How We Can Protect Our Personal Data Online

In 2022, more than 1.5 million U.S. online clients had their own data compromised. A large number of these clients became victims of data fraud and experienced a misfortune in individual budgets and also the headaches from being required to manage the fallout.

 

Despite the fact that cyberattacks have expanded dramatically throughout the course of recent years and it might appear to be hard to safeguard yourself online with the loom of steady danger; there are powerful methods for safeguarding your own data on the web.

 

How to Protect Personal Privacy Online:

1. Create Strong Passwords

75% of breaches influence stolen or weak passwords. This isn’t stunning considering the three most ordinarily utilized passwords worldwide are “12345”, “Password”, and “12345678”. Compromised passwords are the most straightforward prompting the burglary of personal information online, notwithstanding, making solid passwords is a simple solution. Common passwords botches you ought to keep away from include family names, overused number combinations (i.e. 12345), recycling, and copying for various destinations.

 

For added security, online clients should enable two-factor authentication (2FA). 2FA gives a unique code sent to a secondary device at login so clients should present the code in addition to their passwords. Also, customized security questions (which ought to be uncommon information) can be incited. Password cracking is the least demanding way for cybercriminals to steal data, yet without knowing your mom’s last name by birth, high school mascot, or name of your first pet, it’s exceptionally impossible they will be undermining your personal information at any point in the near future.

2. Don’t Overshare on Social Media

Could a hacker at any point figure out your high school mascot or family pet name from a fast look on your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account? Do those turn out to be a similar data expected to respond to your password security questions? You wouldn’t believe how much private data you offer by posting via social media. It’s normal to geotag your area on Instagram to tell your companions and supporters what cool eatery you are at. Nonetheless, giving that data additionally illuminates unwanted cybercriminals of your location, habits, and so on which could lead to identify theft. To keep up with web security and safeguard data on the web, make sure not to overshare via social media.

• Limit geotagging
• Switch off area-based applications
• Keep profiles private as opposed to public
• Try not to finish up the “about me” section on profiles
• Attempt not to post personally identifiable information to millions of potential viewers.

 

3. Review Your Privacy Settings and Policies

We propose not oversharing via social media platforms, yet assuming you will post individual data on them, essentially survey their privacy settings and strategy. In 2020, Facebook paid a $90 million fine from the Northern District of California for allegedly gathering clients’ information to sell their profile data to third parties. However, they actually have 19 million users. By reviewing privacy policies, you can comprehend the degree to which the data you post is being collected, managed and/or shared. Depending upon your comfort level with every platform’s policy, you can choose which ones to utilize.

 

Moreover, reviewing policy settings permits you to control the particular data others can view of you. Through customizing your security settings, certain information (for example email address, last name) won’t be made available to the public which safeguards against cybercriminals stealing your information.

 

4. Determine If a Website is Secure

Cybercriminals will go to the furthest extent to steal your personal information. Even creating malicious links, attachments, and websites. Therefore, before entering your credentials, SIN and DOB into an online form, how can you ensure it is secure? Simply put, websites that are secure will start with “HTTPS” rather than “HTTP”; the ‘s’ stands for secure which guarantees the website is using an SSL certificate. An SSL is a certificate that authenticates a website’s identity and encryption connection.

Additionally, you can install an extension, such as HTTPS Everywhere which automatically directs your search to the secure version of a site. Determining whether a website is secure is paramount to the protection of personal information online. Checking a website’s privacy policy, contact information, and “Verified” seal are all ways to ensure your site and information are secure.

 

5. Consider Supplementary Protection

In addition to these effective methods, there are other secure options that online users can implement to protect personal information online. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide safety through anonymity by masking your IP address, encrypting data, and routing it through secure networks. If you are using a public wifi network to access accounts (i.e., banking on Starbucks wifi), having a VPN, such as ExpressVPN, will help prevent hackers on that network from accessing your information.

Malware attacks are a common threat to personal information online. Matter of fact, there were nearly 500 million malware attacks in 2021. Hackers can infect computers with malware through malicious email attachments, vulnerable network services, and compromised websites. It’s very easy and has serious consequences. A great protective measure is to install Antivirus software, such as McAfee, to detect and remove malicious software and viruses from your devices.

Lastly and most importantly, protect your personal information online with a secure file-sharing service. It is inevitable that online users need to exchange information online, whether it be for personal or professional reasons. So why not use a secure platform to do so? Current, yet common, methods such as email and USBs are non-secure and do not protect against hackers.

 

Conclusion

It’s unavoidable that users will post personal information on the internet. The ongoing computerized world empowers us to share our lives with strangers, transfer individual data for work, and be vulnerable against cyberattacks are each of a piece of the day-to-day everyday routine. Nonetheless, the risks to online protection and security are unreasonably serious to ignore. All online users should carry out powerful procedures to safeguard their own data on the web. By effectively executing the previously mentioned techniques, you can have a solid sense of reassurance in realizing your online information is protected.

 

Blog By: Priyanka Rana