As our lives are lived online, data breaches, hacking, identity theft and stolen data have almost become a way of life. But there are ways you can maintain control over your online data. Here are four simple ways to safeguard your privacy online.
1. Don’t use public storage for private information
Oversharing isn’t limited to social media. With the proliferation of public storage spaces (i.e. Google Docs), it’s becoming easier to transfer documents. To stay safe, we recommend not sharing passwords, or scanning personal documents (i.e. passport photos, licences, etc.) on public forums like Dropbox and Google Docs. The only way to ensure others don’t see these documents is keeping them in an encrypted folder.
2. Keep your phone number and email address private
Many companies have loyalty programs. These all encourage you to share your mobile number and email address in exchange for “deals”. While these may be legitimate offers, you will be bombarded by an avalanche of spam emails and texts. That said, there are some websites where offering up your information is compulsory (to create a user account, for instance). To avoid all the unwanted messages, though, we recommend creating another email address.
3. Create secure passwords
Almost every website you use requires a password. As a consequence, many people create “weak” or easily discoverable password combinations. However, protecting your personal information this way is the equivalent of shouting it out to strangers. It’s very difficult to memorise the long or “unique” passwords you must create for every site. Take the frustration out of it by using a password manager. Doing so, you only have to memorise one “master password”, rather than each individual one.
4. Prevent tracking
Whenever you visit a website, your Internet browser hands over a lot of information about you and your search history. This information is utilised by marketing teams to construct a personal profile and target you with specific advertising. While many people use Incognito Mode, it can’t prevent this. There is good news, however. Talk to us today to find tools to protect you from tracking.
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