We interact with thousands of people and store millions of bytes of data about ourselves on the internet during our lifespan.
With just a vague idea about privacy and data ownership, we have close to no control over what is done with our information once it gets uploaded in the abyss of the world wide web.
Various companies and businesses use our data to influence and alter our actions. With targeted ads, companies manipulate our spending habits to generate huge revenues.
This is why we must value and acknowledge the concept of internet privacy.
What is online privacy?
In the real world, the concept of privacy comes naturally to us, just like we close the curtains of our bedroom right before we are about to go to bed or meeting with our doctor behind closed doors.
Unfortunately, in the digital world, the idea of privacy is distorted and corrupted.
The most we can do is put our trust in privacy policies which can change any second without us even realizing it.
Once our data is obtained by any service provider, it is at their mercy. We really can’t control what they do with it, for the most part.
Luckily, there is still some hope. We live in a world where we can guarantee a decent amount of online privacy with just a few clicks.
By entrusting your privacy to a virtual private network, you can encrypt your internet traffic and conceal your actual location, identity, and even IP address.
Of course, not every VPN provider can offer online privacy, security, and data protection.
Only the best VPN providers, such as CyberGhost, allows you to be completely anonymous on the internet. Hence the control over your online privacy will be in the palm of your hands.
Why is privacy important?
We all have some things that we like to hide. But, while hiding is not a bad thing, sharing information about how much money you make or your bank account number on social media isn’t a good idea either.
This is why we must work together to ensure that our right to privacy is protected at all costs.
Tips to protect your online privacy
Here are some valuable tips that can help you keep your online privacy intact.
Use Strong Passwords
Your online account passwords can be considered as the doors to your digital lives. Unfortunately, cybercriminals use various techniques to try to crack passwords. Therefore, it is always recommended to use a solid and complicated password for your accounts.
A strong password should be composed of uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. It would be best to avoid using birthdays, phone numbers, or even names as passwords because they are easy to guess.
If possible, then enable two-factor authentication on your accounts. This will always allow you to verify the identity of the person accessing your account. The chances of cracking this technology are very slim. Therefore, you are bound to have ultimate online privacy and protection.
Adjust Privacy Settings
Most of the applications that we use these days offer various privacy settings to the users. This is a good thing as it gives freedom to know how much and what kind of information about you is being shared.
If you are presented with such options, select the option that shares the least amount of information. Keeping your location service or GPS also disables another way to prevent information sharing.
Most social media platforms also give the option to select the people with whom you want to share your information. Make good use of this opportunity and only select trusted friends and family members.
Backup Your Data Often
Keeping a secure backup of your data is often overlooked. However, suppose you are a victim of a Ransomware attack where hackers will hold your data hostage for money. In that case, you can quickly restore your data using the backup without worrying about ransome.
Use Antivirus
In addition to securing and protecting your computer from ransomware or malware, a good security solution like Norton or Avast can easily save your privacy from other internet threats.
These online threats include phishing, keyloggers, adware, spyware, and more.
Also, handheld devices such as smartphones need complete protection. Several security providers can offer reliable, decent, and ultimate online protection on mobile and other devices.
Pay Attention to Software Updates
Software updates aren’t just available for the operating systems. Instead, they perform various functions for the operating system and software programs.
It is necessary to keep your regular lookout for the software updates and make sure to install them.
These updates will add various new features to your device, remove the outdated elements, update the system drivers, deliver bug fixes, and most importantly, fix the security vulnerabilities discovered and fixed.
Delete Unwanted Programs
If you have software or programs that you haven’t used for quite a while now or documents you do not access anywhere, delete them.
If you believe you would need to re-access them in the future, then make a backup for them in an external hard drive.
Wrapping Up!
Whatever you post online will remain there forever. So even if you delete the source, the footprints will remain available, just like paper trials.
That is why we recommend that you must be careful when posting anything on the internet. Whatever you will post will reveal information about yourself online.
