Santa Sports a White Hat This Modern Christmas

Santa is coming to town, and he”s packing a white hat this Christmas as he brings good tidings, gifts and advice for people to stay cybersafe over the holidays.

In a modern world where Christmas gifts often consist of smartphones, tablets and assorted connected gadgets, Santa”s white hat shows the recipients they can be safe despite the proliferation of online dangers. The color shows that the hacker behind the keyboard is a benevolent one, and not a nasty “black hat” hacker. And that makes the difference between a world in which people safely enjoy their devices and one in which their private data is splattered all over the Internet.

Cybersecurity is a positive word, but we usually hear about it in not-so-happy circumstances. Maybe someone hacked our Instagram account or some hacker leaked emails and passwords from our favorite fitness app. Suddenly, the word cybersecurity is thrown around, along with the term hacker, accompanied by images showing people in hoodies hunched over a keyboard in the dark.

White hat hackers, though, investigate vulnerabilities and uncover problems with software and hardware. They report their findings and try to make the world safer, with no concern for material gains.

Black hat hackers are on the other side of the law. They look to compromise companies and social media accounts to steal data, install ransomware, launch phishing campaigns, and much more. Profit by any means is their mantra.

In the middle come the grey hat hackers, and they only want to show that it can be done. They usually surf around the net, trying to find holes in critical infrastructures and companies, and sometimes they might even ask for money in return for disclosing their penetration methods.

The shopping season and the white hat Santa

In the cybersecurity world, Santa’s hat can only be white, especially if we consider that his arrival coincides with the busiest shopping season of the year.

And when people find online offers that seem too good to be true, they sometimes throw security out the window. Adults forget that they shouldn’t open emails from unknown senders, they shouldn’t provide personal information over the Internet, and they really shouldn’t click on ads with products offered for ridiculously low prices.

The Christmas shopping season is a black hat hacker’s favorite. But they can be foiled by following a few simple rules. And by wearing a white hat so we know you’re in the right corner.

–       Protect against unknown threats by installing a security solution that anticipates problems, such as ransomware and other issues, in real time

–       Make sure your data is secure from intrusions

–       Use a specially designed Internet browser that ensures your online payments are completely safe

–       Store your personal or sensitive files in specially protected environments where no malware has access

–       Always know where your devices are and find them with ease if they are ever misplaced or stolen.

If you want a solution that has everything, you should really take a look at Bitdefender Total Security, which covers all of the above, and a lot more.