3 Reasons your privacy gets compromised online

Most of us can name a significant data breach that has happened in the last decade, and which shook the corporate world for at least a hot minute as it did so. Interestingly, while you might expect far-reaching consequences for being a business that allowed customer details to be compromised, it’s not necessarily been the case. Yahoo, Target and Facebook are all billion-dollar companies with huge customer bases.

If there was a lesson to take from the way that data breaches have impacted things in recent years, then, it’s that you need to be somewhat proactive about handling your own privacy online. Not only will the companies that allow your data to be stolen not be punished for it financially, they’ll continue to thrive and even grow afterwards. So with little incentive for them to turn up the suspicion, it falls to you. And you can start by taking to heart the following facts…

The fewer details you give, the fewer can be stolen

If you don’t want malicious hackers to have your phone number and your email address, then you can keep this from happening - or at least minimise the likelihood - by not giving those details freely to companies. If it’s absolutely essential that you give your address for deliveries, then give it only to those companies you really need deliveries from. Come up with a junk email address specifically for registrations. If you like to bet, check out the likes of wishcasinos.com for bookmakers who won’t harvest your details. Use a burner phone for non-essential communications. Control your data.

Don’t “stay logged in” when a website offers

It’s easy and convenient to stay logged in to a website when you’re not using it, because then you can access it easily in a hurry. But if you’re doing that on all your devices, then just one of them being hacked, stolen or even temporarily used by someone else could mean you lose valuable personal information. Yes, it’s a pain, but logging out when you’re not using your devices, and even when you leave a website, means your data won’t get picked off by opportunistic criminals.

Use different passwords for different accounts

It’s easy to remember the name of your first pet and your year of birth. Or the date on which you got married. That’s why so many of us use those as our login passwords. We also use them as passwords across a lot of sites. And then, if one person can guess those passwords (and a lot of people will have the clues), your data is wide open to them. Use a password protection app, and save your passwords there for when you need them. Make every password different - and make them nonsensical strings of numbers and letters so they aren’t guessable. There’s no reason to make hackers’ lives easy.

Taking some time to practice good web hygiene will keep you from losing your personal information - and potentially being the target of identity theft. Put the effort in, it’s worth it.