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Guide

How to stay safe online

Surfing the web safely

Whether you're catching up with the latest news, chatting with friends or streaming your new favorite series - keeping yourself safe on the internet is always important. But even just surfing on a manipulated website or downloading apparently harmless content can have serious consequences for your computer: Viruses, worms and Trojans can inject themselves into files etc. and collect the passwords for your various accounts. Read on for handy tips and tricks about safely navigating the web without any worries.

1. Download regular updates

Keep your browser and operating system up to date with regular updates. You can also back up your data and files to external hard drives or the cloud on a regular basis, which helps prevent data loss in the event of technical problems.

2. Trust your FRITZ!Box's firewall

The FRITZ!Box offers a completely closed firewall to protect against unwanted data from the internet. In the factory settings, all of the computers, smartphones, and other devices connected to the FRITZ!Box are already protected against attacks from the internet. A personal firewall on your PC or laptop also protects privacy by controlling outbound traffic.

3. Use strong passwords

Choose a password that can't be guessed by others and can't be cracked by computers. Check out our Guide article for more tips and tricks for keeping your passwords safe and secure. In the event that one of your passwords gets cracked, you shouldn't use a password on multiple websites, but create a separate password for each account. To keep track of all your different login data and account information, we recommend using a password manager.

4. Protect yourself against phishing and spam

Phishing is the process of circulating fake emails that are very similar in design and content to those of banks or other companies. If you click on a link in an email of this kind, you will be redirected to a fake website where you are asked to disclose confidential information such as the login data, PINs and TANs for your online banking. If you receive such a request, we advise contacting your bank and other business partners. You should also do the same if you fear you've already been the victim of a phishing attack. Enter web addresses in the browser yourself or save your favorite websites or links as bookmarks. To avoid becoming the victim of phishing and spam emails, you should be careful about where you enter your email address when surfing the web.

5. Think about encryption

Attacks by manipulated websites (cross-site scripting) can also play data into the wrong hands: For instance, if hidden malicious code is embedded in a website. In man-in-the-middle attacks, a third party secretly insinuates themselves between the sender and the recipient of sensitive data transmissions, meaning they can read or even manipulate the data. When logging into sensitive accounts, make sure that the connection is secured using Transport Layer Security (TSL) encryption – this is the case if the address displayed in your browser window starts with "https".

Checklist

  • Keep your browser and operating system up to date with regular updates.
  • Use strong passwords and have a unique password for each account
  • Do not click on any links in mails from unknown senders and be careful about disclosing your email address.
  • Make sure your connections are encrypted at log-in.
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