With technology reaching its heights in recent times, things seem to go all well for people in their favor. However, every human-made invention has its risks. And here, the risk is as the advancements get peaked, its negative usage got stronger too.
With cybercriminals all set to exploit people by stealing their data, selling them, or using them for various crimes like identity fraud, it is important to learn all the ways to protect yourself online. In this blog, we will share with you some very easy ways to protect your personal data online.
- Create a Strong Password
Whether or not you are using Facebook to scroll through your newsfeed, or using YouTube TV in Australia or anywhere in the world, it is important to sign into your account with a strong password.
Mostly, we ignore this requirement and settle for passwords that we easily remember, despite how weak they are. Such accounts are more prone to being hacked and getting their personal data being widely compromised.
Creating a strong password will leave your account more secure and give hackers a hard time cracking it.
- Avoid Using a Free Wi-Fi
As tempting as it is to use free Wi-Fi for your online usage, it is a free invitation to your online activities being tracked and data extracted for malicious purposes.
Using free Wi-Fi comes with a whole lot of risks, which is why we would highly recommend either avoiding using it or equipping yourself with a strong VPN to hide your IP address.
- Use a VPN
A VPN comes with a ton of benefits for its users. For starters, you would be having your IP address hidden and given an alternate, anonymous identity. This will make it almost impossible for your data to be misused.
Second, it protects your online activities, including login details, browsing history, and other data. However, make sure that you are using only paid and reliable VPNs for this purpose as free VPNs only make things worse by exposing your data to third parties.
- Avoid Clicking on Shady Links
While we may like exploring the internet for various purposes, we need to especially be very careful when it comes to coming across shady sites or links which is a one-way gateway for us to get our devices and online accounts hacked.
This sort of cyber-attack also occurs by sending people emails and DMs on their social media, which they most often click on and end up getting their personal data compromised.
- Know the Latest Cyberattack Trends
Knowledge saves you from trouble before it even reaches you. This is why to make sure that your data always remain safe and sound, make yourselves familiar with the latest trends of cyber-attacks and how to combat that in simple and effective ways.
For example, most people fail to recognize what sort of links cause their devices from being hacked. Equipping yourself with the knowledge of how to spot an attempted phishing or other cyber-attack can help you take counter-attack steps immediately.
All in all, spending a short time reading up on cybercrime on a daily or weekly basis can help you in the future.
- Install Antivirus
Almost all criminals look for vulnerability in their victims to make their attacks easier. Such a concept is no different for cyber-criminals who are constantly on the watch to spot any weak spot to steal and violate your personal data.
To combat that, installing anti-virus on your devices would make a huge difference in protecting all the information that is present in them. You can also keep updating your device regularly to erase any malware which might be present and strengthen its security.
There is various premium anti-virus software available on the internet, so explore a little and get yourself protected.
- Avoid Giving Out Personal Information
While there are people who enjoy sharing their lives with people online, it especially puts them to risk as the more they expose their personal lives online, the more people can find out your personal information, like your home address, etc.
So, avoid giving out your personal information online, as well as be careful about who you add to your social media accounts. Your contact details and other information online puts you at risk of being cyber-attacked.
So, protect your data by taking measures like two-factor authentication, a strong password, selective adding of people to your followers’ list, and much more.
Wrapping Up
So, we hope that you will follow all the points that we have mentioned above to protect your personal data online. This will ensure that if you do any activity, be it streaming, browsing, or researching, you remain safe with your personal data away from the access of cyber-criminals.