Though there has been a lot of uncertainty in the early days of 2020, COVID-19 has taken over causing effects on production – everywhere in the world and hackers are taking the chance to cause harms to our privacy online.
With this, we at JBKlutse.com have prepared the easy to follow guide to keeping your personal data private and secure will be even more of a challenge.
Marketers have continued to get better at intruding on your digital privacy as well, finding ways to collect and monetize the personal data you generate every day as you navigate the web, use your phone, and even watch TV.
Unfortunately, the monetary incentives to target your personal data—whether legally or illegally—remain strong.
However, there are quick and easy changes you can make yourself, right now, to protect your digital privacy. And the more consumers take these steps, the more it tells companies that privacy matters.
In today’s post, I shall keep you update on the 5 simple strategies to protect your digital privacy in 2021.
Update Your Device
One of the easiest and most effective ways to protect the security of your computers and mobile devices is to keep the software up to date, says Maria Rerecich, senior director of product testing at Consumer Reports.
Keeping your device updated helps manufacturers patch security vulnerabilities quickly. Apple Inc, Samsung Mobile and other mobile phone companies have been patching for bugs that are causing harms to their devices.
After installing an update on your device, it is always recommended to check your digital privacy settings to make sure there is nothing changed during the updating process. This feature is always found in the Settings or System Preferences menu on most of our digital devices we use.
Use Two-Factor Authentication
Two-Factor Authentication helps to make access to your login harder, even if a hacker has your password. That’s the work and function of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
Always set Two-Factor Authentication for your accounts and avoid relying solely on your password. 2FA can be request from you – for a proof of your ID, fingerprint, facial recognition or short code sent to your phone number before granting access to your account.
Freeze Your Credit
There’s not much you can do to stop the next data breach, but you can minimize the financial risk with a credit freeze, says Justin Brookman, director of consumer privacy and technology policy for Consumer Reports.
Doing this prevents most lenders from looking at your credit history, that keeps them from issuing a credit card to an unauthorized party.
The freeze for your account locks out vendors and will not be able to charge money from your credit card.
That might include obvious ones—like a mortgage lender or a carmaker’s finance company—and not-so-obvious ones—such as a cell-phone company or even a potential employer.
Install A Password Manager
It’s an ideal way to install a password manager if you truly want to protect your digital privacy in today’s 21st century we live. A password manager is essentially a virtual vault that creates and then stores complicated, hard-to-hack passwords for all your online accounts, letting you access them with one simple-to-remember password.
There has been some popular password managers like; Dashlane, 1Password, KeePass, and LastPass. Some are free while others charge as low as $2 to $5 monthly.
Instead of using a simple to guess password like ICTCatalogue2021, it will be better to add more characters to make it like this; ICTCatalogue2021!@#$% — making it harder for someone to guess.
Do focus on your most important accounts such as your email, bank, insurance accounts and healthcare accounts – and set a stronger password for them.
Make Your Privacy A Priority
There’s a lot to be said for choosing strong privacy protections whenever you sign up with a fresh online service or set up a new device.
Enabling some of these settings can protect you from hackers and online intruders. But others, like turning off location tracking on your phone, can also slow the erosion of your digital privacy that happens when tech companies collect and share information.
At a very basic level, most retailers and social media companies such as Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc, Instagram, Tik Tok, Pinterest, Snapchat and the rest do rely on consumers to volunteer information. When making a purchase or setting up an affinity account, they’ll ask for your phone number or email address.
Just because these companies ask does not make it a necessity for you to provide your details as answer.
Kindly keep note that, it doesn’t matter if you are using a smartphone or desktop or laptop computer, your personal information can leave a digital trail of where you logon online.
Always stay alert and protect your privacy online.