Digital privacy is to what extent your personal, financial, and browsing data has been hidden while you’re online.
It's a growing concern due to the preponderance of data collected by our devices and the number of sites we have accounts on.
The following are my recommendations on steps you can take to improve your online privacy today.
1. Use a Password Manager
To make passwords more secure, we are asked to make them more complex, by using numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters and special characters.
This makes them impossible to remember.
And if we can’t remember them, we write them down or use the same password on multiple websites…which makes them less secure.
A password manager stores your passwords and will auto-generate strong passwords for you so you don’t have to remember them or write them down.
I recommend these password managers:
They have apps for your phone and also browser extensions for your desktop.
Note: Due to recent security breaches, I no longer recommend LastPass.
2. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA)
Also called multi-factor authentication (MFA), this provides a second layer of security to your accounts.
Even if someone obtains your username and password, they won’t be able to login to your account because they will be prompted to enter a one-time use code.
3. Use a VPN
Your ISP or mobile carrier can see all the sites you visit.
When you are connected to public Wi-Fi like at the airport, the owner of that network can see all the sites you visit.
A VPN will provide a certain degree of protection from anyone trying to track your Internet activity.
Use one of these highly-rated VPNs to protect your privacy:
Recommended by LinkedIn
4. Keep your devices up-to-date with latest security updates
This one is pretty self-explanatory.
5. Don’t share sensitive info over SMS
SMS text messages aren’t encrypted, meaning the contents of each message is viewable by mobile carriers and governments, and can even beintercepted by bad actors.
SMS messages also leak metadata, which is information about the message but not the contents of the message itself, such as the phone number of the sender and the recipient, which can identify the people involved in the conversation.
SMS messages can also be spoofed, meaning you can never be completely sure that a SMS message came from a particular person.
If you and the recipient are both using Apple devices, iMessages (“blue bubbles”) are end-end encrypted which means that no one else can read the messages.Not even Apple.
If iMessage isn’t an option, I recommend using Signal which also offers end-to-end encryption.
6. Review app permissions
When an app wants to access a sensitive area of your phone, such as your contacts or the camera, it has to ask for permission. Once you grant these permissions, they stay enabled unless you manually disable them. So review what permissions you’ve granted to apps every once in a while.
Keep in mind that permissions aren’t bad in themselves. Many apps require them to work properly; a Maps app isn’t useful without access to your location, for example. But you might want to think twice about granting a game access to your contacts or location.
7. Uninstall apps you don’tneed
There’s a good chance you’re toting around far more apps than you need.
To avoid unnecessary data collection, if you’re not using an app, delete it.
8. Review social media privacy settings
A recent survey of 2,000 Americans found that fewer than half knew that Facebook’s user privacy settings allow users to limit some of the information about them shared with advertisers.
The NYTimes has a solid guide on navigating privacy controls for popular platforms.
9. Close inactive accounts and request their deletion
Unfortunately, many companies do a terrible job of protecting your data so it's best to close accounts you no longer use to limit your exposure in the event of a data breach.
10. Opt-out of having your information posted on "people search" sites
Data broker sites such as Intelius, Radaris, Spokeo, and White Pages collect and sell your private data online. You can manually request the removal of your personal information or use a service like DeleteMe to let them do it for you.
