How to protect your identity and personal information online?
You already know that you should use an unique and complex password for every account you access, which is one of the most common practice to protect your passwords. It should be more than 10 characters including mix of upper and lower cases, numbers and special keys. Are you also familiar with other ways to keep your electronic information safe?
These three tips will help you secure your personal data so it is not easily accessible to potential threats. These will help you to protect yourself from identity theft of various kinds.
1. Know who you share information with:
This may seem like silly advice, but do you really know who has access to your information? Every time you use the public wifi, you risk someone accessing your data. Setting up a VPN can help minimize those risks. Be wary of simply clicking “accept” on privacy settings when you visit a website. You may be granting them permission to track your behavior and share it with others.
You will get public wifi at many malls, cafe shops, bars and so on. Never ever use them. Use your mobile data for any of the online activities. Because, such areas don’t care to secure your personal information. These are the most vulnerable areas for easy hacking – in your mobile, laptops and other electronic devices. If you want to watch some movie or web series at some places, it is better suggestion to downloads them in prior or use the internet data of your service provider.
2. Install a security program:
Most computers come equipped with at least a basic internet security program built in. This should have a firewall and antivirus protection. Take a few minutes to check that the firewall is turned on to prevent unauthorized access to your data. There are also many different programs available that can add to your pre-installed software.
This is how to protect your information online at some intermediate level. If you don’t understand the technical settings, please take help of some IT professional. Your one click might make you unsafe in the online arena. You must take all necessary precautions to protect your social security number and your credit card from hackers.
3. Always clear your data:
Every time you perform a web search, use your GPS, visit a website or watch a video online, that data is stored in a temporary file. It is used to make browsing and searching easier for you in the future, but it can also give someone a lot of information about what you do. Clearing it on a regular basis will help protect that data.
There are other considerations for information that is stored on your devices’ hard drives. Whenever you are ready to upgrade, back up that data so it can be transferred to the new device. Then schedule professional hard drive destruction Boston MA to ensure the old drives are destroyed in a safe and secure manner.
Be aware of who has access to your data, and use security features to keep it safe. When you no longer need to save a file, be sure to completely remove it for added security.
Please let us know in comments if you are using some other tips and tricks to protect your identity and personal information online.