Online privacy is important. In fact, not only is your online privacy important to the safety of you and your data in the digital world, but it bleeds over into being important to your real-world safety as well.
Without privacy, people can see your online activities, ascertain your medical and mental health through browsing data, find out your locations and frequently visited businesses, discover your general daily schedule, and so much more. And that is all information gathered legally from applications, websites, and your ISP.
If you look into what actual cyber criminals would do with your data, it gets a whole lot scarier.
Your digital privacy is being stomped on. With repeals to net neutrality, you are now victim to the legal selling of your logged data as well as bandwidth throttling in an effort to create more income for internet service providers.
While this is all disheartening, you don’t have to stand by and be a victim to it.
Today we are going to take a look at six tools you can use to protect yourself online and maximize your digital privacy.
1) VPN
VPNs, or virtual private networks, are a great tool to enhance online privacy and security. Thanks to their method of safeguarding browsing data and location information, VPNs are an all in one answer to many of your privacy concerns. In fact, it is the only tool to truly protect against threats from your ISP.
A VPN masks your true IP address allowing you to use the internet without your information ending up in a log for your ISP to sell to the highest bidder. To help you get started finding the right VPN for you, we recommend checking out services provided by ExpressVPN.
2) Location settings
One tool that is readily available on your devices is the built-in location settings. Though this tip seems obvious, it is often disregarded. However, the fact remains that simply checking the settings of your device and apps to disallow location tracking is a surefire way to increase your digital privacy and safety.
3) Firewall
Another easy way to improve your digital privacy is by taking advantage of firewalls. Firewalls are a filtering system that keeps unauthorized users from gaining access to your system. Using your firewall is as easy as turning it on in your PC or Mac settings.
4) Password manager
One of the most common ways for your information to get stolen is by someone gaining access to your system or applications via your password. While it seems obvious that unique, long passwords can keep you safe, it is often difficult to maintain the number of passwords we use these days. This is where a reputable password manager comes in handy.
With a password manager, you can create strong, unique codes for all of your devices and applications without worrying about what password goes where, or where you wrote down the code for this bill or that bill. It is all stored securely in one place, away from the prying eyes of hackers.
5) AntiVirus/AntiMalware
Antivirus and antiMalware software are some of the most invaluable tools for preventing the invasion of your digital privacy. These tools can help you by alerting you about dangerous webpages, blocking emails that are phishing scams, quarantining viruses and malware that would provide access to your system, and more.
Ensuring that you are using a reputable AntiVirus or antiMalware program is vital to your online safety. Even if you are already using another tool, these programs are important because they help protect you from anything that manages to slip past your other defenses.
6) Prepaid cards
A less obvious safety tool – prepaid cards are a great way to improve your online security and privacy. These cards, which you load with cash and don’t link to your credit, may seem like a hassle, but they are incredibly useful.
If you find yourself on the victim’s end of a keystroke logger or phisher, you only lose what cash is on that card. Your personal information, other linked accounts, auto deposits, and more are safe from the prying eyes of any criminal involved.
Conclusion
The modern digital era is a complicated place to navigate. It can be incredibly hard to feel safe when even the people you pay for internet service are violating your base privacies. Luckily, with these tools and tips, you can help yourself to stay safe and secure while online.
A less obvious safety tool – prepaid cards are a great way to improve your online security and privacy. These cards, which you load with cash and don’t link to your credit, may seem like a hassle, but they are incredibly useful.
