In this day and age, the digital world is scarier than the physical one. The chances of you being attacked on the street are slim to none. However, being the target of a cyberattack is completely normal and expected.
Of course, no one wants to be hacked, but not paying attention to standard cybersecurity practices comes at a cost. Here are 5 tips to help you maintain digital privacy and avoid having your data stolen.
Use a fake email and phone number
Most people have one primary email, and they use it for everything. That’s not the best way to navigate the online world. Tons of companies will send you spam, promotional offers, and you won’t be able to go through the day without 10 notifications popping up on your phone.
Create a fake email that you’ll use for sharing data with websites you don’t visit often. Use that email for online shopping, and get a new disposable SIM card to avoid those pesky robocalls we all hate. Even if some of the services get breached, your personal data will be safe because you’re using a proxy.
Change your passwords
A weak password is still the number one cause of breaches. Hackers have massive servers that can try millions of combinations per second if they want to target you. There are also large databases of breached passwords on the dark web, and they still work. Having ‘123456’ or ‘password’ as login information is a bad move.
On the other hand, memorizing a long string of random letters, numbers, and special characters is close to impossible. That’s why the best thing to do is to have a password manager and remember one long sentence close to 20 or 30 characters. The longer the string of letters and numbers, the harder it is to breach. If you remember one, the password manager will store everything else, and you could use a different login for each service you use.
Browse the web privately
Hotels, restaurants, cafes, airports, train stations, and monuments are famous for having free Wi-Fi. The speed you get there is catastrophic, but at least you can connect to the internet for free, right? Well, there’s another downside to it.
If you connect to a public network, all the data you’ve got stored on your phone, including credit card info, passwords, emails, and contacts, can be exported. Hackers use man-in-the-middle attacks to enter your device and steal all of your data.
Using a VPN is the only way to browse the web privately. That’s because your connection becomes encrypted with multiple layers of security, and there’s no way for the hacker to enter your device. This applies to your home network, too.
Hiding your IP address is a great way to avoid cookies, which will bombard you with personalized ads. It’s a good idea to use a VPN free trial to see which service you like most before deciding to commit.
Review social media settings
If you created a Facebook account a decade ago, you might have sensitive information about yourself publicly available without you knowing about it. Your main email address, your birthday, or even your home address could be visible.
Some people might think that’s not important, but an intruder might be waiting for your birthday to come up, so they know when to break into your home. Criminals are always on the lookout for a slip-up, and you don’t want to be making one on your social media profiles.
You’ll be surprised how much people overshare on Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok. These platforms are data factories, and you wouldn’t want everyone in the world to know so much about you.
Keep private information secure
Many people use Google Docs, Dropbox, or One Drive to store their passport, ID, and driver’s license scans. These platforms are meant for online sharing, not safekeeping. It would be best to use an encrypted archive for these kinds of documents, passwords, and any other type of sensitive information.
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