In today’s world, protecting our information online is more important than ever. Cybercrimes are on the rise, and data breaches from every company can expose us if cybercriminals are successful.
Unfortunately, scammers were behind nearly 1.4m cases of fraud in the UK, and this was only during the first half of 2023. Romance scams and ID theft are among the fastest-growing categories.
It doesn’t matter what you’re doing: you could be browsing social media, trying to check your bank account through an app, or even shopping online. In all these circumstances, you need to take proactive measures to protect your information from falling into the wrong hands.
Here are five effective ways to do it.
1. Make your passwords stronger
Cybercriminals will want to gain access to your accounts, and they can do it easily if you have a weak password. Make sure this isn’t the case: don’t repeat passwords, and mix letters with special characters and numbers. If you’re afraid you won’t remember the passwords for each of your accounts, get a reputable password manager and store everything safely.
Aside from these two important aspects to consider, you should also make sure to update these passwords from time to time. That way, if someone has been trying to steal your identity, they’ll be thrown off their game.
2. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
2FA might be the best and easiest way to add another layer of protection to your accounts. In a nutshell, enabling it is asking for a little bit of extra information whenever you want to log in to your account.
The software can send a code to your phone or email, and you have to manually give access to yourself or to the people that you love.
Aside from this, two-factor authentication gives you control over account access. You’ll be able to detect a suspicious login attempt instantly, helping you take action to protect your personal information. Some of the things you can do in this instance are changing passwords and notifying the platform itself.
3. Pay attention to phishing attempts
Phishing scams are one of the most common scams online, with cybercriminals prompting you to give out sensitive information, like your bank account details. Be cautious when opening emails, and never click on suspicious links online.
Make sure a website is legitimate before providing them with any personal data, whether that’s a username or a password. Research shows that 23% of businesses and 24% of charities were breached in the last 12 months. What makes you think hackers won’t go for your data as well?
4. Update your software
Updating your devices regularly is fundamental if you want to avoid security breaches. Most updates deal with new online threats, and hackers are looking for those of us who forget to set them up regularly.
To avoid this, enable automatic updates and make sure you always have the latest security patches enabled on all your devices.
5. Don’t share too much on social media
The information you share on social media should be limited, and you shouldn’t ever give enough data for hackers to impersonate you online. If you’re worried, you can take advantage of tools like Surfshark alternative ID, which will help protect your sensitive information with a brand new ID for your digital persona.
Stuff like your address, your phone number, or your financial information should be private, not public. From time to time, review your privacy settings and control who gets to see your posts and personal details.
To sum up
Protecting yourself online is simple, but you do need to be proactive about it. If you prevent things instead of letting time go by, you will have a lot more peace of mind.
By implementing these 5 simple strategies, you’ll be more protected, and the risk of losing an account or having your identity stolen will be reduced significantly.