5 Simple Tips for Protecting Your Privacy Online

5 Simple Tips for Protecting Your Privacy Online

As we all know, the Internet is a revolutionary tool that connects us to billions of people around the globe and tons of information on any subject imaginable. The Internet brings us closer to people and information than ever before. However, unfortunately sometimes close is too close, as the Internet also provides computer savvy malcontents around the world an easy avenue for exploit innocent people through their Internet connection.

Scammers, hackers, SPAMers and downright criminals can easily gain access to your personal information – including your financial accounts – through your computer if you don’t know how to protect yourself. With the proper knowledge and awareness you can mitigate your risk of falling victim to an Internet attack.

1.   Passwords.  The first step to reducing your risk of being victimized is regularly changing your passwords and using complex passwords. Experts suggest changing your passwords every three months. Choose passwords that are at least eight characters long and include a combination of letters and numbers. Don’t use something that can easily be guessed. The days of using your name or a child’s name as a password are long over. In fact, it’s best not to use any coherent, personal information at all in your passwords.

You’ll probably need to jot down your passwords so you don’t forget them.  Don’t keep them in an Email or on a document on your computer. Write them down and keep them tucked away in a desk drawer. Make sure to apply this information for all your online passwords, including online banking and Email. You may be releasing more personal information than you are aware of through your Emails, so you can never be too careful.

2.   Protecting Personal Information.  Be very careful and selective of whom you share your personal information with online. According to the Federal Trade Commission millions of people fall victim to identity fraud each year. So, if you think it’ll never happen to you, or that no one is interested in your personal information you are wrong. Whether you live in New York City, or even Hawaii or Alaska, identity theft can happen to you.

One way that scammers can get your personal information is by lying about who they are. They may send you an Email or text message claiming to be somebody who needs your social security number, account numbers, or passwords to fix a problem, prevent a disaster, or simply to update account information. Your Internet service provider will never ask you for personal information and you can verify your bank by simply stopping in at one of their locations to answer their questions in person. NEVER give out your personal information to someone who asks for it online.

On the other hand, if you are trying to use a website or service and they require you to sign up or provide personal information to access what you’re after, there are no laws saying that you can’t provide false information. Obviously if you’re purchasing something you should include your proper mailing address, otherwise protect yourself by not sharing your personal information.  

3.   Software.  With the multitude of malicious software out there like viruses, Trojan horses and worms, utilizing some sort of anti virus software is absolutely critical to keeping your computer system and network safe. These files can slow down your computer, cause your system to crash, destroy your files and documents, or even spy on your computer activity.

Find security software that provides anti virus, anti spyware and firewall protection. A firewall safeguards your end points so that hackers cannot gain access to your computer or network. Buy security software that automatically updates itself. New viruses and issues develop daily. Just a few days without updates and your risk of infection increases dramatically. Automatic updates will give you the best chance of staying secure.

Hackers can also take advantage of your Internet browser and operating system if they are not up-to-date. New versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome come out regularly, and Windows and Mac OS produce patches to fix issues they have identified in their systems. In your system settings you can set these to automatically update as well.

4.   Email. If you do a lot of activity online you may want to consider keeping a separate Email account from your personal one. Of course, keep your personal Email account for keeping in touch with friends and work correspondence, but if you are making purchases online, joining websites that require you to divulge information, blogging or running a site of your own, you may want to keep a separate Email account so that your personal Email doesn’t get inundated with marketing Emails and SPAM.

If you start getting too many junk Emails to this address you can simply delete it and open a new one without having to go through the hassle of notifying and re-typing all your contacts.

Do not respond to SPAMers for any reason. This only verifies that your Email account is live and you’ll start getting more unsolicited messages.

5.   Cookies.  Cookies are a cache of files stored on your computer by the websites that you visit. Mostly its useful information so you don’t have to keep entering in the same passwords or searches over and over again.

Cookies, however, can also be used to store and report data like what links you click on and what pages you enter within a site. This information is used for marketing purposes. Since cookies can only be viewed by whoever creates them, advertising companies that have banner ads on multiple websites have a lot of power and often share their findings and your information with their web clients.

You can simply turn cookies off so your computer doesn’t store them, use an Internet browser that provides cookie management software, or purchase cookie management software that you install.  If you choose to manage your cookies yourself only allow those from websites that you need to enter information in AND, more importantly, that you trust.

Being diligent and committed to Internet Security is the key to keeping your investment (your computer network), financial accounts, and identity safe from online predators.