5 False Myths About Computer Security | Antivirus

When a popular belief is established, it is difficult to reverse it and make people understand reality. These myths are created over time and with different events. Fake news, hoaxes, or fake news are not helping much either and are actually putting us at risk. Therefore, today we are going to try to banish once and for all the 5 false myths of computer security.

Malware continues to increase on the Internet and security threats to users are not going to stop. In fact, it is estimated to cost $ 6 trillion in losses for users and businesses across the globe in 2021. Both businesses and home users need to take security more seriously. However, this is not possible if we continue to believe in false myths that do more harm than good to our security.

These are the most widespread false myths of computer security

There are many myths in the computer world, but we can only collect some related to computer security as they are the ones that end up doing the most damage to users who believe them without questioning anything else. The list of the 5 false myths of computer security is as follows:

A firewall makes the network secure

This technology does not allow the connection of certain Internet users or services to a network while allowing seamless data traffic. There are two types of firewall, either hardware or software. In the case of domestic installations, we have the router acting as the first and Windows as the second.

However, just because we have it, our network is not automatically secure. We must keep both the router and the operating system updated, something that in the case of the router, does not happen frequently. There have been notorious cases of data theft. In addition, other users have it disabled in Windows for convenience and even the IP of their computer in the DMZ configuration of the router.

An antivirus is enough

There is also the false belief of thinking that just having a security solution, better known as antivirus, installed on the computer is enough. Antiviruses protect us from known threats and some new ones, but only in certain cases. Furthermore, they are often unable to deal with other types of malware.

Here we talk about Trojans, spyware, hijackers, worms, rootkits, backdoors, keyloggers, and ransomware. Improving browsing habits, constantly updating the antivirus database, and the use of other anti-malware complements are key to minimizing the incidence of security threats.

A password makes us safe

The use of passwords to secure services is common, but it is not something that ensures 100% of our security. Password databases are compromised every two to three. There is even a website that collects all the passwords that have been leaked in recent years due to security breaches of various companies.

As if that were not enough, if the password has not been leaked, we may not be sure. To do this, we will follow the security recommendations that go through using numbers, letters, and characters with a good length. In addition, whenever possible we will use two-factor authentication or 2FA that adds another layer of security.

A VPN makes you completely anonymous

We continue with the false beliefs of computer security and we have to talk about VPNs or virtual private servers. These basically encrypt the data sent over the Internet by using an "intermediate" server. This will make the user practically anonymous for many services, but it is something that is not infallible. There are different security flaws that have been appearing.

In addition, we have problems such as DNS leaks and others depending on the provider of this service that we choose. That is, if the provider keeps records of user activity that allow tracking, it is possible that these are provided to espionage agencies or interested third parties. With this, we will stop being completely anonymous.

HTTPS is always secure

HTTPS or HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure is the new protocol that we use to connect to different web pages and that ensures that the data travels encrypted. In recent years, Google and other Internet giants have gotten serious about this issue and have even downgraded web pages without this protection in the results list.

However, for quite some time there has been a vulnerability called Logjam that has allowed us to see the data and encrypted passwords that are sent over HTTPS connections, in addition to being able to modify it and carry out other types of activities. HTTPS is always preferable to HTTP, but it is not foolproof.