We are living in the modern age. Every single matter from shopping online to paying bills and even consulting your doctor is happening through the internet. Keeping your data secure and in your hand is becoming harder and almost impossible.
With more and more incidents we happen to see, just like recently Facebook intruding and collecting our private information, we have to take measures that are strong enough to keep our data secure.
What Is Digital Privacy?
Digital privacy means safeguarding the information of an individual which he/she used or produced while logging into the browser from mobile, personal computer, or any other connecting device.
While logging into any browser, search engine you are asked to submit your private information. When we look at the word privacy, it vividly states that your data is your possession and you have complete control over your data by who can utilize it and who cannot. So, Digital privacy is an individual decision.
Why There Is Need to Protect and Control Our Digital Privacy?
Your everyday searched data, the friends and people you talk to, the person toy stalk, the page and websites you visit, the websites from where you mostly make purchases, all of your data is being tracked and monitored under strong surveillance. Later this data is sold to big companies, to further and further improve target marketing.
Your data include your name, your birth, your number of family members, your locations, your relatives, your credit card history, interest, and habits. A complete history of you from yourself to very personal matter falls under the category of your data.
Which Measure We Can Adopt to Protect Our Digital Privacy?
All hope is not lost. There are simple but efficient measures you can adopt to change the way you see and encounter your Digital Privacy. It doesn’t require any technical settings, but you just need to spend some time and energy and you can easily save your data from being hijacked. Also, you can use free tools which are available online to protect your data while browsing online on different websites.
1 Stop Lodging too Much Personal Information on the Internet:
The most efficient way to protect your data is not to share it in the first place. Limit your sharing of information on social media channels as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp. This will lessen your worry and decrease the chances of intruders stealing your personal information.
One of the most ignorant and easily fooled ways of extracting information from you is the section in your profile titled “About me” or “Bio”. Don’t bother to fill it in the first place and ignore it if you care about your data privacy and to save your data from being misused and going into the hands of threatening people.
2 Use Strong Password and Make Sure to Change It Frequently:
To make sure your data is secured, use a mixed password. Don’t use ABC or 123 as your password. Use upper case, lower case words, and make sure to add digits too. Besides, don’t use the same password arrangement for every site. You don’t want to increase the risk of losing all your accounts in case one gets hacked. Make sure to change your password from time to time and use the option of “Log me out from other devices” to ensure that your accounts aren’t logged in on other devices.
Also, use the Two-Step Verification Method to make sure that whenever someone tries to login into your account, you receive an alert email automatically so you can act on the spot.
3 Stay Alarmed When Using Public Wi-Fi Networks
When you have to use Public or un-authorized Wi-Fi always stay alert, as you have no idea who installed this Wi-Fi device and for what purpose. For to increase security measure, use Virtual Private Network (VPN) which act as a firewall between you and the hacker.
The free Wi-Fi installed at airports, public transports, malls, and cafeterias can also be the reason behind your data being hijacked. VPN acts as a barrier, sending your information in an encrypted manner which is nearly impossible to track and monitored.
4 Make Sure to Block the Ads Appearing on The Browser
Besides being annoying and exhausting, ads appearing on your browser and apps are also the reason for thousands of network and private data being hacked. Just the one wrong click and all of your data go under the possession of someone else.
For this purpose, use Adblockers, which will not only cease the ads but will filter all the future ads which will appear on your screen.
We cannot hinder ourselves from using the internet because it has become a primary source of our daily life. However, we can look after these small steps to stop our data from going into the hands of unauthorized people.
