With Valentine's Day celebrating those people most special to us, it's also a good time to reflect on the love we could be showing some of our most-used and most-appreciated devices as well.
If you're lavishing your partner or crush with presents and attention this month, spare a thought for your devices, which (probably) have to put up with lots of pressure when it comes to cyberattacks and scams.
So if you want to treat that special smart something in your life this month, here's some of our top tips to make them feel loved.
Commit to change...when it comes to your passwords
Hopefully we all know the importance of using strong passwords across all online accounts by now, but it's always worth making sure you keep your choices fresh.
Hard-to-guess, unique passwords employing a mix of letters, numbers and special characters are the perfect start to proper security protection, and should mean hackers and other cybercriminals aren’t ever able to gain access to any of your online accounts or personal devices.
You should also make sure that passwords are changed regularly, and are different for all your key accounts - as recent data breaches have shown that if one account is compromised, then all your other accounts with the same password could be at risk.
That may sound like a lot to remember, but luckily Bitdefender Total Security features an in-built Password Manager service that keeps all your passwords, credit card information, and other sensitive data in a cyber-vault for easy access whenever you need them.
Tie the knot with a VPN
With many of us now working from home due to the pandemic lockdowns, using a VPN or Virtual Private Network, has become one of the most essential tools in today's remote working world, as well as opening up a whole world of entertainment online.
VPN services are ideal for boosting your online privacy, with many organisations utilising the tools in this lockdown period to allow remote workers to connect to a company intranet or local network. That's because a VPN disguises your IP address, making your connection appear to be located wherever you would like, making it incredibly tough for anyone to snoop on your location or track your internet surfing history.
If you're interested in boosting your home and work security, Bitdefender Total Security includes its own Secure VPN service, offering complete online privacy and a 200MB/day allowance for encrypted traffic for all your devices.
Don't fall for lonely hearts scams
We know that when it comes to online threats, scammers are very willing to play dirty - even when it comes to romance. Hackers and scammers often try to exploit victims at this time of year, especially when many people are working from home where they could be easily distracted.
It's always best to spend a little bit of extra time to check any suspicious emails you receive, as phishing scams often try their best to look real, but the messages often contain obvious spelling, imaging or formatting errors, or have clearly malicious links. These could cost you more than a little heartbreak, as clicking on such a link could let scammers steal personal information or online account login details and passwords.
Fortunately, Bitdefender Total Security offers the most efficient anti-malware solution available today, including sophisticated anti-phishing protection that blocks websites aiming to steal financial data such as passwords or credit card numbers.
Share the love across all your devices
As most of us now own multiple smart devices for both work and home use, now is the perfect time to show some love to all your items - no matter what platform they're on.
We all know laptops and PCs need protecting, but tablet, smartphone and mobile devices often get left behind when it comes to security awareness, despite often containing much-loved apps, messages, photos and more.
Luckily, Bitdefender Total Security is able to protect all of your devices, working across Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, including several generations of each software. This protection can be extended over up to 15 devices per household, meaning that you really can keep all your devices safe in one go.
