the timing of the last update.

Use a proxy or VPN

Visiting websites anonymously also helps keep your personal data safe. You can hide from online observers using a proxy server or VPN services. In both cases, you can not only anonymize your network activity, but also visit resources previously inaccessible due to blocking.

The easiest way to use VPN solutions is available both as PC utilities and as more practical and convenient browser extensions. The most popular recently are TunnelBear and Hotspot Shield, but their sites in Russia have begun to be blocked. Windscribe is a still available alternative.