6 Ways to Protect Your Personal Information Online
We live in a digital world today, where the internet almost has everything that we need to know about everything. With the evolution of internet, so does social media, and people have started sharing their personal lives online. Many of them even have jobs that require the internet, such as vloggers, web designers, or even online sellers.
However, some parts of the internet don’t improve for the better. With it comes the danger of cybercrime, such as piracy, phishing, and invasion of privacy. As an average user, what can you do to protect your personal information online? How about ensuring the online safety of your company? Here are 6 ways you can do in terms of web security:
SET UP STRONG PASSWORDS
This is one of the most important things to remember when taking about web security. It is your first line of defense against cybercrime, and it keeps hackers at bay.
When choosing a password, make sure that it is something that you can easily remember, but difficult to crack for others. There are no limits for setting this up. Include uppercase and lowercase letters, add in a bunch of numbers in between, and if you want to spice if up even more, add in some symbols! Don’t make weak passwords such as “password”, “12345”, or even your middle name. Moreover, make sure that you a have a different password for every account you use on social media. Using a single password for everything simply makes the hacker’s job easier. Once they get ahold of one password, they would immediately get access to almost everything about you in the internet.
HAVE A BACKUP FOR EVERYTHING
We all had that experience when we lose important files because of either a corrupted file or an error in our computers, and we know the frustration when we found out that we forgot to keep a backup of it beforehand. This is why it is important to create a backup for everything.
There are two ways for you to create a backup for your files. The first is to store them in a hard drive, and the second one is to store them in an online drive. Although the second one is free, keep in mind that not to store important files in there. These can still be hacked by other people if you’re not careful enough. Especially when you are handling a business, do not keep important information there, and instead store them in hard drives as backup.
BUY A FIREWALL
When you’re handling a business, it is important to secure not just your online websites, but your computers as well. This is essential, especially for larger businesses that require a network of computers that connect to a single server.
Sure, buying a firewall can be a bit expensive. But, think of the benefits you can get in the long run. No computer is safe from all types of viruses, and it’s good to keep another line of defense between hackers and your data.
SEEK PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMMERS
When talking about web security, it’s also helpful to hire professional programmers to make sure that your website and online information are safe. They can create personalized programs that are intended to keep hackers at bay, and to make sure that none of your personal information would be hacked or leaked.
Just like a firewall, hiring programmers are important when you have businesses that heavily rely on the internet.
AVOID FREE WI-FI IN PUBLIC
Free wi-fi has always been tempting. After all, what two words are better than “free” and “wifi”? However, be wary of this. Having a free wifi means that not only you can connect, but also everybody else in the area. And who knows, maybe a skilled hacker is among the crowd when you connected. With their skills, they could easily hack into your phone or computer and take your personal information.
Besides, when you go to social media using a free wifi, the passwords that you used could be saved there, and other people, with enough skill, could access these saved passwords in order to access your accounts. To avoid these risks, just avoid public wifi as much as possible.
DON’T SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION ONLINE
Sharing personal information online is basically showing a gold mine to the hackers. Sure, social media websites are also increasing their web security, but this doesn’t mean that they are 100% safe. There are still expert hackers there that could obtain your information through these sites, and posting your personal information just makes their job easier.
This doesn’t mean that you should stop posting altogether. Just make sure that the things you post are in moderation, or doesn’t reveal too much about your private life. As an example, post that selfie you made in a beach, but don’t post your home address.