for example if i only use it to browse the internet and maybe download games from play store but i dont install extensions and use https only, can i still be hacked and my operating system destroyed?? what can i do to avoid that?? i only use my chromebook for python

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    11 months ago

    Do you have security clearance?

    Does your job involve any confidential (in any way, trade secrets, etc) information?

    Do you work in any sort of IT or information security?

    Those are the kind of things that make you a target of hacking. Generally, if you’re not out dilly-dallying about in dangerous, unsavory parts of the internet, you’re not risking getting infected. So, you would have to be a target.

    Most people are not targets. We ignore spam emails because we recognize them. We don’t go to strange websites because we don’t recognize them. Most of us have menial jobs where we have little control or access and so targeting us for corporate espionage would largely be pointless. Even if you work a menial job that is targeted (you work at a T-Mobile outlet, for example, which have seen thefts of the customer-service devices used to modify people’s accounts) it’s not you being targeted, it’s the company.

    If you have reason to believe you may be a target, then you probably need to take more precaution.

    However, if you’re just a fucking Joe Schmoe like myself, it’s probably a slightly overblown worry and you should be fine.

      • ahornsirup@sopuli.xyz
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        11 months ago

        Or just straight up mine that crypto on someone else’s power bill. Much less obvious, so people may not even realise that their systems are compromised.

        • whaleross@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Or bot nets that do nothing until somebody pays the owner to deploy an untraceable proxy or brute force or ddos attack. There are so many reasons for bad actors to hit up as many machines as possible, regardless who is behind the keyboard.