The internet has grown significantly through the last few decades, and it’s safer than it once was. With that said, there are still many ways in which bad actors can get access to your information and use it to harm you or sell it to someone else who will. Read on to learn some tips for protecting yourself when you’re online so that your information can stay safe.
Use Strong, Unique Passwords
One of the simplest things you can do to protect yourself online is to use good passwords. Many people use weak passwords or the same password for every site, which is part of why their own actions may be the biggest cybersecurity risks they face. Specific sites are aware of this and require unique, complex passwords to maintain users’ security, but no matter what, you should create your own strong passwords. Doing this will go a long way in protecting your information.
Be Careful of Phishing Scams
Another way you can better protect yourself is by being smarter when you go online. So many scams out there don’t simply hack into your information—instead, they create a fake advertisement or email that looks too good to be true, and you end up clicking on it and giving them your data yourself. Many of these scams are somewhat obvious, but others are more covert. To avoid them, never click attachments or unsecure links from strange emails or web pages.
Understand Cookies
Sites use cookies to track and collect data about different users visiting their web pages. Cookies can be necessary, but many sites collect cookies and then sell this data to people who want quick access to your information. Many websites have to ask if you want to enable their cookies, and you should only enable them when they’re required for you to use a web page. Only enabling cookies for sites you trust to access your data.
Going online can be scary, as you never know when or how people will misuse your information. However, when you take measures to protect yourself online, your information should be safe from hackers. You should still be careful online, though, as these people are constantly changing how they access information.
