How to Secure Your Online Communications

With the prevalence of mobile communication in recent years, it’s become more and more vital to learn how to protect yourself; whether it’s sharing news on social media, posting memes online, or even organizing a big event.

Here are some ways on how to protect yourself from having your communications reach someone who shouldn’t be receiving them:

1. Make sure your instant messaging apps have end-to-end encryption on. With end-to-end encryption, only the people involved in a conversation can read the messages or hear the calls exchanged between them.
2. Be aware of what you send, your surroundings and the people you talk to online. No matter how sophisticated technology is, there is no substitute for education and awareness. Humans remain as the weakest link.
3. Enable Two-Factor Authentication on all of your accounts. 2FA works as a second layer of protection that reconfirms a person’s identity and minimizes fraud attacks. A good example of such an app is Google Authenticator.
4. Get a VPN, if you can afford one. A VPN tunnel can keep would-be eavesdroppers in the dark on what’s going on underneath. This is especially useful when browsing on public, unsecured WiFi connections. Just make sure the VPN provider is trusted and reliable in both reputation and security features.
5. Be aware of the signs of a social engineering attack. By knowing how social engineering attacks work, it’s easier to protect and defend yourself from them.

These are just some of the ways on how to secure your online communications. With these steps and a little extra care, the risk is minimized, and compromises arising from leaked communication channels are prevented.