How we can protect our data from hacking

The risk that comes with the comfort of technology is increasing drastically. Over a billion users have had their data hacked in 2018. The largest hack so far was in 2013 when 3 billion Yahoo users had their database hacked. T-Mobile was yet another victim recently, with over 2 million user data hacked into. There are many third parties that gain access to data when you log in to a game or an app. In 2015, the app ‘this is your digital life’ shared user data with third parties like Cambridge Analytica. Facebook gave the app access to user profile data and information on subjects each user was interested in without the user having any knowledge of this.

Business Insider also reported that Facebook had unintentionally uploaded 1.5 million user’s email contacts without their consent, and user phone numbers have been used for ad tracking when it’s only to be used for security. The wall street journal reported in 2018 that Google’s negligence almost exposed user data to various third parties.

There are a few things that can be kept in mind when it comes to protecting your data.

Keep an eye on any leaked personal data
If email ids along with the password gets leaked, then the account can get hacked into and it can lead to credit card fraud or identity theft. You can check if any of your personal data has been leaked on the website www.haveibeenpwned.com.

Password manager
Secondly, never have the same password for everything. There are password managers like Last Pass and 1password that will help you set passwords that are not easy to hack into.

Two-step verification
The two-step verification process is also a way to protect your data.

YubiKey
Using a YubiKey will provide further security and is recommended if the data is very sensitive or important.

Keep Your Apps Updated
Updating apps on the computer is another simple yet beneficial way of keeping data protected.

Turn Off Ad Tracking
Always check if ad tracking can be turned off while using any app so that only limited information is given to advertisers.

Incognito Mode
Some browsers like Firefox Focus always keep the user on incognito mode which shares and retains less data.

Paid VPNs
A paid VPN like ExpressVPN and NordVPN will hide your IP address and internet traffic. This is very useful while using public Wi-Fi.

Keep Track Of Your Credit Card Activity
Lastly, another simple way is to keep checking your credit card activity through your bank.

We cannot control how our data is being used by the large companies, but we can control how much data we let out in the first place.