Privacy is an increasingly rare product these days. Search on Pipl.com; You might be surprised at how many companies claim to have information about your family, income, address, phone number, and more.
This is because your personal information, including your email address, phone number, and social security number, is worth a lot of money to both legitimate businesses and criminals. The bad guys want to rob you. Firms want to know as abundant about you as possible to sell you more products and services or show you ads relevant to your preferences and demographics.
Follow these simple stages to keep your precious personal information safe.
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Table of Contents
1. Don’t Complete Your Social Media Profile.
The more data you share online, the easier it will be for someone to get their hands on it. Don’t cooperate. Check out your social media profiles and keep them sterile – those who need to know your date of birth, email address, and phone number already have them. And what precisely is the point of sharing everything about yourself on your Facebook profile? If you are concerned about your privacy, then you will not.
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2. Be Selective About Your Social Security Number, Including The Last Four Digits.
Think twice about allocation your Social Security number with anyone, unless it’s your bank, credit bureau, company wanting to do a background check or any other entity you need to report to the IRS. If someone puts it in your hands and has information like your date of birth and address, they can steal your identity, take out credit cards, and pile up other debts on your behalf.
In addition, the last four digits of your social security number should only used when necessary. Banks and other institutions often use the final four to reset your password to access your account.
Even if someone has the last four digits and their place of birth, it is much easier to guess the whole number. This is because the first three are determined by where you or your parents applied for your SSN. And the second set of two is the group number assigned to all numbers that will serve in your geographic area at any given time. So a determined individuality thief with some computing power could hack into it at some point.
3. Lock Your Hardware.
Set your PC to ask for a password when waking up or starting up from hibernation. Sure, you can trust the people in your home, but what if your laptop is lost or stolen?
The same goes for your mobile devices. Not only do you have to use an access code every time you use it, but you also have to install an application that will find your phone or tablet if it is lost or stolen and lock or delete all data so that a stranger cannot access it. To access it. Treasury of the data stored in it.
And make sure your computers and mobile strategies loaded with anti-malware applications and software. You can prevent criminals from stealing your data. We recommend Norton Internet Security ($ 49.99 at norton.com or $ 17.99 at Amazon) in our IT Security Buying Guide or switch to Norton 360 Multi-Device ($ 59.99 at norton.com or $ 49, $ 99 on Amazon) if you have mobile devices. And it would help if you doubled your protection on Android devices by installing it, as we’ve found anti-malware apps to be lousy at detecting spyware.
4. Enable Private Browsing.
If you don’t want anybody with physical access to your computer to see where you are online, turn on private browsing, a setting available in all major web browsers. Delete cookies, momentary internet files, and browsing history after closing the window.
All companies that advertise online want to know what websites you visit, what you buy, who you are friends with on social media, what you like, and more. By collecting information about your online activity, they can serve you targeted advertisements that are more likely to make you buy.
For example, the Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ buttons you see on almost every website allow these networks to track you even if you don’t have an account or logged into them. In other cases, data collection companies rely on code embedded in banner ads to track your visits, preferences, and demographic information.
If your privacy is essential to you, browse the Internet namelessly by beating your IP address. You can do this by a web proxy, a virtual private network (VPN), or Tor, a free open network that routes your traffic through a series of servers run by volunteers around the world before it reaches its terminus.
5. Use A Password Vault That Makes And Stores Unique And Robust Passwords.
Most people know that it is best not to use the same password for more than one website or application. In reality, it may be impossible to remember another due to the dozen or so online services it uses. The problem with exploiting the same password in multiple places is that someone who has your password in their hands, through a phishing attack, for example, can access all your accounts and cause all kinds of problems.
To eliminate this dilemma, use a password manager that not only remembers all your passwords but also generates unique, super-strong passwords and auto-populates them in one-click login fields.
LastPass is a great free option.
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6. Use Two-Factor Authentication.
You can lock your Facebook, Google, Dropbox, Apple ID, Microsoft, Twitter, and other accounts with two-factor authentication. This means that when you journal in, you will also need to enter a unique code that the site will send to your phone. Some services require you to do this every time you log in, others only when using a new device or web browser. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an excellent overview of what is available.
Two-factor authentication works wonderfully to prevent others from accessing your accounts, although some people think it takes too long. But if you are serious about privacy, you will endure the friction.
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7. Set Up A Google Notification For Your Name.
It is an easy way to keep track of everything someone says about you on the Internet. All you have to do is tell Google what to search (your name in this case), what types of web pages to search, how often to search, and what email address to use to send notifications. Set up a Google notification here.
8. Pay Cash For Things.
According to Business Insider, credit card companies are selling your purchase details to advertisers. Don’t want companies to know how much alcohol you’re buying or other potentially embarrassing habits? Buy old things, with coins and bills.
9. Keep Your Social Media Activities Private.
Check your Facebook settings and make sure only your friends can see what you are doing. Go to the settings gear in the top right corner of your screen and then click on Privacy Settings >> Who can see my content.
On Twitter, click the settings gear, then click Settings. From there, you can regulate all kinds of privacy settings; z can see them. You can also prevent the microblogging platform from adapting your Twitter experience to other websites you visit.
If you’re using Google+, go to Start >> Settings. There you can, for example, define who is allowed to interact with you, comment on your posts or talk to you.
10. Please Do Not Enter Your Postcode When Purchasing With A Credit Card.
Often, stores ask for your zip code when paying with a credit card. Don’t give it to them unless you want to donate their information to their marketing database, Forbes warns. By matching your name on your credit card with your zip code, companies can more easily get more information, including your address, phone number, and email address. Talk to.
11. Lie While Setting Up Password Security Questions.
“What’s your mother’s maiden name?” or “What city were you born in?” are frequently asked questions asked by sites to help keep your account safe from intruders. There is nothing for sure in these generic queries. It is because someone who wants to access your account could easily do some research on the Internet to find the answers.
Not sure if you can remember your lies? To do this, you can create “Accounts” in your password manager.
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