An ordinary person is exposed to over 300 data privacy breaches every single week. From advertisers to hackers, at least three people try to pry your information each day. Compromising your online privacy results in information loss, identity theft, and various frauds committed under your name. You can protect your online accounts and devices by making a few simple changes to your daily habits.
Table of Contents
Using a Password Manager
Using complex passwords for every social media account, work account, and email ids is a must. Do not use personal information in the password like birthday, spouse name, name of your car, child’s nickname, etc. Make it complex, and hard to guess to prevent hackers from cracking the password easily. The best solution is to use a password manager like LastPass which generates random passwords with unique combinations.
Most people are hesitant to use password managers because they think it is a complex process. In reality, using a password manager on your mobile or computer system is as easy as using any other app. Install the app and it will detect the passwords for all your accounts and logins as you use them. It will warn you to change weak passwords and generate random complex ones for you. You can set up a hacker-proof password for any device from your home router to a voice-controlled chimney in your house using advanced password managers.
Develop the habit of using password manager generated complex passwords and avoid logging in with Google and Facebook for all the accounts. This simple step will strengthen your privacyonline and protection by ten folds.
Paid Email ID
Most of us use the free Gmail account we generated a decade ago for personal and professional use. It is better to use a paid email account with extra securicritic features to link with your bank, insurance, and hospital by all means. Paid emails have better spam filters, and monitor the risky emails with attachments using more sophisticated technology.
Subscribe to random sites using the free email and keep the paid email strictly for professional use to avoid unnecessary spamming. Paid emails are hard to crack owing to high server protection and all your work-related data and transactions will receive an extra layer of protection when you use a paid email service.
Most people are hesitant to pay a little extra for paid email services and lazy to use different emails. Having separate emails for fun and social media and a work email for important dealings will help you safeguard your data better than 75% of the internet users.
Two-Step Authentication
Everybody uses credit cards and digital wallets. Online shopping is common and we also pay online for various subscriptions and bills. It is important to have two-step authentication for all your digital transactions to ensure extra protection.
If a credit card or online payment is made through two-step authentication, you will get a notification in the form of OTP (one-time password). Some banks even call the customers directly to confirm whether they did the transaction and they ask you a security question if the transaction amount is huge.
Such extra authentication makes it hard for hackers to use your card to buy anything even if they steal the card or hack into your digital wallets.
Apps like Google Authenticator are designed specifically for this purpose. They extend the two-step authentication protection to login to your social media accounts too. It will ensure only you use your account safely and nobody else can post unwanted messages or change your settings through sneaky login.
Secure Web Browsing
Browsing safely is the most important factor most internet users miss. There are two types of harm in random browsing. You can get into non-secure websites or your browsing history will get tracked and thousands of eyes will keep watching what you are doing online.
HTTPS: Always enter websites with HTTPS extension and avoid clicking on random pop-ups to prevent malware from entering your system. Most browsers will warn you if you are entering an illegitimate website that might steal your card details. Heed the advice and never browse or shop from such websites.
VPN: Use debestevpn to mask your location. It is very useful to use a paid VPN to access various web content without limitation and prevent people from following your tracks. Most VPNs cost quite fairly for what they do and they work automatically in the background, once they are installed.
Using extensions: Use browser extensions like HTTPS Everywhere to enter only secure websites. Simple Opt-Out extension limits the amount of data collected through the cookies. Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin block ads and other trackers that collect too much information from you.
Online Acquaintances
Be cautious about who you share your personal info with online. These days hackers are very good at pretending to be genuine people to extract some personal details from you. Anything from your address, the phone number to place of work can contribute to them stealing your identity. Don’t overshare with someone you’ve just met or don’t know very well. Check privacy settings on social media to control who can see your personal and contact information. Use Nuwber to check people you recently met to see if they are being honest about themselves.
Use a Shield
Always keep your mobile and laptop secured with good antivirus software like Norton. Malware attacks have taken different forms now. They don’t steal your data or wreak havoc on your computer. They steal your bitcoins, your photos, or driving license details sneakily. Set up powerful antivirus software and update it regularly to stay secure.
Gamers should pay extra attention while downloading different apps and always have premium malware detection software on the device. It will prevent the apps from taking control of the entire mobile or accessing all the details from the system. Renew your antivirus (diadiktiokaiasfalia) subscription regularly and ensure you use it to scan and delete unwanted items from your devices as well.
Conclusion
The online privacy habits stated above will hardly take an extra few minutes of your day to follow. But they help considerably in hiding your information and preventing third parties from tracking your data. Stay protected with the help of advanced technology to avoid the numerous internet dangers.
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