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How to protect yourself from being hacked

HARRISBURG, Pa., — The holiday season is one of the most popular times to shop online, but experts say the convenience of online shopping may also come wi...

HARRISBURG, Pa., -- The holiday season is one of the most popular times to shop online, but experts say the convenience of online shopping may also come with a risk.

According to cyber security experts, cyber hacking is on the rise in the United States because of technological advances.

"Cyber security and cyber hacking, it's a growing problem," explained cyber security expert Andrew Hacker.

According to experts, cyber attacks are happening at a growing rate. Just this year, several corporations were victims of major attacks, including on that swipped data from more than one billion Yahoo customer accounts.

"The stakes are going up," said Hacker. "The money these hackers get to actually break into these systems goes up in a lot of cases. It could even be nation states that are funding some of these attacks."

But Hackers aren't just targeting major corporations, they are also going after consumers. Hacker says what is concerning is how easy it is for the bad guys to gain access to consumers personal information because of the increased use of wi-fi and bluetooth devices.

"As more and more devices become smart, having computers in them, the possibility that they can get hacked goes up exponentially," said Hacker.

So what should you do to protect your personal information from getting into the wrong hands? Experts say, first, make sure your anti-virus is up to date and when visiting a website, make sure it is secure by looking in the browser for the green lock, which verifies the identity of the site. Lastly, and most importantly, don't use the same passwords and usernames for all your personal accounts and the websites you visit.

"If they get broken into and that password gets stolen linking to your account on that system and if you use it for every site you've ever logged into then that hacker would have access to all those other sites as well," explained Hacker.

 

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