5 Tips to Protect Your Personal Info Online

Issues revolving around information security are continuing to cause cyber security experts more headaches and sleepless nights. In recent times, there have been quite a few highly publicized online security breaches that have allowed unauthorized individuals to gain access to the personal information of millions of people throughout the country. Users of many of the most popular social media platforms – including Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat – have been among those forced to fret about these unsettling invasions of privacy. In these high profile cases, extremely skilled hackers or ID thieves were the ones who masterminded and executed the intrusions. (They were able to successfully harvest a wide variety of sensitive information such as the names and addresses of users.) However, in many other similar incidents that take place daily, the people responsible for these violations are not super computer geniuses. Nope. Most of them rely on their opportunism and our negligence to gather a lot of the sensitive personal info that we’d much rather keep under wraps. Here are a few tips that can help you to protect your personal information online:

 

• Be careful where you go

The vast majority of websites out there are administrated by reputable organizations. However, there are some that are used by scrupulous individuals to support the various underhanded schemes that they concoct. Many of these illegitimate sites front as bona fide online retail outlets. (It is quite common for these fake online stores to mimic the look and feel of popular legitimate ones.) This allows them to lure the unsuspecting into the trap that the people behind them have set. When unwitting purchasers enter their sensitive personal financial information – inclusive of credit card numbers – to complete various transactions, it is captured for unauthorized use by the people behind the website. The threat of having your personal info violated in this way is one of the main reasons why you need to be careful where you go online. Thankfully, the average browser has various security features that can limit your exposure to these dangers. It should be able to determine whether the website you’re trying to access is a trusted one by checking its security certificate. If it isn’t, it should notify you of this fact so that you can quickly detour.                       

 

 

• Don’t disclose too much

There are many of us who get lulled into a false sense of security when we become members of some online communities. It’s not uncommon for us to think that everyone who has access to our profile is someone who means us well. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. There are numerous instances in which we accept friend requests from people whose sole intention is to snoop around as they try to find personal information that they can use to exploit our identity in some way. This is why it’s so important that you don’t disclose too much personal information online. Your detailed address and contact info can be used by unscrupulous people to target you.  

 

• Make your passwords as unique as possible

Passwords are required to gain access to numerous exclusive (and not so exclusive) places online. Sometimes, we have so many passwords tucked away in our heads that it’s extremely difficult to locate the right one for the particular website that we want to access at that time. As a result, many of us resort to making the ones that we’re required to come up with as simple as possible. Unfortunately, this often proves a big mistake. The simpler the password, the easier it is for someone to decipher it. This risk is heightened if said password is your name or a simple string of numbers such as “1-2-3-4-5”. A long alphanumeric password (inclusive of both letters and numbers) is always best.    

 

• Use security software on your Internet-enabled devices

There are many man-made threats floating around on the Internet. Spyware is among the most potent of these. Spyware is software that covertly infiltrates your Internet-enabled device. It then discreetly attaches itself to your hard drive. Thereafter, it quietly goes about the business of extracting data from your hard drive and transmitting it to the remote recipient who originally deployed it. Thankfully, there’s equally potent software available that can root out malicious software such as spyware. Many security suites that provide such protection can be downloaded for free from various online sources. Assuming that your budget permits, you can also choose to purchase and install one of the numerous security suites on the market.

 

• Do not send overly sensitive, personal information in e-mails

Innumerable e-mails whiz around the Internet daily. Many of these messages contain sensitive information that their senders would like to keep exclusively between themselves and the intended recipient(s). However, the maintenance of this level of confidentiality does not always occur. It is now commonplace for hackers to gain access to the mailboxes of other individuals. Once in, they are free to do what they may with the information that they find. As it is virtually impossible for you to ensure 100% security of your mailbox, it is strongly advised that you don’t send overly sensitive, personal information via this medium.  

 

The insecurity of personal information online is a challenge that many people have to grapple with daily. There are just so many threats that call the Internet home. Thankfully, there are a number of steps that you can take to limit your exposure to these grave dangers.

5 Tips to Protect Your Personal Info Online