Living in an era where
technological innovations are emerging, we are faced with intensive use of
internet technology. This has naturally led to questions about the privacy of
users.
Online privacy has in
the past decade been a major issue with the rise of social media. Although most
websites and services online offer a privacy policy, this has not deterred the
rise in negative problems such as data theft and tracking of browsing
activities online. In this piece, we will discuss the impacts of technology on
your privacy when using the internet.
Rise in Identity Theft and tracking on
Social networks
Keeping vital
information such as passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal
identification documents online can be risky.
Identity Theft has
become a major problem with the rise of information available on the internet
and advancement in technology. There have been cases of stolen information used
by cyber-criminals to perpetrate fraud and in some cases commit serious money
laundering crimes.
There has also been a rapid rise in the theft of mobile phone accounts which criminals use to retrieve details like one time passwords and bank alert details of unsuspecting victims.
One way to combat this
rising trend is to keep your phone number and primary email address private.
You can achieve this by using a secondary email for your social networks and
never share your phone number. This will save you from a lot of spam and unpleasant
calls.
The reality is that
social networks also contain a lot of information about you and it will be best
if you utilize proper privacy settings. We recommend you spend a few moments
checking your privacy settings. It will benefit you by protecting your
information and preventing intruders.
Usage of Free WiFi services/Public WiFi
The presence of free
WiFi in public areas and relaxation centers like a cafe or restaurant has
increased tremendously. Unfortunately, this has led to more cyber-criminals building
interest in such areas. Therefore, never connect to unsecured public networks.
In addition, you should beware of rogue Wi-Fi networks that mimic the name of
popular companies or organizations but have nothing to do with them.
One way to browse securely on public networks is to use a virtual private network or VPN service.
A VPN uses secure encrypted networks to ensure that you stay anonymous
when browsing online.
VPNs also offer servers
across the world which you can select to assume a new IP address and access
geo-locked contents.
Some VPN service
providers offer an added layer of protection with firewall features to prevent
malware from getting into your internet devices.
Increase in Unwarranted Storage of browsing
information
When you browse the
internet, information such as your operating system, IP address and browser
history are provided. You may have also visited websites pages that ask
for permission to allow cookies.
These pages use cookies
to provide special internet experience on their websites. However, there are
tons of malicious websites that use these cookies to track your browsing
history. In addition, there are corporations that track what you do with the
web. These companies are called data agencies and what they do is to sell your
browsing data to advertisement agencies.
One way to prevent these
problems is by using incognito mode when using a public or shared internet
connections. Although it does not make you totally invisible, it eliminates
your fingerprints by not storing browsing history, login, username, passwords,
cookies, or download history.
Conclusion
Technology will always
be a major part of our daily lives due to the immense potentials and
applications it offers. However, you need to take measures to guarantee your
privacy anytime you are online.
