Online Privacy Guide (2023)

Read Privacy Policies

To start this section off, let’s talk about privacy policies.

You know, those lengthy contracts you ‘must read’ and sign to use the service, but you probably just skip to the end, check the box and click continue?

Don’t worry, we are all guilty of it.

However, there are times you really should take a moment to see what you are agreeing to, more so when the service requires your personal information and credit card details.

If you just downloaded a gaming app on your phone and it is requesting access to your Google account, contacts, camera, and location, that is not only a big breach on your privacy.

However, this one is totally unnecessary since the game doesn’t require any of that to operate.

In this case, it may be better to just uninstall and find a less intrusive game to play.

Be a little more cautious of what you’re agreeing to and step away from programs you don’t need that are requesting access to too much information.

Avoid Using Dating Sites

I put this second because online dating has exploded in popularity the last few years and the Pandemic has turned it into the only tool to meet people...but did you know that dating sites are one of the biggest collectors of personal information?

Think about it: you upload a picture, sometimes give your real name, your age and height, your city and location, your occupation and how much you make, interests, religion, political stance, if you have or want kids, and so on.

Some sites ask additional questions to help you find a more suitable partner, but the answers you give are also stored and shared as they see fit. Some dating sites may use it internally for studies and articles, while others may sell that information to help advertisers market to you.

Grindr, Tinder, and OKCupid have already been outed for covertly giving away users information, including sexts.

While you may think you are safe because you don’t use your real name, just remember that they can easily associate your dating profile with the real you because of your IP address, device, and browser.

So if you are serious about your privacy, it may be best to avoid dating sites all together.

Update Your Passwords

This is cybersecurity101 yet the majority of the population ignore this very simple, yet sometimes vital, rule. I get it!

You have so many accounts and it can be annoying when you forget one and have to keep resetting it, but look at the big picture.

If you have a short password that consists of just a dictionary word, name, or consecutive numbers, a hacker can crack your password in under a minute with powerful tools that everyone has access to.

If a company has a breach, they may not see your password right away because, lucky for you, most sites would encrypt your password into a hash before it is saved in their database.

Hashes cannot be reversed, and that’s why a site can’t remind you of your password….and that means the hacker can’t decrypt it either, right? Not so fast. If you have a very basic password, chances are, it shows up on a password-hash database like this one and the hacker just has to search for the match.

What Hackers Do With Your Private Data?

After cracking one of your passwords, if the rest of your accounts share that password, the hacker can then easily take over them as well, and even gain access to your most valuable online asset: your email. Once they get into your email, it’s pretty much over since you can’t restore access or reset passwords without it.

You also put yourself at risk for financial fraud and identity theft since they would have all the information they need via your emails, conversations and sensitive documents on your drive.

6.85 Million accounts get hacked every day, which is about 158 accounts every second, so don’t wait until it’s too late to take preventative steps.

You don’t have to change the password of every single online asset you have, but just ensure the accounts that contain more private or sensitive information, like your Emails, Facebook, and financial accounts, are made stronger with a ‘passphrase’ that is unique so that it would take ages to crack.

If you would like to create strong passwords for everything, you can consider a quality password manager. More information on that in the tools section below.

Use Different Emails For Different Things

Continuing on from the last point, your email box can be a wealth of information on you. If you don’t believe me, consider the wealth of information someone could gather on you if they were to browse through your inbox and outbox.

Chances are, they can find your address, phone number, pay stubs with account information, usernames and passwords, tax information, client details, names of those closest to you, and other personal information.

Because almost all your online accounts are connected to your email address, your email is your most valuable asset. If someone manages to take control over that, it can be near impossible to restore all your attached accounts since they would send recovery information to the attached email address, which you no longer have access to.

If you use the same email for all your online past times, and one of the sites you use end up having a data breach, your email’s security has been compromised and all you do and own on it is at risk. One way to check if your email has been included in a breach is to check HaveIBeenPawnd.com.

While a super strong password may be your best defense, it is not foolproof. This is why I would recommend having multiple email boxes.

I would say a good number for the average person is 3 emails: One for work and business, one for sensitive and financial things, and one for social media, newsletters, and so on.

This way, if you need to use an email to sign up for something, you can use your more casual address instead of the one that contains all your sensitive information.

I would even recommend creating a throwaway email for signing up for freebies, newsletters, and contests, as it is bound to get filled with spam sooner or later, and who really has time to sort through all that?

Another benefit to having multiple emails is that you can use each email as a recovery email for the other. If one does manage to get hacked, you can restore access through your other email account.

Choose Stricter Security and Privacy Settings

On many social media platforms, you have the option to change your privacy settings. This may include making your profile private, limiting who can follow you, and hiding your birthday and  email address.

If you don’t recall ever changing these settings, you’re probably using default settings which tends to be public for everything.

That means any posts you’ve written or anything you said could be seen by anyone across the web.

Some sites like Facebook regularly update or change their settings, so it’s always good to check now and then and make sure your privacy settings are set to what you want.

For maximum security, keep your profile to “Friends only” and ensure posts are not being shared publicly. If you are a public figure or your goal is to be an influencer, having private accounts may not be an option.

If this applies to you, I would recommend having two separate accounts. One for handling the public, and one for your friends and family.

This can give you your own safe place  away from the public eye and prevent your loved ones from being harassed by haters. As your fame continues to increase, you may become a target for hackers and stalkers, so keeping things separate can prevent bigger issues if they manage to get into your account.

If you still choose to only have one profile, just make sure you aren’t giving too much personal or revealing information through your content.

Avoid Befriending Strangers Online

This suggestion is mostly for Facebook users.

There was a time when people once aimed to have the most amount of friends, and while this is no longer a trend, there are still many people sending friend requests to strangers and many individuals accepting those requests.

While not every friend request may come from a person with malicious intent, this is a huge security and privacy risk. Once you accept a stranger into your friend group, all your privacy settings go out the window and they will now be able to view everything on your profile.

This is a great position for cyber criminals as they can gather information on you and work on creating a phishing scam that you would fall for, or attempt a romance scam since they know what you like.

With enough information, they can work on hacking your account, or spend a day creating an identical account to impersonate you that your friends would happily accept without thinking twice. They can then send your friends phishing links that can be used to scam them or install malware onto their computer.

Adding a stranger may seem innocent at first, but you are putting your own privacy and your friend’s privacy at risk. Tools can only protect you so much if you aren’t also making an effort to protect yourself. Be a ‘Human Firewall’.

Look Up Yourself Regularly

When’s the last time you Google searched yourself? As silly as it may sound, I actually recommend doing this a couple times a year for privacy and security reasons.

You may come across a new site that has your contact information, or see a photo that you thought was privately posted. You may even find an account with your name and picture that isn’t yours, and now you can take action to remove that impersonating account.

When doing this, be sure to use an incognito window so you can see what the world sees. Even if you can’t remove certain information, it is important to be aware of what is out there about you. Cyber criminals love to use open sources like search engines to gather information on their targets.

So if you can find that information first and work on removing them from the web early, you can prevent possible hackings and scams, and people can’t find information to blackmail or cancel you later.

Delete Old and Unused Accounts

The longer you’ve been using the internet, the more likely you have email accounts, social media pages and other online accounts that you have completely forgotten about and abandoned.

Perhaps you used MySpace or Tagged a decade ago and shared some personal information and pictures on there.

Maybe you even shared stories on Tumblr and Wattpad that you now find cringey and embarrassing. Or maybe you made a single purchase on a small online shop and don’t intend to buy from them again.

While you may have moved on from these accounts, that doesn’t mean that your information on them isn’t there and doesn’t exist. Again, the more information about you that is spread out on the net, the more your privacy and security is compromised.

Looking up yourself may help you uncover some of these accounts, but other times, you may have to go to the far ends of your oldest email’s inbox to find them. Either way, if you’re not using them, find them and delete them. If you can’t access the account anymore, you can send the site an email and ask for it to be removed.

Use Strong Security Questions

Even with the strongest passwords, hackers may still gain access to your account just by answering a few security questions.

Many sites list very basic security questions to choose from, such as ‘what is the name of your first pet?’ or ‘what elementary school did you go to’. These are things you may have shared on social media or told someone without a second thought. Favourite food, book, show, character?

You may have purchased merch, talk about how much you love them, and make posts about them as well. If a hacker can’t guess your password but has the option to answer a security question, they may just do some research and find the answers they need to gain access.

Thus, when choosing a security question, try to pick one where the answer is something you feel you would have no reason to ever provide nor care to share, like your grandfather’s middle name, or your second childhood crush.

If you can create your own security question, I recommend coming up with something totally random, that only you would know the answer to, such as the first thing you ever stole, your imaginary friend’s last name, or a phobia you’re too embarrassed to tell anyone.

Only Use Encrypted Sites

Another great security tip is to only visit encrypted sites. How do you know if a site is encrypted? Just check for a lock symbol by the URL.

If that is not displayed, you can check the URL itself and see if it says ‘https’ as opposed to ‘http’.

The added ‘s’ stands for secure and is established by using an encryption protocol - most commonly SSL.

The SSL is a vital part of any website and an integral part of its security, if you are asking yourself what is an SSL certificate, or worried how to get one don't because we got you covered.

Most browsers may give you a warning that a site is not secure and ask if you want to still enter it. This is a great time to turn back for safety reasons if you don’t need to visit that specific site.

What Does It Mean When a Site Is Encrypted?

It means that what you do on the site can not be peeked at by others, and that any information you send on it is scrambled up for additional protection.

It also means that security on the owner's side is secure, so it is less likely to be hacked and compromised. You can relax and know that a secured site is less likely to contain viruses, malware, or malicious ads.

So what happens if you do have to visit an unsecured site? Well, visiting one isn’t going to automatically give you problems, but it’s best to be a little more cautious on how you interact with the website. Avoid clicking ads, don’t create an account with your personal information, and definitely don’t buy anything through that site. 

Any big sites, such as Facebook, Amazon and Google should be secured, so if you click on a link and the lock isn’t there, there is a high possibility that it is a fake site created to collect your personal information, so always be on the lookout, and don’t hesitate to back away from unsecured sites.

Related Read: Best Free Antivirus Software

Avoid Public Wi-Fi Connections

Who doesn’t love free wifi? It helps you save your data and thus, helps you save money each month.

It also allows you to do work at your local coffee shop or watch videos while you wait for your flight.

But did you know that simply connecting to an open wifi connection is a huge security and privacy risk?

How? Well, wifi works like a radio. You send signals and information through the air to reach the router, and the router sends you information the same way.

Because your data is sent through waves in the air, anyone nearby can pick up on these too and see what information is being transferred. It’s kinda like using a walkie-talkie and snooping in on a party’s conversation.

They have no idea you’re listening as it doesn’t affect their connection at all. If you happen to sign onto a site, there is a possibility that they can see that information too and walk away with it without you ever knowing.

To make things easier for internet snoopers, there is free downloadable software like WireShark that allows people to see what is going on the internet, and it includes IP and device information, the site they are accessing and the data sent on it. While it was designed for network administrators in mind, anyone can download it and learn to use it.

However, a true cyber criminal has the potential to go above and beyond.

How Hackers Use the Public WI-FI to Trick You?

It isn’t uncommon for them to set up a free wifi connection that looks like something real, and if you connect to it, they can now see everything you do and type on your device. They can then redirect you to impersonating phishing sites to ‘log-in’, dig through your files, or install spyware and ransomware to make use of later.

So, if possible, avoid connecting to public wifi connections. If you need to use them, avoid logging in to accounts, making any financial transactions, or sharing anything personal while on these networks. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want a stranger to see.

Also, if you walk into a shop and there are no signs that mention ’free wifi’, don’t assume the free wifi connection that shows up on your phone is real. It may just be a hacker in disguise waiting for eager wifi users to connect.

Use Fake Accounts and Aliases

The internet is riddled with fake accounts and sockpuppet accounts, and with good reason. It’s a great way to use the internet and access sites without your privacy being at stake.

Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions, I’m not telling you to impersonate someone or create a catfish account.

That is not at all what I’m implying. Rather, you would use a random picture or use a picture of yourself, but don’t use your real name, birthday, city, and other details.

Many people, like myself, may have adopted this method long ago as it’s away to keep our private lives separate, or to avoid people we don’t like from finding us and stalking us. It’s not that we had anything to hide, but you don’t have to worry about your extended family finding out about your Yugioh card collection or your oversized food obsession.

In my case, I didn’t want to use my real last name on line because 1. It was the name of a city and 2. I knew people could use last names to find out where you lived with Yellowpages.

Now, if you do want to go about creating an anonymous or alias account, it does require commitment. Don’t share your real name in comments, don’t tell strangers who you really are, don’t use the same pictures that you use on your real account (reverse image can help connect them), and create a username you aren’t using elsewhere.