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In the age of likes, hashtags, tweets, shares, and snaps, online privacy might seem non-existent. So, what is all this fuss about?
In the digital age, digital information is money, and online cybercriminals search for people from whom they can rob them of their personal information.
After stealing your personal information and online identity, they might have access to your bank accounts, obtain loans in your name, and destroy your credit rating.
What Is Online Privacy?
Online privacy is also known as internet privacy. It refers to how much your personal information is exposed to the internet. This can be through web browsers, social media applications, or any other services linked with the internet. Experts believe that the data we save on the internet for our convenience is exposed to cyber theft.
To understand the severity of this problem, the total number of data breaches that have been reported publicly in the US in September 2021 surpasses last year’s total cases by 17%.
In the digital era, sharing information online has become a norm, but people should understand that the more they share information, the more they are exposed to cyber data theft.
Must Read: 9 Surprising things You can hide with a VPN
Why Is Online Privacy Important?
The importance of online privacy can be understood if you try to create a mental list of the personal things you are prepared to share with a stranger.
For sure, you don’t want your medical record, bank statements, bank account, your home address, your social security number to be exposed to a total stranger.
In fact, even if you are visiting torrent websites like pirate bay, you risk exposing your personal information to the cyber-criminal. No matter what steps you take online, you must ensure that your every step is secured.
Major Online Privacy Issues
Online privacy issues cover a wide bandwidth. Start with the information you mind sharing online (social media accounts) and targeted ads to public embarrassment and breaches that affect your life.
Let’s look at the most controversial privacy-invading practices.
1. Social Media Data Harvesting
In recent years, social media privacy has hit the headlines of many news channels because of several scandals – including the Cambridge Analytica story where they use data to manipulate voters. This shows how your data is exposed on the social media platform.
2. Search Engine User Tracking
Search engines are one of the best products on the internet. They are the ones who have helped us with every problem. But, what are they doing in the list of online privacy issues?
The truth is that search engines not only log the data you are looking for but also track your movement on other websites.
3. Cookies That Tracks Your Movement Online
We all know cookies are responsible for storing data to make your internet surfing smoother. But the same data storage becomes problematic when a vast amount of data is stored without the users’ consent.
4. Identity Theft
Identity theft has not been new. It existed even before the advent of the internet. But the technology has opened up new avenues for the online con artist. Online identity theft happens when a cybercriminal accesses your personally identifiable information to commit fraud.
Protect Your Personal Information Online
It is hard to see days pass by without any data breaches making headlines. Unfortunately, data breaches have become more common than any other crime. And the worst part is that it will continue to grow.
The only way to stop any personal information leakage online is to take constructive actions.
- Create strong passwords.
- Don’t overshare your social handles.
- Avoid using the free wifi.
- Watch out for suspicious links and attachments.
- Use antiviruses.
- Take help from a VPN to mask your IP Address.
Tell Me More!
Online security and online privacy have been a major concern for experts. In fact, it will remain a major concern in the near future because of its nature.
The more time passes by, the more digital society becomes. This might be convenient in many ways, but it certainly exposes us to cyber data theft and insecure online identity and privacy.
That’s it for this article. If we are up for more discussion, we are ready. Contact us, and we can have a valuable discussion.
