PCMag Security Watch

Big companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have made a lot of money over the years on the back of our browsing habits. Unfortunately, we’ve also given away plenty of personal data voluntarily, as well as against our will, through breaches and hacks. It’s frustrating. Should we all give up and let the powers-that-be keep track of our every online interaction?

Of course not. As PCMag’s Features Editor Eric Griffith writes, there are easy ways for everyone to minimize their online footprints and make themselves harder to track. For example, using a burner phone or an app that creates anonymous phone numbers to make calls and send texts can improve your privacy. Another way to make yourself harder to track and hack is by maintaining a firewall on your home network. In addition to these methods, you should also enable privacy browser extensions, surf in anonymous mode, turn on a VPN, send encrypted emails, avoid clicking on spam links, and lockdown (or eliminate) your social media.

All of these tips are pretty easy to follow, but they add an extra step or two to your online routine. The big companies mining your data hope you don’t have the time or the desire to complete these tasks to stay anonymous online. Show them your privacy is worth the trouble. Take the time today to lock down your online life.

Stay safe,

Kim Key
PCMag Security Analyst

Earlier this year, I spoke with Troy Hunt, the man behind a site named Have I Been Pwned. He posts evidence of data breaches every day on his website. In an excerpt from that interview, Hunt had some advice for anyone who finds their email address or other personal information posted due to a data breach.

Q: So, what kinds of activities should I look out for if my data shows up in a breach?
A: The first thing you want to do is make sure that if there’s a password involved, that password isn’t used anywhere else you would be looking at for people potentially logging into your other accounts. So as opposed to monitoring that, we’d much prefer people to use some good password habits in the first place. Now getting into the most sinister side of things, I’d be more worried about things like identity theft as someone [may have] enough information to take out a loan in my name or try and get a tax refund in my name.

Have you found your information in a data breach? What were your next steps for improving your online security? Let us know in the comments.