Survival in the Cyber World: How to Shield Your Privacy

The cyber world has made the lives of many people easier and simpler. It made tasks manageable and communication convenient. Through Internet, the world has shrunk into a fist-ball size that traveling around it can just be made with a single click using the computer mouse.

The mountainous advantage the cyber world has offered to the lives of individuals is also tantamount to the threats it poses.  As we are now in the information age where everything is done using computers, information, may it be personal or public are daily fed for faster online transaction. From social interaction, work related information, personal transactions, to travel goal destinations, Internet like sponge absorbs all these information daily from thousands of people worldwide who are transacting online.

The Internet may have brought enormous opportunities to people but it is also a perfect haven for computer hackers that would maliciously use your personal information for their benefits. It would be your personal doom’s day if perchance waking up one day and learning that you are already a victim of identity theft. Protecting your privacy indeed is a survival that needs to be mustered in this growing technological jungle.

Contrary to what many believe about high security of private information online, Breach Level Index  revealed that a total of 554 million records are stolen online in the first half of 2016 showing a 31% increase from the year prior. The vulnerability of records stolen online has companies accepting the fact that cyber attacks may continually occur no matter how they think they have protected their systems.

Come to think of it, even big companies are not spared with cyber attacks how much more when this happens to ordinary people. Protecting yourself and shielding your private information ought to be the first thing that you have to consider when engaging online activities.

So, here is a list on how you can better protect your private information online.

 

• An updated Anti-Virus – Inevitably, we sometimes click websites unknowingly contain malicious pop-ups and viruses. However, the Federal Trade Commission considered a serious and growing problem that is spyware.  Installing an anti-virus helps impair this software that aims to gather information about you without your consent. So, before engaging into online activities, make sure that you have an updated anti-virus.

 

• Get VPN (Virtual Private Network) Services– Getting yourself a Virtual Private Network is another security layer that is a great complement with the anti-virus that you have. Computer experts describe VPN as a security tunnel that shields your digital footprint such as the websites that you visit, comments you made in social media, emails sent and received, and the like. It is basically helping you manage your browsing and log in histories and other online activities.

 

A VPN can be acquired by these companies listed by TechRadar as the best VPN services in 2017 and they are:  IPVanish, VyprVPN, ExpressVPN, NordVPN, TunnelBear,Windscribe, Hotspotshield, ZenMate, PureVPN, and Buferred VPN.

 

• Smart Sharing of Personal Info on Social Sites- Do not be overwhelmed with everything in social media sites. Be smart and extra careful on what you share on these sites including home address, phone numbers, year of your birth and other information, which you may think are very vulnerable to be used for cyber crimes especially identity theft.

 

• Clever in opening suspicious emails– We call them Phishing emails. These are emails that have virus or spywares that may endanger whatever personal information you may have in your computer like passwords. These emails often come from strangers and websites you have never visited. Be alert and carry the adage “think before your click.”

 

• Wise in connecting public Wi-Fi– Do not fall into the bait of enjoying free public wi-fi in hotels, malls, libraries, and other public places since these are often unsecured Meaning hackers will have an easy access to net your personal information, such as passwords or even credit card numbers. Malwares and rogue networks are also lurking in public places with one major aim of luring you to connect with the fake network.  By doing so, attackers will be able to conveniently amass vital private information from you.

The Internet has made the world a better place as communication becomes faster and information is readily available, however, no matter how much ease the cyber world may have given us, we still have to be very cautious.

We are dealing with a growing and expanding technological jungle and like any other jungle; we do not know what danger awaits us in the wild.  So being equipped with these basic privacy protection tips can save us from victims of cyber attacks. As they say, survival of the knowledgeable is an edge in the cyber world.