How to protect personal data on the Internet

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We explain why our personal information is at risk every day, and share tips on how to protect personal information online.

Cybercriminals steal personal data of celebrities and ordinary users every day. Recently, the accounts of US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anton Inyutsyn, and journalist Dmitry Kiselev were hacked.

Many people think that their data is not interesting to criminals, but experience shows that popularity does not affect the desire of attackers to get other people's personal data and benefit from it. We've covered the most common scenarios in which your data is at risk and we'll show you what to do to keep your personal information private.

Where does the danger lie?

Email

Email is more than just a mailbox. You use it to register on most sites and services, which means that, having gained access to your mail, attackers will be able to hack your other accounts.

Nobody canceled the threat of confidentiality of correspondence, documents stored in dialogues. If this is a work inbox, then closed corporate information can get to hackers. And then the hacked email will not only be your problem - the security of all correspondence in the company will be at risk.

Accounts in game services

Millions of people play World of Tanks, DOTA 2, Counter Strike: Global Offensive or FIFA, use Origin, Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and other gaming services.

Users earn gaming experience, in-game currency, buy things for game inventory, the games themselves for real money. Having hacked your game account, attackers will steal purchased licensed games, game inventory and items - and get real money for them.

Social networks and messengers

Social networks and instant messengers are the best targets for scammers if they want to take advantage of the intimate details of your life. Everyone has skeletons in their closets, but that doesn't mean they should be made public. If you have not properly protected your account, then trouble can happen anytime.

For many, correspondence on social networks and instant messengers replaces email - they exchange photos, documents, and other confidential information.

Smartphone digital theft

All modern smartphones have a main account: for iOS, this is the Apple ID, for Android, it is a Google account. If attackers gain access to them, valuable information about you and your smartphone will be in their hands.

Last year, a story became known about a scammer who fraudulently gained access to an Apple ID, blocked the victim's phone and demanded money to unlock it. This often happens when buying smartphones, when an unscrupulous seller sells you, in fact, a brick that cannot be used without entering the password for the hacked account.

Mobile apps and games

Programs installed from the App Store, Google Play or Windows Marketplace request access to data: your contacts, location, calendar, payment data. Each time, carefully read what information the application or game is requesting access to. For example, why does a puzzle game need to know your location, and why does the unit converter need your calendar?

Bank data

Nowadays, bank cards are used to pay not only in an ordinary supermarket: they pay for utilities through the Internet bank and purchases in online stores with a card, and book flights and hotels with the card. But think about where you leave your data?

Unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot

Wi-Fi is happiness for the traveler and freelancer. But attackers take advantage of the vulnerability of open points and the carelessness of users. By the way, hackers also target password-protected points. And there it is already a matter of technology: connected to Wi-Fi, and everything that you do on the screen and enter on the keyboard is seen by the intruder.

It is important to understand what information and who you trust. There is no problem entrusting your mail to Google. But if an unfamiliar application asks for access to the same mail, then giving such access is dangerous not only because of the lack of information about the good reputation of the service. Attackers can hack the application itself and thereby gain access to information even without the need to hack your Google account.

How do I protect my data?

As you can see, the problem of Internet security is becoming more pressing than ever. Everywhere there is a risk of falling for the bait of cybercriminals. We will tell you about the main ways to protect personal data, which should definitely be applied in practice.

Two-factor authentication

It sounds incomprehensible, but in reality everything is simple: this is double protection, the first line of which is the usual combination of a username and password, that is, what is stored on the server, and the second is what only a specific user has access to. We talked about two-factor authentication, which includes SMS passwords, authenticator applications, and hardware tokens.

A simple example: you enter your username and password from the Internet bank, after which a special SMS code is sent to your phone. This is two-factor authentication.

Two-factor authentication is supported by Google, Microsoft, Facebook, VKontakte, and others. This is a necessary measure to keep your data safe, so be sure to enable 2-step protection on all accounts. If some service does not support it, this is a serious reason to stop using it.

What is it suitable for: e-mail, accounts in social networks and messengers, game accounts, smartphone account, internet bank.

Secure connection

When making purchases and other potentially dangerous activities, pay attention to the icon to the left of the address bar. Make sure you are working with the site over an encrypted connection.

What is it suitable for: e-mail, accounts in social networks and messengers, game accounts, smartphone account, internet bank.

Password managers

“Come up with a strong password” is advised in every privacy article. But you are unlikely to come up with a password more complicated than a password generated by a special service, and even if you do, where will you store it: in your head, on a piece of paper?

You can also change your password more often, you might say. But just a few weeks ago, specialists from the UK Government Liaison Center explained why.

There are dedicated password managers that take the headache out of it. They generate complex passwords themselves, store them in a secure storage, and you do not need to remember about the password for a specific site - the application itself will substitute it in the required field. Most popular services: 1Password, LastPass, Enpass.

What is it suitable for: e-mail, accounts in social networks and messengers, game accounts, smartphone account, internet bank.

Control app access to your data

IOS users, and more recently, can control application access to various data. Do not be lazy and conduct an audit: check what information the installed applications and games have access to. If any requests for access are suspicious, disable.

What is it suitable for: mobile applications.

Use a VPN with public Wi-Fi hotspots

When working in cafes and other public places with Wi-Fi, use a VPN service. It will redirect traffic to its own server, and it will give you already "cleaned" traffic that cybercriminals cannot track. Remember that password access does not guarantee security.

We talked about for the Google Chrome browser. Opera has recently integrated VPN into its browsers. Don't miss out on that One Privacy Guy's detailed guide.

What is it suitable for: open Wi-Fi points.

Conclusion

As you can see, your personal data is at risk every day. Here's a quick recap of our tips for protecting your personal information online.

1. Turn on two-factor authentication on all sites and services.
2. Work with a secure connection or use traffic encryption programs.
3. Use password managers. Don't change your password too often.
4. Track how mobile apps use personal data.
5. Use a VPN with open Wi-Fi hotspots.