Malware And Phishing: How To Protect Credentials

How to protect your credentials, also through the use of the Password Manager? This article shows why saving passwords in your browser is very risky. More and more new generation Malware is written to steal data relating to nicknames, accounts, and passwords saved in web browsers. Considering that about 50% of employees use the same password for both work and personal things, it is easy to understand the risks.

Malware And Phishing Together To Steal Your Credentials

A cybercriminal usually uses two ways to infect computers with this type of malware. Let’s see them in detail.

Phishing Emails

In most cases, they contain an attachment. After downloading it, a piece of malicious code is activated, which, by appropriating the credentials as an administrator, can steal information such as credit cards, accounts, passwords, etc.

“Fake” Websites

These are sites built to attract the victim to click on the links in the site’s pages; you can imagine what can happen after the click.

How To Protect Your Credentials?

It is better to use apps called password safes, for example, LastPass and WordPress. With this specific software, the passwords will no longer be saved on the browser, and in the event of computer theft or unauthorized access, the attacker will not be able to withdraw them.

It is good always to remember to:

• Never open attachments in an email if you are unsure where they come from
• Check senders and email addresses to make sure they come from legitimate sources
• Before clicking on a link in the suspicious email, hover over it without clicking it to see the entire URL.
• Navigate only on authoritative and official sites and avoid downloading software or images and videos from illegal sites
• Constantly update the antivirus and the browsers of your device/computer regularly.

However, even after adopting all these tips, the human factor remains the main chain for the outcome of an attack.

Staying informed by reading cybersecurity articles, attending training courses explaining how these attacks happen, and knowing how to defend yourself is very important.

Also Read: Know Everything About Phishing And Its To Better Avoid It

The Password Manager Protects Credentials

Another tip is avoiding wrong behaviors, such as writing passwords on sheets of paper and sticking them on the computer monitor. It would be preferable to use a professional-level Password Manager.

What Are The Benefits Of Password Managers?

Here are the benefits of the best PMs on the market:

• You only need to remember one password: the Master Password.
• You can find standard templates to use to facilitate the compilation, such as a template for your bank account, for the credit card, for the documents, for the various logins, for the password of your Wi-Fi, etc.

For each item, it is possible to add and store a lot of information:

• Username, password, telephone numbers, expiration dates, documents, and credit card photos.
• The best PMs store data with encryption with the AES 256-bit system (the standard used by the US government to protect documents with the Top Secret classification). This encryption is believed to be inviolable by today’s computers.
• They can automatically generate secure and complex passwords; every time we want to change the password, it will be enough to have it created by the PM (password created with the best security requirements).

What Are The Drawbacks Of Password Managers?

PMs are safe and easy to use; however, it must be taken into account that even if their use is easy, the following mistakes must not be made:

• Forgetting the Master Password becomes a severe problem. In fact, in most of the PMs, there is no button. I forgot my password. This entails no longer having access to the PM and irretrievably losing all passwords.
• In the most severe PMs during the installation phase, a security key is generated, which is used in an emergency. This secret key must be kept very carefully, as it represents the last chance to regain access to your safe.
• Has the Master Password been stolen? Keeping all your passwords in one archive can be risky; protecting the PM with a strong password is the only password we need to remember.
• Choosing an insecure Password Manager could be dangerous. Entrusting your passwords to software created by some malicious person to steal the passwords of the users who install the software is not the best.

Since this risk is accurate, it is better to use PMs from well-known and reliable companies.

Also Read: Macro Malware The Hidden Threat In Word And Excel Files: Here Are The Tips From Cyber Attack