From simple communication with friends to instant transactions, the internet is making our lives easier and better. But, the more we use it, the more we expose our personal and financial data to a wide range of threats.
Not to mention the increasing data breaches that expose millions of people’s personal information to cybercriminals. That’s why maintaining a certain level of online privacy is absolutely important.
What Can You Do to Protect Your Digital Privacy?
There’s more of your personal data on the internet than you probably think. And, who knows how much of it is vulnerable to misuse or theft. Luckily, you can protect your personal information and identity by making several changes to your accounts and devices.
Here are four things you can do to protect your online privacy.
Secure Your Accounts
A lot of companies such as Facebook, Yahoo, Target, Home Depot, Marriott, and many more have been victims of data breaches and password leaks. This can happen to any company in the world, so if you have an online account, which you probably have in a higher number, the chances are hackers or cybercriminals have probably leaked data from at least one of them.
For that reason, you should make sure all your online accounts have unique and complex passwords. Since you may forget to change your passwords frequently and make each better than the last one, using a password manager is really helpful. This tool ensures your passwords are always strong and different from your other passwords.
Another thing you can do is use two-step authentication whenever it’s available, especially when logging into your bank accounts.
Use Proxies
A good proxy server gives you online anonymity and privacy by hiding your IP address. It allows you to visit sites and log into your online accounts via a different IP address. This makes your internet activity and data anonymous and secure.
Proxies are intermediaries between your device and the internet. This means they intercept data that needs to reach your system, thus providing a secure connection. There’s even an option to test your proxies before using them to ensure they work on a particular site, and this might help if you want to find out more about it.
Although there are free proxies out there, they are not the best choice when it comes to your online privacy. Instead, you should buy static residential proxies from a reliable provider to ensure maximum online anonymity and privacy.
Use Antivirus on Your Computer
Although viruses are not as common as they used to be in the past, they still very much exist. Some of the most common problems malicious software can cause include the scanning of personal and financial information.
With a good antivirus, you’ll prevent hackers from remotely taking over your device, tracking your location, and accessing your sensitive data. Setting up antivirus software is a good idea if you share your computer with others in a household or if you think you can end up clicking dangerous links.
Think Twice Before Sharing Personal Information
While sharing some personal information on social media is necessary to open and manage your accounts, providing too much information can make it easier for hackers to obtain identifying information. This will help them access your financial information or steal your identity.
The important thing is to avoid oversharing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or any other social media, especially when it comes to personally-identifying information. The best way to do that is to leave the “About Me” field in your accounts empty. There’s no need why anyone should know your date of birth, which can make you more vulnerable to identity theft.
Think about all the security questions you need to answer to change your passwords on different accounts and whether hackers can find out the answers by digging through your social media account.
Conclusion
If you know the amount of your personal and financial information on the internet, you would be worried about your online privacy. Instead of waiting for something to happen to realize the importance of online privacy, you can start implementing some small but significant changes to your accounts and devices.
Things like avoiding oversharing personal information on social media, using antivirus software, using quality proxies, and securing your accounts are good ways to ensure your personal information and online activity would stay private and secure.
