If I leave my computer on, am I more likely to get hacked?
Hi everyone, Leo Notenboom here for Ask Leo.com here's.
The question as it came in.
Is leaving your computer on all the time,
making it more likely that it can be hacked?
Correct.
The answer in general is no.
But there are exceptions.
Honestly, that your computer might be on.
All the time is rarely the issue.
There are other things that matter much more.
To be clear, I have multiple computers.
And they are on all day, every day.
Does that make me more likely to be hacked?
I don't think so.
And the reason is because
I'm doing security right, I hope doing security right.
The bottom line is that honestly, if you are doing security right, and I'll.
Talk about what those things mean or.
What that means in a moment, if.
You're doing security right from the beginning.
Whether your machine is on all the.
Time or not doesn't really make a huge difference.
What matters most is what you do when it's on.
For the most part, that boils down to your behavior.
Step one, get behind a router.
That's like the most important thing you can do.
The good news is that you're probably already behind one.
If you have a single internet connection.
That is shared by even two or more devices, you are behind a router.
The good news is that routers, in.
Order to share your internet connection, as a side effect of that, they end.
Up acting as a really, really good firewall.
Basically what that means is that machines out on the internet that are constantly.
Trying to connect to machines to infect.
Them, can't connect to yours.
The router gets in the way, it.
Prevents connections coming in from the outside.
Every connection that is involved on your.
Machine to the internet is a connection.
Then that has been initiated by your.
Machine, be it a download, be it.
A new piece of email, be it whatever you're doing.
It's your machine that initiated the conversation.
That means, like I said, machines outside.
Machines interested in delivering malware to your.
Machine can't reach in, at least not without an invitation.
That's where your behavior starts to come in, because, yeah, if you invite them.
In, you could get malware, you could get hacked.
What's the most common way people get hacked these days?
By downloading an email attachment.
You're notified that you have email, the.
Email has an attachment, you download it.
Which means your machine is making this.
Request to download this file and you run it, not knowing that it's malicious.
Boom, you're hacked. Yeah.
It only happens while you're using your machine.
It's not something that's going to happen
on its own if the machine is on and you're not running it.
But there is software running on your.
Machine even when you're not using it.
Now, the best example of that is things
like Windows Update or any other of the updaters that might be running.
For the various software you have installed on your machine.
Those are pieces of software running on.
Your machine that reach out to their.
Update servers and invite in the files.
By downloading them and installing them on your machine.
In theory, it could install malware.
In reality, it does not unless you've installed some really crappy software.
In other words, if somehow you've got.
Like some really third rate software from.
Somebody that doesn't know what they're doing, their servers get hacked.
They suddenly distribute malware to all
of the people that are running their software.
Honestly, I have not heard of this happening even once.
The big concern, of course,
are Microsoft servers with Windows Update does not happen.
You can argue whether or not Microsoft.
Themselves are causing you problems, but those.
Are legitimate downloads that you
generally need to update your machine with.
But maliciousness doesn't happen through automatic updates.
But it is worth realizing that every.
Piece of software you elect to install.
On your machine has this ability to go out, get more software and install it.
Basically anything you install in your machine.
Can pretty much do this.
And yes, that can happen while you're.
Not using your machine.
It's rare.
Even if you turn your machine off.
At night, for example, that maliciousness could.
Still happen while you're using machine and it's on.
Yeah, in theory, turning your machine off.
At night reduces the attack surface, right?
Instead of being on 24 hours a.
Day, it's on 12 hours a day.
But the fact is it's the software.
Running on the machine that's doing it.
And the fact that it's running on.
The machine is there when it's on.
That's when you're vulnerable.
That is why we so strongly recommend.
The usual litany of things to do to stay safe on the Internet.
Running behind a router only, running software.
You absolutely trust, only getting software from places that you
trust, backing up regularly so that if anything ever happens, because.
It can, you have a safety net in place.
I recommend that you do the same.
Use your computer safely and you can.
Leave it on all the time.
That's what I do.
Hope that's helpful.
Hope that gives you a little bit more confidence.
For updates to this article,
for related links, for comments and more, visit askle.com/146353.
I'm Leo Notenboom and this is askleo.com. Thanks for watching.