Much of our modern life is spent online, whether working, banking, studying or browsing the web. Each time you sign up for a newsletter, eCommerce account, forum or social media platform, or when you check your banking information, you share a little more about yourself, adding more of your personal info online.
You might think that it doesn’t matter since everyone does it or because so much of your data is already out there, but the dangers are real, notes Forbes. Having your personal data stolen could cause a cascade of problems that might take years for you to recover fully.
Fortunately, there are some best practices and things that can help you protect your private information while online. Here are three important things you should know.
1. Conduct Periodic Audits
Just as businesses perform personal information audits, there’s no reason why shouldn’t you do the same to protect your confidential data. You can perform them every six to 12 months or more frequently if needed, depending on your online activity and concern over personal info exposure.
Here are a few things to consider when developing your personal data protection plan with periodic audits:
- Check all the passwords on sites you normally use and determine whether you need to change them for security purposes. Perhaps you’ve had the same password for a year or longer; switch to something new and different to keep hackers at bay. As a bonus, and an increasing necessity, make sure they require two-factor authentication. Close any accounts you no longer use.
- Review the personal information you keep in your computer’s file system and scale down anything you no longer need.
- Protect all the information you do keep by backing up data and using file-level and share-level security, recommends Tech Republic.
2. Keep Your Social Security Number Private
If a service requests your Social Security number (SSN) online, you might rethink how safe the service is. Whether it’s your doctor’s office or a car rental agency, their intentions might not be bad. Still, the potential result of your sharing such information online could prove devastating to your personal life and finances. While their goal is to link your personal data with your health information or rental eligibility, you do not have to legally share your SSN, nor should you.
3. Remove Yourself From Public Records
You should know that you can remove public records about yourself to prevent online criminals from linking your information. With the help of trusted public records information removal partners, you can protect yourself from identity theft by removing vital information, such as:
- Traffic violations
- Arrest records
- Family members
- Address history
- Phone numbers
- E-mail addresses
- Photos
- Evictions
- Marriages, divorces and name changes
- Bankruptcies
Many websites have a sole mission focused on aggregating various users’ data, including the above information and more. Such an aggregation of your information makes you a prime target and easy prey for hackers, as your life is laid bare online. It’s a huge challenge to take on yourself since these services multiply and work relentlessly to collect and sell your data. A professional service will comb the various websites for your data and help remove it, leaving you less vulnerable to identity theft and predatory scams.
Take Steps to Keep Your Private Information Secure Online
Everyone is vulnerable by putting information online, but there are things you can do to make your online life safer and more secure. As always, keep track of your online life by conducting regular audits, protect your Social Security number and work with a professional partner to remove your public records information from questionable data collection websites. With these strategies, you’ll feel safer and stay safer while managing your online tasks.