Personal data privacy should be your personal mission!
We live in a world where finding information about others is as easy as clicking on a few buttons. With social media and internet connections, people share more information than they need to.
People need to understand that there are certain things that are worth keeping your secret, especially your online identity.
The internet has made it easy for us to get things down in the comfort of our homes. From shopping to banking, we can do everything from our smartphones. Although this might look convenient to us, it makes us vulnerable to cybercrime.
Hence, it becomes important to protect yourself while browsing through the internet.
In that context, we are here with different ways to protect ourselves from cybercriminals and enhance IT security while browsing through the internet.
Take Control: Protect Your Online Identity
Take matters into your own hands and do a self-assessment of your online habits. Go through the type of website you visit and see whether or not that website poses any threat. If that website does pose any threat, take constructive action to secure your online presence.
For instance, if you are visiting The Pirate Bay website, you are risking your online identity. To mask your online identity, you can use a VPN service.
That being said, let’s dive into the different ways in which you can protect yourself while browsing on the internet.
1. Keep Your Devices Up To Date
To protect yourself from any external attacks, it is important that you have healthy electronic devices. By healthy, we mean devices and operating systems with updated software. Latest security software applications are the best defense against any malware attacks.
2. Use Strong Passwords
Having a strong password ensures that you are safe from any external attacks. In fact, even if the password is breakable, it will take a lot of effort for the hacker to decode a hard password. Meanwhile, you will get a notification and enough time to change your password to a new one.
3. Watch Out For Phishing Scams
Phishing attacks have become one of the best ways to get personal information from users. Phishing is an area generally done by sharing an unknown link with the users. When the users click that, malware is injected into the computer system. This malware then helps the hacker get access to all the information you have in the system.
4. Use An Encrypted Operating System
An encrypted operating system is also known as full disk encryption in Windows 10. This encrypts all the data present in the computer system, making it unreadable. As a result, only authorized users can access the data.
5. Cut Back On Data Sharing
Cut back on sharing your information to any website or online forums. These websites might be asking you for data to contact you, but there is always a possibility that they can sell you data to other platforms. So, be cautious about giving your personal data to anyone.
6. Avoid Using Free WiFi
Say NO to free WiFi.
Yes, free WiFi is one of the most attractive things in the digital world. However, with free wifi, you can expose your personal information to hackers. If you really want to use the free WiFi services, ensure that your device is connected to a VPN service.
7. Enable Cookies Only When It’s Required
One of the best ways to tune up your browser to protect your personal identity is to allow the browser to enable cookies only if the website demands it.
As we know, cookies hold your website’s information; if you can restrict the usage of cookies, you can put a lid on the sharing of your personal information.
Read The Site’s Privacy Policies
Make a habit of reading the privacy and policies of the websites you are visiting. Though the privacy and policies are a long and complex document, reading them will give you an idea of how the site protects your information.
If you find that the privacy and policies are quite complex to understand or cannot make out what it says, it’s better to avoid visiting such websites.