The internet is probably this decade’s most used resource. It wouldn’t come off as a surprise if people choose it over water. People these days can’t even imagine a life without it. We all probably visit our Facebook, sites where we shop online and our YouTube accounts more than we go to our grandma’s house. We are heavily dependent on the internet for connecting with our friends, for managing our businesses, for promoting our talents, for listening to our favorite songs and much more so much so that we live half our lives online. It’s like the internet is a sort of alcohol and we are all addicted. Alas, like the real world, the virtual one is also not a bed of roses. You can’t just hop about carelessly from one site to another without paying attention to the digital footprints that you are leaving behind that can trace back to your identity.
There are several bad people online; criminals and legit companies that can use your information for fulfilling their motives. Not only does that compromise your privacy but it can also pose a risk to your finances. You see many deceptive internet thieves are constantly on the lookout for your credit card information. Most people are naive enough to give out this essential info to any online brand they come across when they make a purchase there. You should always be way pickier than you are when it comes to buying things online. Then there are viruses, malware, phishing scams that post weird things on your behalf when they get ahold of your social media accounts. And don’t think that all legitimate companies are your friends; some of them use cookies to extract your info to feed advertisements of the products that they find relevant to your interests.
So, you see, the virtual world has holes and when wandering around online you need to make sure you don’t fall deep into one. Below mentioned are five moves you can make to protect your information online.