What is a backdoor and how to protect yourself

A backdoor is a method of going beyond normal authentication in a product, computer system, crypto-system or algorithm. Simply put, it is a gateway to a computer system that allows a remote user to control it. Some backdoors are designed by software developers for legitimate remote management programmes such as TeamViewer.

Unfortunately, they are best known for criminal applications, such as when a hacker illegally accesses a victim's system. Backdoors are invisible to cybersecurity software, use communication ports opened by other programmes and run on various operating systems.

Hackers use weaknesses in hardware and software to gain illegal access. When these vulnerabilities are discovered, the manufacturer fixes the problem with a security update to keep hackers out. This is why hackers have created viruses that open backdoors in infected systems, so they can gain access to the system through this backdoor despite the manufacturer's updates.

How to protect yourself from backdoors

• Install good antivirus software and keep it up-to-date
• Update the operating system and all software you use
• Only install apps and programmes from trusted sources
• When installing new programmes examine all the steps carefully, some software installs others whose reliability is not checked
• Inform yourself regularly about newly discovered viruses and backdoors

In IT, you have to pay attention to many things for the security of your data, such as the 2FA system as we have described it here.