The 21st century is well known as the era of digital revolutions. With an increase in the need for surfing through websites and the introduction of digital platforms, online activity has been on a rise. Every individual today posts his or her presence online. This may be in the form of comments, posts, or other metadata. All of this sums up your identity. The internet is filled with click baits and cookies at every juncture. These aspects sum up as a single unit called digital footprints. These digital footprints can be any data from the posts that you like, the cookie that you accept, or the opinions that you post. This could compromise your privacy online and result in losses subject to your confidentiality. With access to your digital footprints, any punk online could easily get through to your bank details, login details, and many more security breaches. These breaches could be easily managed if proper attention is given to online hygiene. Listed below are 5 such tips that could help reduce your digital footprints and eventual data breach online.
Encrypt your communication
When you are surfing online or going through some website, you are leaving trails of your presence online. The ISP that provides your network path is unencrypted which could give easy access to malicious organizations and third parties. They could steal the data packets and decrypt them for manipulation. However, this could be easily prevented by the use of a VPN. Learn more about what is a VPN here, which stands for Virtual Private Network. It provides an alternate path for your data packets to follow and this is an encrypted passageway. You can keep your data packets away from the prying eyes of these hackers.
Update your software regularly
If you ignore the update reminders of your software, you are creating an open invitation pathway to your data. This could lead to malware breaches easily. The software i.e the older version in which you practice your operations are vulnerable to virus attacks. They could be easily broken through. This ignorance to update them could give access to the data to these organizations for misuse. This could be for their data theft and selling. To avoid this, your software updates can secure the loopholes in the existing system by parsing packages. So they must be installed sooner than later.
Create strong passwords
The loopholes that are left in creating passwords often lead to data breaches. A weak password can make your system vulnerable. An easy passcode such as your birth date, or your pet’s name can be easily broken through, offering the hackers an easy bypass to any security wall. This is why you must always create unique passwords that are authentic. Make sure you do not repeat your codes and have kept a password noting app for additional security. This could prevent your privacy from being exposed. As a result, you can keep the spying eyes of hackers away from your data.
Review who can view your data
The information and data mentions that you put online must be viewed only by those who are trustworthy of the same. The people who view your posts could be easily controlled by account privacy settings. However, if you do not review them and up to your preference, the exposure of your data could lead to loss of information of your identity, bank details, and login details. This could make you vulnerable to data losses. However, the privacy settings of your social media can be easily managed to keep your information limited to a closed set of people. In this way, you can keep your data safe.
Keep a check on your mentions online
Many websites can have more information than what you wish to put up online. This could lead to data breaches and result in loss of sensitive data losses. This could cause your addresses, login, and payment details to be easily accessed and misused by third parties. You should always look up your name online and see if the same has been used respectably. You can keep an eye on this through google alerts. If you find anything disrespectful you should get it removed through the administrator. This is why you must be aware of what you are sharing online.
As the pointers suggest of the tips to be followed in case of practicing safe online practices, make sure you follow them properly. Safe online hygiene could prevent you from any mishaps and keep your data secure with you. This could be done by reducing your active digital footprints. A safe data practice can be easily followed by encrypting your data, following password protection, and reviewing privacy online. Of course, software needs to be updated regularly. So make sure you follow these practices wisely.
