As powerful corporations push increasingly harder to obtain more data from us, it’s become more and more important to protect our personal information. Additionally, while anti-malware and password protection services are more secure than ever, there’s still an evident risk of having our computers and smartphones compromised.
Taking measures to ensure personal privacy is no longer something that only high-profile figures or ‘privacy nuts’ should be doing. In the current landscape of our internet, we should all be mindful of how we share and store digital information. Here are some simple measures that you can take to protect your data in 2019 and beyond.
Protecting Against Digital Data Theft
One of the first recommended steps for keeping your internet activity private at home is installing a VPN service. These are often highly affordable and free versions are available before you decide to invest in a paid plan. A VPN hides your web activity and conceals your location, providing a simple but effective layer of privacy.
Using passphrases instead of passwords is another simple and effective way of securing your accounts. Instead of using a single word or character combination, you can use a song lyric, movie quote or any other memorable but obscure phrase, along with as many special characters and numbers as possible.
This not only makes it harder for someone to guess or decrypt, but it is also convenient as it’s easier to remember. In the same light, if you do need to save your passwords, make use of a trustworthy password manager instead of writing them down or saving them on your computer.
Protecting Against Accidental Data Loss
Taking measures to back up your data is an extremely simple but effective process that ensures you’ll still have access to everything on your device in the event that it breaks or something is accidentally deleted. Be sure to make use of a trustworthy cloud backup service, as this creates a safe and reliable location to store your important data.
Protecting Against Physical Theft
It’s not only digital data theft that we should be wary of. If anything, the physical loss of your devices results in even more significant consequences. All of your personal documents, passwords and digital media is at risk of being compromised – not to mention the device you likely invested a lot amount of money into.
Taking measures to ensure that you can track your device and ensure that the data contained in it cannot be accessed is essential. Most modern smartphones feature some form of built-in security software for this reason. For example, Apple’s smartphones have Lost my iPhone, which should be turned on at all times.
With personal computers, these features are often not present. This is where third party software such as HiddenApp come in useful. Be sure to get a MacBook anti-theft software for your Apple computers, ensuring that your device can be remotely tracked and secured at any moment.
Keep an Eye on the Apps You Install
Many apps have recently been caught out for mining data from the devices they’re installed on. Be sure to stick to trustworthy apps and be mindful of the permissions each app on your phone requires in order to run. If a themes app is asking for access to your camera, chances are it’s trying to do more than just change the look of your home screen.
Keeping your data safe comes down to being mindful of what you share and what you do. Simple measures such as not sharing personal information, not using the same password on multiple accounts and using the right software will go a long way in ensuring your privacy.
