On the 8th of February, we celebrate the Safe Internet Day, which serves to raise awareness and encourage users to use the internet in a responsible, free, safe and ethical manner. Thinking about the safety of people who use its video platform, Google gives 5 tips to use the YouTube more securely and protect yourself from cyber threats.
Although awareness day is specifically today, it is worth remembering that to keep your data and personal information safe, you need to be careful every day with attempted scams and crimes over the internet. Without further ado, let’s get to the tips:
Enable 2-step verification
The first step everyone should take is to put an extra layer of security on their respective accounts. With the two step verificationin addition to the traditional password registered on the platform, the user can enter security keys, receive requests from Google or use the Authenticator app to access the account.
This method allows you to maintain your privacy even when your smartphone is stolen. Click here to see how to do this activation. We’ve already shown you here in the Connected World what it is and why you should use 2-Step Verification in all your apps.
Create a strong password
In parallel with the previous tip, Google and other platforms reaffirm that create a strong password to protect your data is extremely important. The much-requested strong password is made up of a set of numbers, symbols and letters, so by creating a complex combination, you make it difficult for others to access your account. Also avoid passwords with personal information such as birthdays or pet names and simple strings such as “ABCDE” or “12345”.
Another important detail is that the platform will never ask you to send your password by email, SMS or through phone calls.
One bonus tip protection is never to use the same password of other sites or social networks on YouTube, because if one of these accounts are hacked, your Google account will be vulnerable.
Set and verify your channel permissions
This tip is especially dedicated to new content creators. Those who have a YouTube channel usually invite others to access or manage their content. For those who are just starting to post videos on the Google platform, it is important to know that to do this it is not necessary provide the original channel account password to your guest, just do invitations to other accounts and define their respective roles.
So, to give permissions to a third party on your YouTube channel, confirm that the person is from confidence first. Then follow the steps below:
- Enter your YouTube channel, scroll to your photo in the top right corner and click settings.
- Then click on Channel status and features.
- Go to the tab permissions and click To invite.
- Finally, enter your guest’s email and your office* and tap Conclude. *Administrator: Adds or removes other channel members and edits channel information. Editor: Edit all channel information. Viewer: can see all information, but cannot edit it. Limited Viewer: Can only view channel details except recipe numbers.
Beware of suspicious messages and content
Known as phishing, the crime of deceiving people who share sensitive data such as passwords and credit card numbers is common on the internet. Many scammers impersonate companies, friends or family through fake emails or fake profiles on social networks to use to deceive other users.
The criminal will somehow try to get you to install some suspicious program to record your movements on your computer or cell phone, so it’s good to be aware of verified profiles and official email accounts.
Companies’ e-mails, for example, always have addresses with their own domains, where they display their names after the @. In the case of YouTube, all official emails on the platform have the @youtube.com or @google.com. So, before clicking on a link or on a received software, make sure the domain name is correct.
What to do when you get hacked?
If you see that something on your YouTube channel has changed without your permission, or some information in a posted video has been changed, it could be that you have been a victim of hacking.
In case you still can access your account after being hacked, go to the security checkremove devices, change your password and activate 2-Step Verification, as we already recommended in the first tip of the article.
On the other hand, if you can’t access your account after noticing the intrusion, start the access recovery process. Click here to access the page that will ask questions that must be answered correctly. If you don’t know what to answer, think about it and put the most appropriate one for the situation. Your old password may be requested as well, so try to remember the most recent passwords already used by your email.
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Source: Google