5 Different Ways You Can be Cyber-Stalked

With our experience with a stalker, we have had to sort through, learn about and re-arrange how we use information, technology and the internet to secure many areas of our online life.

Having to cope with a stalker means being very aware of all kinds of things that you would not have to be aware of otherwise. Many online tools offer numerous ways to protect your self. In the same manner, many online tools also come with with blind accessibility which could be exploited by a stalker.

Here are 5 different ways we learned about how you can be Cyber-stalked through our stalking experience.

While some of this is common sense some of this will be helpful to anyone having to adjust part of their online existence from a stalker.

Social Media

This one is a no-brainer. The more social media channels you are listed on the more easily you can be found. In this arena stalking can happen online or in real life with information revealed online or stalking with the follow up harassment, abuse and bullying can happen online.

A few things to keep in mind when trying to protect yourself online.

1. Be aware of and use the security measures. Facebook allows you to be granular so take advantage of that and they have tools to report abusive behavior. LinkedIn has measures but people using premium memberships can still view your profile while you can’t view them so, they say that is mostly people looking for candidates etc, but it sounds like a loophole to me that can be exploited if so desired. Pinterest also has tools in place to block someone if you don’t want to interact with them anymore. Just remember Pinterest pins are public so they may still see pins even if they have been blocked.
2. Careful about posting your location and immediate activities. This to me like most over-sharing is a no brainer. If you don’t want your stalker showing up while you are out to dinner with friends and family then at least hide your location. Yes, I can hear those folks looking to use this for happy things too… (Why should I hide?) Well, I guess you can use this to bait your stalker with your location to catch them if you want to catch a stalker…
3. Use Complex Passwords. There are plenty of complex password generators out there if you need help with this one. Passwords should also be changed often enough to keep your general security fresh.

Public Wifi Connections

On one level this one is also a no-brainer but if you are not quite so familiar with your devices capabilities for using Wifi, especially as you travel from place to place you can slip, trip and stumble into a mess where your device details can easily be sniffed out by any packet sniffer lurking on a public network.

A few tips:

1. Check your device’s settings and make sure your device does not just connect with any network (yes, this means you may have to take it off the ‘slut’ setting) but you may also be surprised at the strength of your network overall.
2. If you do use public wifi then… Don’t send secure information over the network. Do use a VPN or at least a proxy while there are distinct differences between proxies and VPNs, they are not that slow nor are they that expensive.

Your Home Network & Devices

There are several issues that come up around home networks. The network itself needs to be secured as well as the devices.

Now, I am not a tech genius by any stretch but I am a fast learner and I do leave space to continue learning.

Some stalkers do as well… so be prepared.

1. Change your Router/Modem administrator password. I am surprised by how many people do not change the base administrator password which is usually on the Modem/Router for your home Wifi. By all means change it! And the name of the network as well. Have fun with it. All my network names have been called all kinds of things including far off planets from obscure B rated scifi movies.
2. Some devices have their own network capabilities. Careful here often this just involves turning off a preference in a control panel but check your printers, Smart TVs, tablets, surveillance cameras and any other Wifi enabled device that is logged onto your network.
3. VPN Service is still an option. Your home network gets you service to the Internet but that doesn’t mean you have to use the ISP as your personal bumper sticker while you travel around on the web.

Identity Theft

Protecting Yourself against identity theft deserves it’s own article because there are many facets to this type of protection. From the online perspective there are a few things you can do which will offer assistance after something has happened.

Yes, unfortunately most all protections are defensive rather than proactive. So keep a close watch on the following information.

1. Watch your reputation. Identity theft does not have to be a blitz of someone stealing your financial details and going to town. It can start as trash talk on the web, negative articles and postings in odd places which can serve to cause confusion. Maybe this confuses you with someone who has done bad things and muddies the waters a bit. Reputation.com is a great service which keeps your story straight.
2. Track your Credit. Yes, I know we all hear this so often its beyond irritating. But… there is truth in this. You can even go so far as to file a watch option with each of the credit bureaus (this has to be done individually) to generate alerts of there is any suspicious activity.
3. Know how many of you there really are. Ever searched for your self? I recommend this. Even set up a Google alert or two. As we have been dealing with our awesome stalking circumstance one of the things we did was searches on everyone and found out that there are quite a few of each of us out there. That may not be important at the moment but in times of identity theft it could be very important.

Your Phone is an Extension of You Until it isn’t.

With Smart phones getting more advanced and more secure this has been getting tougher to do (according to the big mobile service providers) but there are a number of symptoms of your phone being hacked. Here are a few other things to watch out for.

1. SIM cards and Stolen phones. If your phone is stolen and it is the type that the SIM card can be removed be wary of finding that phone and just using it. Cloning the SIM card is only way to have someone else track you through the phone (according to mobile providers, I have discovered where there is a will there is a way).
2. For Android users. Change your Google Password more often than once a year. I know, I know it’s more maintenance but some maintenance will keep you from a great deal of other maintenance that you won’t want to be doing.
3. For Apple users. The last time I had an iPhone it was the iPhone 3G (stop laughing!) so I have no idea how to help you but I bet there are apps for that!
4. Location, Location, Location services. Watch these for your apps as well as the primary location services for your device and decide for yourself what is best for your needs. Often it is just checking off a box or preference in the settings.

Stalking online is a serious concern, not just because of the stalking but because a stalker can save the information they find and use it later. That is the aspect of stalking that no one wants to think about.

Your circumstance could get resolved or even just stop (whether or not the person gets caught) but then 8 months and 2 weeks later the stalker has a bad day… They come across your information they have stockpiled and take out whatever crappy feelings that have no intention of taking responsibility for on you through your personal information they have kept.