10 Tips to Protect Your Personal Data Online | Antivirus Software

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10 Tips to Protect Your Personal Data Online | Antivirus Software

Ten tips on how to avoid making your online privacy public.

In fact, everything is not so bad: we still have the ability to control our data and not share it with anyone. Here are some tips to help you with this.


1. Check your social media privacy settings

We all willy-nilly store a lot of personal information on social networks - and if you use the default settings, then a significant part of this data can be seen by literally anyone. Therefore, be sure to check your privacy settings on all social networks you use. What should be shown to everyone in a row, and what only your friends (or no one else but you) can see - you should decide, not Mark Zuckerberg.


Change your privacy settings on social media. Here's how to do it on Facebook, Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

From time to time, social media changes the settings, so sometimes check to see if there is anything new. For example, recently on VKontakte, they added a prohibition to search for your profile by phone number - a useful setting, we recommend.

2. Do not use public storage for personal data

It is possible to accidentally give out unnecessary information not only through social networks. For example, you shouldn't store sensitive data on online services that share information. For example, Google Docs is not the best place for a password file, and you don't need to upload your passport scans to Dropbox (unless you pack them in an encrypted archive beforehand).


Do not use file sharing and collaboration services to store personal data.

3. Protect yourself from web surveillance

When you visit a site, your browser tells it a lot of interesting things about you and what sites you visit. With this information, marketers build your profile and show you targeted ads. Incognito mode does not actually protect against such tracking - for this, you need to use specialized tools.


To avoid Internet surveillance, use Protection against data collection in Security Cloud.

You can read about the tools you can use to protect yourself from web surveillance here.

4. Don't share your primary email and phone number with everyone

What happens if you always and everywhere indicate your email address and phone number? Tons of spam in your inbox and hundreds of automatic ringing in incoming calls, that's what. Even if you have to leave contact information for online services and online stores, at least you shouldn't give them to random people on social networks. Better yet, create a separate "trash" mailbox that you won't mind deleting. Ideally, it would be nice to have a separate phone number for such cases.


Register an additional email address and buy an extra SIM card for registration in online stores. Use them in other situations where you are required to leave your data to strangers.

5. Use instant messengers with end-to-end encryption

Most modern instant messengers use encryption. But in many of them, messages are encrypted only during transmission to the server - and there they are already stored unencrypted. What happens if someone breaks into such a server? Even if this risk is not too great, it is better to avoid it completely. To do this, you need to use messengers with end-to-end encryption. In such applications, even their creators will not be able to read your conversations, because only you and your interlocutor have the keys to the cypher.


Use messengers with end-to-end encryption, such as WhatsApp.

Please note that Telegram, Facebook Messenger and Google Allo do not use end-to-end encryption by default. To enable it, you need to manually start a secret chat.

6. Use strong passwords

Information that is protected by a weak password can just as well be shouted into a megaphone near the metro. Of course, remembering long, unique passwords for all the many services and applications you use is almost impossible. Here the password manager comes to the rescue - it is enough to remember only one combination to access it, he will save all the rest for you.


Use long passwords - at least 12 characters, or even longer.

Create a new, unique password for each service.

To avoid repeating yourself and forgetting anything, it is best to have a password manager.

7. View the permissions of mobile apps and browser extensions

Mobile applications are often asked to give access to contacts or files on your device, allow them to use the camera, microphone, geolocation, and so on. Some applications actually need this to function properly. But not everyone: many use the information they receive for marketing surveillance (or even worse). Fortunately, application permissions are fairly easy to control. The same applies to browser extensions, which are unfortunately also known for their spy tendencies.


Check the permissions you give to mobile apps. Here's how to do it in Android, and here's how to do it in iOS.

Do not install browser extensions unless absolutely necessary, and carefully monitor what you allow them.

8. Protect your phone and computer with passwords or access codes

The password to unlock your computer does not have to be terribly complex: you protect yourself not so much from hacking as from idle curiosity. Smartphones are often lost, sometimes they are stolen - therefore it is better to be extra safe and use a six-digit PIN (or even longer), and not four, as the operating system offers by default. A fingerprint scanner and face recognition are not bad either. But remember that biometric technology has its limitations as well.


Use passwords or biometric authentication to log into phones, tablets and computers.


9. Turn off notifications on the lock screen

Let's say you protected your phone with a long, secure PIN, but left pop-up notifications on the lock screen. In this case, anyone can spy on what you are texting. To prevent personal information from appearing on the lock screen, you need to properly set up notifications.


Turn off lock screen notifications or hide their contents. Here's how to do it on Android and iOS.

10. Be careful on public Wi-Fi

Public Wi-Fi networks usually do not encrypt traffic. This means that anyone can spy on what you send and receive by connecting to the same access point. Try not to transmit confidential information through public networks: logins, passwords, credit card information, and the like. It is best to use a VPN to encrypt your data transmission and protect it from prying eyes.


If possible, avoid using public Wi-Fi networks; For more information on the risks associated with them, see the link.

Antivirus Software to protect your pc from virus. 

If you can't do without public Wi-Fi, use a secure connection - VPN

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