Your personal data is like a digital fingerprint, but scammers and hackers can use your information to steal your accounts and identity. To keep yourself safe online, you need to understand the importance of online privacy and what tools you can use to protect yourself.
If you want to ensure you protect your online privacy, then you’ll need these top tips.
Understand the importance of online privacy
If you have insufficient online privacy, one of the biggest issues you can face is identity theft and fraud. Hackers can steal your bank or credit card information and use that to spend your life savings. Unfortunately, it can be extremely difficult to retrieve your money after it’s stolen, or prove that certain transactions were fraudulent.
The best way to prevent unauthorised use of your data is to be incredibly strict with how your data is used. Ensuring your browsing remains private is essential, and might require the use of password managers, VPNs, or other security software.
Use tools to secure your internet connection
Encrypted data is much harder to steal, which has dramatically increased the popularity of VPNs and password managers in recent years.
VPNs
VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, are an increasingly popular security measure when it comes to online privacy, with nearly 50% of Britons having used a VPN. While it can also help users avoid geo-restrictions, the main purpose of VPNs is to encrypt internet traffic and protect your IP address.
Password Managers
Proper online security calls for a different password for each account, with anywhere from 8 to 20-plus characters, including upper and lower case, numbers, and symbols. Of course, they’re impossible to remember.
Unfortunately, writing them down can cause a massive security breach and lead to account or data theft. The solution? Password managers. These excellent tools use encryption methods to protect your passwords, and give you a safe place to store all your long, complicated passwords that you struggle to remember.
Authenticators and 2FA
Dedicated authenticators and 2FA (or 2-Factor Authentication) are when another device is used to confirm access to an account. For instance, you might get a code texted to your mobile number, and inputting this into the original website grants access.
These types of security measures are extremely vital, especially on accounts with highly sensitive data. That’s because even if your password gets compromised, your personal device is still required to access the account. We highly recommend setting up 2FA or using an authentication app wherever possible.
Stay informed about privacy laws and trends
If you’re interested in staying protected from online threats, you’ll want to keep up to date with the ever-evolving UK data privacy laws. New developments can affect a business’s responsibilities, adjusting the amount of anonymity you have online. Future predictions also aim to tackle the growing issue of AI models, and we’ll likely see them used to attack and defend the public from cyberattacks.
