Much of our jobs and social interactions occur online these days. In fact, we spend so much time online that many jobs in the near future will be jobs that could take place completely online.
However, this positive impact of technology has resulted in the growth of another evil – data breach. You see, many of these companies online gather our data and this data is very valuable. It is for this reason that data breaches and social engineering attacks have risen.
So, below are some myths about online privacy that could be keeping you far from being secure online.
Private browsing offers online security
To put it lightly, going incognito online only ensures that your search history when is not saved or logged. Simply put, they delete your browsing history and that’s it.
Your IP address, virtual locations and other valuable information still remain recorded and can easily be tracked. So, going incognito means nothing if you want to keep your online identity anonymous.
VPN guarantees online privacy
Virtual Private Networks are no doubt a better way of keeping your online privacy intact and many do a great job of establishing a secure and private connection. However, remember that some these VPN service still keep a record of your online activity, which defeats the purpose of the VPN anyway. So, the VPN company, if it does not have a no logs policy, could still use your data for nefarious purposes. If you decide on VPN, choose one with a no logs policy in its terms and conditions.
Public Wi-Fis with passwords are safe
Public Wi-Fis are a great feature in the modern world. They help keep us connected wherever we are: in schools, airports, hotels, stadiums.
However, it is often not uncommon for public Wi-Fis to be a hunting ground for hackers. Through disguising their hacks as original networks, they can gain access to your online activity. And public Wi-Fis with passwords are still a great risk because remember, the password is widely shared, so it is not much safer than that without.
When out in public, consider cellular data. If not, then do not log into social or personal accounts on a public Wi-Fi. Neither should you enter financial information or make financial transactions on a public Wi-Fi.
Hackers target rich people
Early in the days of the internet, there is no doubt that rich people were the major targets for hackers. The aim of the hackers was to try and siphon money from the rich people.
Right now, while we still do have hackers who hack to try and steal money, either directly or through ransom demands, many hackers target any vulnerable person and this is because of one thing – data. Data is a very valuable commodity right now and thus many hackers stand to get a lot more money selling your data than they do demanding ransom. It is for this reason that we are all vulnerable to security attacks.
Online privacy and security needs you to do a lot of things different from what you do now.
