{"id":9079,"date":"2019-06-21T15:55:08","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T15:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charterglobal.com\/?p=9079"},"modified":"2024-12-18T17:10:52","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T17:10:52","slug":"beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s the first day of summer and the sun is shining high. But don’t get too comfortable, because hacking season is always in full swing.<\/p>\n

Ransomware encrypts and locks the files that are most precious to you. So don\u2019t leave them vulnerable. Backing them up is a good strategy. Take advantage of the free storage provided by Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, and others, and back up your data frequently. Beware though\u2014your cloud service may back up infected files if you don\u2019t act quickly enough. Investing in an external hard drive is a good option.<\/p>\n

Attacked? Don’t Panic.<\/h3>\n

Your first move should be to contact the authorities, including the police and the\u00a0FBI\u2019s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Then ascertain the scope of the problem by going through your directories and determining which of your user files is infected. If you do find documents that\u00a0have odd extension names, try changing them back\u2014some ransomware users \u201cfake\u201d encryption, which merely changes the file names without actually encrypting them.<\/p>\n

The next step is identification and removal. If you have a paid anti-malware solution, scan your hard drive and try contacting your vendor\u2019s tech support and help forums. Another excellent resource is\u00a0NoMoreRansom.com\u2019s Crypto-Sheriff, a collection of resources and ransomware uninstallers from Intel, Interpol, and Kaspersky Lab that can help you identify and begin eradicating the ransomware from your system with free\u00a0removal tools.<\/p>\n

If valuable business data is at risk, engage experienced IT experts from organizations such as\u00a0Charter Global<\/strong><\/a>, to assess the health of your systems and implement more secure\u00a0technology solutions<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Preventative Action: 7 Tips for your Digital Safety<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Maintaining healthy digital habits and common sense practices can help mitigate your exposure to malware and ransomware.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Keep your PC up to date via Windows Update. Some programs won’t even attack Windows 10, choosing instead Windows XP and older Windows operating systems.<\/li>\n
  2. Ensure you have an active firewall and anti-malware solution in place. Windows Firewall and Windows Defender are barely adequate, and a good third-party anti-malware solution is far better.<\/li>\n
  3. Don\u2019t rely on antimalware to save you, however. Experts at RSA say\u00a0that antivirus companies are\u00a0just getting around to addressing ransomware, and their protection isn\u2019t guaranteed.<\/li>\n
  4. Ensure that Adobe Flash is turned off, or surf with a browser, like Google Chrome, that turns it off by default.<\/li>\n
  5. Turn off Office macros, if they\u2019re enabled. In Office 2016, you can ensure they\u2019re off from the\u00a0Trust Center > Macro Settings<\/em>, or just type \u201cmacros\u201d in the search box at the top, then open the \u201cSecurity\u201d box.<\/li>\n
  6. Don\u2019t open questionable links, either on a webpage or especially in an email. The most common way you\u2019ll encounter ransomware is by clicking on a bad link. Worse still, about two-thirds of the infections tracked were on more than one machine, implying that infected users forwarded the link and exposed more people.<\/li>\n
  7. Likewise, stay out of the\u00a0bad corners\u00a0of the Internet. A bad ad on a legitimate site can still inject malware if you\u2019re not careful, but the risks increase if you\u2019re surfing where you shouldn\u2019t.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It’s the first day of summer and the sun is shining high. But don’t get too comfortable, because hacking season is always in full swing. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[838],"tags":[41,222,81,223,224,221],"class_list":["post-9079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iot","tag-business-solutions","tag-infosec","tag-it-services","tag-malware","tag-ransomware","tag-security"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTop 7 Internet Safety Rules | Charter Global<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Maintaining healthy digital habits and common sense practices can help mitigate your exposure to malware and ransomware.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules | Charter Global\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maintaining healthy digital habits and common sense practices can help mitigate your exposure to malware and ransomware.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Charter Global\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/charterglobalCG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-21T15:55:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-18T17:10:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Charter Global\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CharterGlobalCG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CharterGlobalCG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Charter Global\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Charter Global\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5a227a970b5f774c852ff1223d325ea7\"},\"headline\":\"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-21T15:55:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-18T17:10:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Business Solutions\",\"infosec\",\"it services\",\"malware\",\"ransomware\",\"security\"],\"articleSection\":[\"IoT\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/\",\"name\":\"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules | Charter Global\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-21T15:55:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-18T17:10:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"Maintaining healthy digital habits and common sense practices can help mitigate your exposure to malware and ransomware.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280,\"caption\":\"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Charter Global\",\"description\":\"Your Strategic AI & Data Engineering Solutions Partner\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Charter Global\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/logo-icon-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/logo-icon-1.jpg\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"Charter Global\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/charterglobalCG\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/CharterGlobalCG\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/charterglobalcg\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/charterglobalcg\\\/\"],\"description\":\"Charter Global is a digital solution engineering company specializing in data, agentic AI automation, and end-to-end cloud transformation for enterprise-scale innovation.\",\"email\":\"info@charterglobal.com\",\"telephone\":\"(770) 326 9933\",\"legalName\":\"Charter Global Inc.\",\"foundingDate\":\"1994-01-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"501\",\"maxValue\":\"1000\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.charterglobal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5a227a970b5f774c852ff1223d325ea7\",\"name\":\"Charter Global\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2741cea6113b96d7799024f1b40c9d29b76c0b9429454cf3187cecaa3452417f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2741cea6113b96d7799024f1b40c9d29b76c0b9429454cf3187cecaa3452417f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2741cea6113b96d7799024f1b40c9d29b76c0b9429454cf3187cecaa3452417f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Charter Global\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules | Charter Global","description":"Maintaining healthy digital habits and common sense practices can help mitigate your exposure to malware and ransomware.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules | Charter Global","og_description":"Maintaining healthy digital habits and common sense practices can help mitigate your exposure to malware and ransomware.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/","og_site_name":"Charter Global","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/charterglobalCG","article_published_time":"2019-06-21T15:55:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-18T17:10:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Charter Global","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CharterGlobalCG","twitter_site":"@CharterGlobalCG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Charter Global","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/"},"author":{"name":"Charter Global","@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5a227a970b5f774c852ff1223d325ea7"},"headline":"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules","datePublished":"2019-06-21T15:55:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-18T17:10:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/"},"wordCount":532,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg","keywords":["Business Solutions","infosec","it services","malware","ransomware","security"],"articleSection":["IoT"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/","url":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/","name":"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules | Charter Global","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg","datePublished":"2019-06-21T15:55:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-18T17:10:52+00:00","description":"Maintaining healthy digital habits and common sense practices can help mitigate your exposure to malware and ransomware.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/beat-the-heat-in-2019-7-tips-for-your-digital-safety\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Top-7-Internet-Safety-Rules.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"caption":"Top 7 Internet Safety Rules"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/","name":"Charter Global","description":"Your Strategic AI & Data Engineering Solutions Partner","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/#organization","name":"Charter Global","url":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/logo-icon-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/logo-icon-1.jpg","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"Charter Global"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/charterglobalCG","https:\/\/x.com\/CharterGlobalCG","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/charterglobalcg\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/charterglobalcg\/"],"description":"Charter Global is a digital solution engineering company specializing in data, agentic AI automation, and end-to-end cloud transformation for enterprise-scale innovation.","email":"info@charterglobal.com","telephone":"(770) 326 9933","legalName":"Charter Global Inc.","foundingDate":"1994-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"501","maxValue":"1000"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5a227a970b5f774c852ff1223d325ea7","name":"Charter Global","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2741cea6113b96d7799024f1b40c9d29b76c0b9429454cf3187cecaa3452417f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2741cea6113b96d7799024f1b40c9d29b76c0b9429454cf3187cecaa3452417f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2741cea6113b96d7799024f1b40c9d29b76c0b9429454cf3187cecaa3452417f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Charter Global"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9079"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18999,"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9079\/revisions\/18999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charterglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}