Some Simple Cyber-security Tips to Protect Your Privacy & Identity
Isn’t privacy a rare commodity nowadays? Especially if we talk about the cyber world. It is a piece of cake to look up anyone from anywhere on the internet. And, in this age, internet usage is excessive. People from all generational groupings are addicted to internet-based forums and modern households have steady subscriptions to digital services and ISPs such as Spectrum Triple Play. It is not possible to avoid using the internet, pertaining to a number of utilities for official, entertainment, and educational purposes. However, privacy and security are genuine concerns. If you look up yourself on sites like Pipl.com, you will be surprised at the huge number of companies, which claim to have your family information, address, income, phone number, and so on.
You
should know that your personal information like your email ID, social security
number, phone number and other such information is actually worth a lot of
money to various legitimate businesses. But, this information is equally
important to the bad guys who are into cyber-attacks and stealing.
Let us help you with these simple steps in order to protect the valuable and vulnerable personal information.
Be Selective about Sharing Social
Security Number—Even If It’s the Last Four Digits
Think and rethink your decision to share your
security number online with anyone. However, you can trust your bank, credit
bureaus, a firm that does the background checks on people, an entity/company
that reports to IRS. Not all others should be able to access your information.
It’s highly risky if someone gets their hands on your personal information such
as address, date of birth, and so on. They can then easily steal your identity
and manage to use your credit cards. All this might end up in piling up a huge
debt on you.
Be careful about using even the last 4 digits of the social security number. Institutions and banks use these four digits usually in order to reset your passwords for accessing your account. Also, if someone gets hold of the last 4 digits and knows your birthplace, it becomes a lot easy to guess your entire number. Let us tell you how. The first three digits are essentially determined by the place where you/your parents applied for the SSN. The next two digits belong to the group number that’s given out at the same time to a particular group in a geographical area. Trust us, a determined, seasoned identity thief wouldn’t find hacking it much difficult.
You Don’t Need to Fill Out the Social
Media Profiles
You can still do your endless social media browsing and have a valid profile even if you don’t fill out the whole forms required to make a social media profile. The more information you choose to share online, especially on social networking sites, the easier it is for someone to get hold of it. Stop cooperating with them. It’s best to keep your social media profiles barren. Most of your friends and family on social media already know your email address, birth date, phone number and so on. If you are really concerned about your privacy, you wouldn’t share all of it on your Facebook profile.
Use Private Browsing
If you use a computer that has multiple users
and you don’t want them to access your online information then you should
consider enabling private browsing mode. This feature is available in every
major web browser out there. So, whether you are a Safari fan or a Chrome
addict, you will find incognito and private browsing modes in them. this mode
deletes temporary internet files, cookies, and your browsing history right
after you close a window.
Also, in this age of algorithms, every company
out there which is into online marketing keeps an eye on social media. They are
interested to know the sort of sites you visit, your shopping likes, and even your
common interests with your friends. They are all about having an insight into
your likes and dislikes. When they manage to gather all this information, they
want to tempt you into buying something from them and serve you with targeted
ads.
For instance, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+
tabs, which you see on every site, allow the networks to easily track you. They
will still track you even if you are not logged into them and don’t have an
account at all. Also, there are information collecting firms, which rely on the
embedded codes in the banner ads. These ads track your preferences, visits, and
demographic information.
If you are someone who is actually concerned about his privacy, then you will ensure that you browse the internet anonymously and hide your IP address. You need a web proxy, a VPN or Tor, an open network that functions by routing the traffic via a series of servers, which are operated by a good number of volunteers.
Consider Using an Efficient Password
Vault Enabled to Generate and Remember Unique and Strong Passwords
Most people are habitual of creating the same
password for every account that they make. They think that it’s easy to
remember and end up having the same password for a dozen various accounts. If
someone gets their hands on your password (through a phishing attack perhaps),
they will end up having all your accounts in his access.
Internet service providers also enlighten their
users about the basics of cybersecurity. I got in touch with Spectrum
customer care and the representative
shared some valuable and relevant information about cyber-security hazards and
ways to protect my privacy. Now I know better to make online purchases from any
random site!