£170 WEB SCAM KITS:

Experts at top10vpn.com found a set of tools that could set up a wannabe hacker. Anonymity tools - £10.51 Rookies can pay to cover their tracks with a range of these. Carding software - £33.83 Allows crooks to clone credit and debit cards. Cryptocurrency fraud malware - £5.01 “Mines” cryptocurrencies, making money for fraudsters. Keylogger - £1.58 Captures every keystroke on your computer. Malware - £37.43 Includes nasty ransomware that locks up your computer, permanently encrypting its contents until ransom is paid. Phishing page - £2.07 Fake log-in pages for the most popular online retailers. Remote access trojan – £8.47 Allows a hacker to take full control of your computer. Wi-fi hacking software £2.29 Used to test the security of your wireless network. Email leads - £70.70 More than 1.4 million co.uk email addresses to target with phishing scams and malware. THE first thing to do is have good, up-to-date antivirus software on your computer.

This won’t stop everything but it can make a difference.

Do some research and don’t be afraid to pay for something that is good. Spending £30 is not much compared with the cost of your computer or data.

On passwords, they don’t need to be overly complicated. An easy way to make a secure password is a passphrase. So instead of numbers, letters and characters, use four or five words to form a short phrase.

But some data security is still analogue and a bit of effort can make all the difference.

I shred everything. A simple cross shredder instantly makes personal documents leaving your home more secure.

You should also take the time to wipe your hard drives and USB sticks – you can get software for free online that will help. But it can be much quicker, and more satisfying, to do it yourself with magnets and a hammer.