Guest Post: 5 Tips to Ensure Better Data Privacy and Protection In 2021

With people reeling over data security issues left, right and centre (are you annoyed with people using Signal, too?), it is worth reconsidering your data privacy settings and how you can protect your personal data better. Especially as a blogger and keen social medialist (is it a word??), I sometimes want to share a little on such topics; however, I had to learn these things the hard way, too, and am no expert. So, I am happy to share a guest post from TurnOnVPN here in which you find succinct and helpful tips to get your privacy data secured. 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Whether an individual everyday user or an enterprise, data security, and privacy should be important to you.
With every passing day comes some tech to reduce the level of privacy that we enjoy on the internet. It could be browser fingerprinting, IP address tracking, intelligent cookie tracking, hacker attempts, or something else. Now is a good time to learn how to take control back into your own hands.
 
Know Phishing Signs
Phishing attacks are the most successful social hacks because of how they leverage user trust to work.
Whenever you get a message, email or call from a supposed company that you are affiliated with, beware of giving out sensitive information. Instead, go to their official websites/pages and initiate a customer service request to know if they truly reached out. Avoid clicking on links in emails too. Instead, type the official company address in your web browser by yourself.
Speaking of web browsers…

Choose Secure Browsers
There are a lot of browsers to choose from but they do not all focus on user privacy and security.
The best ones have been optimized against different kinds of ads, keeping you safe from malvertising and adware. Top browsers like Safari are also equipped to tackle browser fingerprinting and intelligent cookie tracking, among others. Picks like Mozilla Firefox and Brave browser are praised for their library of security features that can be enabled from the settings panel. When it comes to DuckDuckGo, the fact that they have a privacy-focused search engine makes all the difference. Although it could take some learning curve, Tor browser is not half bad either.
 
Install a VPN
There are numerous reasons why you should get a VPN app.
On the one hand, the fact that a VPN can change your IP address at will means identifying you on the internet becomes less probable. This prevents doxxing, allowing hackers to link you to a home network, or unravelling who is behind an account you might want to keep anonymous. Furthermore, VPN apps operate on a technology known as tunnelling, which passes your data through a lot of servers, making it impossible for hackers and scammers to track.

Beware of Wi-Fi Networks
Here is yet another section where VPNs find an application. Why, though?
Free and public Wi-Fi networks are almost everywhere these days. They provide the convenience of enjoying the internet without limits or worrying about incurring data costs. However, these networks are often unencrypted which makes it easy for hackers to come out to play. The lack of encryption means malware injection and data sniffing is possible. One way to avoid this is to stay away from the public and free Wi-Fi networks. In the case that you have to use them, layer your connection over a VPN to encrypt your internet traffic for that session.
 
Use Secure Websites
A secure website is usually denoted with a lock icon near its URL in the address bar. On some browsers, the address bar also turns a shade of green. On closer inspection of the URL, secure websites have HTTPs instead of HTTP – with the extra ‘S’ standing for ‘Secure.’ Secure websites have an SSL certificate which ensures data you are entering is safe to a large extent. When you don’t see that on a website, it is better to get off immediately.
 
Start Today
You don’t have to spend hundreds to several thousands of dollars on cybersecurity when you can start with these tips. Most times, simple approaches like these are what you had been overlooking – and they are costing you a great deal of your privacy. Get started today and you’ll have a better privacy model for it.