In this blog we share with you 3 Ways to Protect Your Privacy Online. Unless you live out in the middle of nowhere, completely unplugged you are probably dependent the internet for your business. It may be any activity from banking, social media, streaming media or even looking up information in a web browser. In addition, smart devices, connected homes and even our cell phones, the very devices that keep us connected and entertained are dependent on online capabilities. Sadly, this creates the opportunity for cyber theft. Data breaches, phishing and ransomware are not anything you want to clean up after. Here are the 3 Ways to Protect Your Privacy Online.
Manage Email Safely
Don’t open email attachments. While companies are educating employees about what to look for cyber criminals are getting craftier. With todays tools it is easy to replicate a company’s logo and font to make an email look legitimate. As a result, by opening one of these nefarious attachments you just launched a virus on your computer. Next that virus can infect the entire network extending beyond you. You can protect yourself by deleting the email. If you work for a company that has a security or privacy department make sure you inform them as well so they can get ahead of the attempt to sabotage your infrastructure or steal data.
Don’t provide your personal information in an email. According to INFOSEC, in 2016, employees at the University of Kansas were tricked by a “Phishing” attack. Initially the email requesting employees update their information seemed legitimate. As a result, three employees that updated their payroll information gave attackers enough personal data to steal their paycheck by diverting their direct deposits. When in doubt do your research, in this case contact your payroll department. A good rule of thumb is if you are asked for a social security number, bank information, or your personal demographics this is probably an attempt to steal your information. Criminals are even holding data hostage and demanding a ransom which is known as “ransomware.” Even if the request appears to be authentic, from the IRS or your bank, you should never send this type of information in an email to protect your privacy.
Have A Company Policy
Years ago assets were seen as more tangible things. In our modern world today, data is now an important asset and must be treated as such. Protecting yourself and your data is the lock on the door that keeps cyber criminals at bay. Make sure you have a clear company policy. Additionally, train your employees about the policy. Who do they contact when they receive a suspicious email?
Like it or not depending on where you are located there are now regulations that require privacy policies. These requirements are meant to safeguard data for both you and your customers. The Better Business Bureau has a template and guidelines to help you get started.
Get A VPN
What is a VPN? VPN stands for “Virtual Private Network.” I have to be honest when some random initials showed up as a user in one of my Microsoft products I was done. By the way Microsoft was just breached again so sure, I changed my passwords but this time I took it a step further and got a VPN.
The benefit of a VPN is online privacy and anonymity by masking your internet protocol or IP. Every device that connects to the internet has a unique identifier that is called an IP address. When you visit a site on Google and Chrome they track all your activity. Surely you don’t think it is magic that you can do a search for “Red Shoes,” and then for the next month all of the adds you run across on Google are for “Red Shoes.” Your habits are tracked with cookies. Furthermore, your internet service provider can see all you browsing history. Chances are they are selling this information.
Encrypt and Scramble
Here is where a VPN can give you peace of mind. Using encryption a VPN scrambles the data when it is sent out over the network rendering the data unreadable. This can really come in handy on your smart devices when you are using a public Wi-Fi connection. Your web activity is scrambled and your IP address is cloaked because the IP address that shows up is the VPN IP address. Yes friends, that search engine like Google is now tracking the VPN not you keeping your online activity private. So no creepy BIG Tech company tracking me when I am banking online, I can do without that.
Here is what a VPN will hide:
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- Your devices
- What you do on a website
- Where your physically located
- When your are streaming
- Your IP address and location
- Your browsing history – the sites you visit
A VPN is not hard to install. We went with Express VPN. Consequently because we have a lot of devices we wanted our Network to have VPN. Our smartphones are protected which we love especially on an unsecured Wi-Fi network. Bye bye nosy cyber neighbors. Check out this blog from Express VPN providing 21 ways to protect yourself online.
Next blog – I will be sharing more about a VPN and things you didn’t know you needed until you need them.
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