Are You Aware About Your Privacy ?
These are some tips to protect your online data privacy
Did you notice, sometimes when you open your app you get pop up ads (advertisement) notification or ads recommendations. Furthermore, maybe you suddenly get a text message about a promotion or others from someone you don’t even know, or even an email or a phone call. It can all happen because someone has stolen or sold your personal data publicly. If you suddenly get an email or text message with a link address, don’t just click or open it, it can be spam and even can be a virus that can hack your computer.
So how do we protect our data when we use free apps, social media apps, or even while surfing the Internet? Before I explain further, I recommend you to open this quiz by Google to get to know about your awareness or knowledge about your privacy and tell me about your score in the comment below. The main problem as to why we can get unwanted email, text message, call spam or even virus is that sometimes we aren’t aware about our personal data. Here are some tips to protect our online data.
Firstly, don’t use a simple or the same password for all your accounts, and always update your password frequently. In some cases, people tend to use a single password for all their accounts because it easy to memorize. But it can be dangerous if someone hack your account password they will have access to your personal information. Imagine when a bad guy hacks your password, he can lock you out from your account, and access your sensitive personal information such as photos, email, contacts, bank account details, etc. Furthermore, he can pretend to be you and do something bad .So, it is safer to use a different password for all your accounts.
If you have difficulty to remember all passwords, you can use a third party application to save all your password in one place such as Keeper, 1Password and etc. Or, you can use the default service from Google to remember your password (Google Smart Lock) and it will automatically organize all your password across all Google service as long as you sync it.
Also, don’t use simple form password such as 4-digit number of your birthdays or include your username in password. It is better to make each of your account password unique, such as including special characters in your password and combining it with numbers. For an easy way, your can use password generator or use default password generator by Google Chrome. To learn more about it you can visit this link about generating strong passwords and managing your newly made password.
Secondly, use two factor authentication services if they are available. Two-factor authentication or 2FA is a two-step verification process in which users provide two different factors to verify themselves. Most people only use single-factor authentication (SFA), which means user verify themselves by password only. On the other hand, 2FA adds one more step verification, usually either using a security token via text message, phone prompt, or a bio-metric factor like a fingerprint or facial scan.
Why is 2FA more secure than SFA? It’s because 2FA uses more than a single verification method. It means you have double layer protection to access your account. Even if someone has your password he still would need a second verification to access your account, and you will get a notice when someone tries to access your account. Some big companies has provided 2FA service like Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. To learn more about it you can visit this link.
Then, make sure you change your default account privacy in your app. Make sure your personal information such as phone number or email isn’t visible to the public. Some apps have default settings to collect your personal information such as your location data, your phone number, email, and your activity history.
So, you can change its default setting in your app or web setting, mostly in privacy settings. For example, in Google Account Setting you can turn off your Web and App Activity history, location history, YouTube history, which would then mean that they could not collect your history anymore. In Facebook app, you can manage who can see your email, phone, post, etc. in privacy settings, also, you can turn off your location history in location setting.
In browser, make sure you use ad-blocker and tracker prevented software from third-party. Also, make sure the link you visited is using HTTPS instead of HTTP. Why does it matter? HTTPS use default encryption, on the other hand HTTP does not . It means that when you login with your password, it will be encrypted to make it invisible to bad guys and thus making it more difficult to hack.
For example, if you input your password such as qWerty99. Then your password will be encrypted to be another form according to its encryption method, for example it will be xY34eE!! and it will be sent to server-side then it will decrypted to your original password.
To identify that your link is use HTTPS and it save, you can check your link address in your browser. For google chrome you can see lock icon in the left corner of the address bar. If icon is locked, it means your connection is secure and if you click it you will get further information about it. If icon does not locked (unlocked icon) it means your connection is unsecured (usually it because the link use HTTP instead of HTTPS) and you will get shield icon in the right corner of the address bar, if you click it you will get pop up that contain information about it and don’t accept to access it because it can be dangerous.
Last but not least, I believe everyone has their right to manage their personal information and decide as to whom can use and share it. Also, our personal information is our responsibility to protect by building our awareness about it. If you have any other tips you can share it by commenting below. Thank you for reading and don’t forget to clap and share it.
References :
https://www.google.com/landing/2step/#tab=why-you-need-it
https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/two-factor-authentication
