5 Simple Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy Today

Let’s be clear: There is no privacy on the Internet. There could always be someone watching where you go and what you do online. And if you think you don’t have anything to hide or are not important enough to be spied on, you may have to change your mind.

In fact, for those who are interested in monitoring you-advertisers, governments, etc.-everyone is equally important. So it doesn’t matter who you are, whether that’s a student, businessman or a superstar.

Once you open your browser, you put your private information at risk of being exposed, or even worse, hacked.

Computers, smartphones and tablets are so ingrained in our everyday lives, it’s hard to imagine life without them. For younger people (18-29), technology has always been a part of their lives and they can’t imagine life without its conveniences. Older computer users have incorporated technology step by step as it became necessary to accomplish certain tasks such as shopping, banking or getting information online.But how do people feel these days about all the technology that surrounds, enhances and invades their lives? A poll by the Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor attempted to get some insights into American thoughts about our digitally enhanced lives. Here’s what the survey revealed:

Thirty-nine percent of respondents said that the ability to access information, from anywhere and at any time, has made their lives better.

Many people say having the flexibility to work remotely is one of technology’s major benefits.
Only 7% of those surveyed thought shopping online and streaming music or movies were the best parts of the Internet.
A great number of people fear that we are all slowly losing our privacy.

Privacy concerns.

Even though most people who go online are getting something positive out of it, a growing percentage of Americans are NOT happy with one byproduct of living so much of their lives online—the reality, or perception, of a loss of privacy. The survey revealed insights into how people feel about that:

Only 17% surveyed said that they didn’t have any real privacy concerns.
Nearly half, 44%, feel strongly that the Internet and other technological advances have invaded their privacy.
The remaining 34% had mixed feelings, but admitted that they do go online and hope for the best.

How a Secure Email Service Can Help Protect Your Privacy

Let’s say you want to send your financial information to your tax advisor. You obviously don’t want anyone else to see that message, so you put it in a locked box and give the key to your intended recipient to ensure only they can unlock the box and read its content.

A secure email service works kind of like that locked box. When you use a secure email service, you can protect your messages by using encryption. Encryption is like a secret code that makes your messages unreadable to anyone who doesn’t have the key. This helps protect your privacy and keep your messages safe from prying eyes.

In addition to encryption, secure email services often have other features that can help protect your privacy, such as anti-phishing measures and advanced spam filters. These features make it harder for someone to intercept your messages, hack into your email account or steal your personal information.

Protecting Yourself from Ads, Tracking and Surveillance

The rise of cyber crime and data leaks have contributed to the emergence of various secure email providers. Each focuses on different security attributes to protect your inbox from intruders and spam.

If you want to do more to protect your emails, we recommend using the service offered by StartMail. StartMail’s user-friendly platform makes encrypting emails to anyone easy (even if they don’t use encryption themselves). And they support IMAP/SMTP connections so you can set it up on your mobile device. The company is based in the Netherlands and subject to the stringent privacy policies of the EU. Another unique feature is that you can create unlimited email aliases – disposable email addresses that act as a shield for your real email. They let you sign up for services, register for coupons, or communicate with others without giving away your main address. Other providers limit the number of aliases you can create, but with StartMail you can generate as many as you want.

Every single one of us relies heavily on email to communicate and remain connected. To safeguard our sensitive data and prevent unwanted access to our emails, it is vital that we finally recognize the importance of email privacy.

TRY STARTMAIL NOW

With hackers getting smarter and surveillance growing stronger, all Internet users should know how to protect their privacy in the digital world. While the privacy protection cost may vary depending on the tools and services you choose, investing in your online safety is increasingly important.

Facial Recognition: A Glimpse Into the Future or a Privacy Invasion?

How facial recognition software works

There are 3 basic types of technology used in facial recognition:

Detection finds a face in an image. Think of the auto-focus feature on a camera. This simply finds a face, it does not identify the person behind it.
Analysis (aka attribution) maps facial features and the relation of one feature to another. For example, the distance between the eyes, how someone’s chin is shaped, the distance between the mouth and nose. That data is then converted into a “faceprint.”
Recognition is the process of matching an identity to a person in a photo.

Problems with facial recognition

In the age of the Internet, the public’s awareness of the ethical grey areas in biometrics began in 2014 when Edward Snowden released documents showing the extent to which the US government was collecting images to build a database. These privacy concerns don’t stop at your phone or social media. They can also follow you when you travel, which is why digital rights at the border have become such an important part of the broader privacy conversation.

An organization called Clearview AI made news last year when it was revealed that they regularly ran their software against a database of photos scraped from sources across the Internet, including news sites, employment sites, and social media.

Implications for facial recognition in 2021 and beyond

Like any technology, there are all kinds of implications both positive and negative for facial recognition. It’s good that our awareness is raised around civil liberties issues. Do we really want the government, Apple, Samsung, and dozens of corporations knowing what we’re doing and who we’re doing it with at any given moment? Is privacy even possible for anyone these days?

You can take steps to help safeguard your personal information. They revolve around keeping a lower profile on social media sites and limiting what and how much you share online. To stay safe, it’s essential to understand how to protect your privacy online and minimize digital risks.

Here are five tried-and-trusted tips on how you can make your online life more private and safe.

1. Use strong passwords

Passwords keep your online data secure and that’s why you should be creative with them. Using your pet’s name, your birth date, “12345” or “password” as a passwords is never a good idea. Figuring out that information is a piece of cake for hackers.

And that’s not all.

Don’t use the same password for all your accounts. If you have many of them, it may be a good idea to get a trustworthy password manager, that will generate a strong and secure password for every website you log into.

2. Enable two-factor authentication

Many of popular online services allow you secure your accounts with two-factor authentication (2FA). However, this effective security feature is still rarely used by most people.

Here’s why you should give it a close look.

Using 2FA adds an extra layer of security to your account, making it even difficult for cybercriminals to get in. If they still somehow manage to discover your carefully created password, with 2FA your account will remain protected, and they won’t be able to break in.

3. Update your software and apps regularly

Yes, those software update alerts you get can be annoying, but they keep popping on your screen for good reason. These updates often include security patches that are necessary to secure your device from cyber threats. So if you ignore those updates, you put your privacy and sensitive information at huge risk.

Don’t postpone them. Be sure to install them.

4. Be cautious on public Wi-Fi

Public Wi-Fi hotspots provided at cafes, hotels, and shopping malls are sure convenient. However, connecting to them puts you at risk of having your sensitive data stolen. These public networks are usually poorly protected, making it extremely easy for hackers to intercept your Internet traffic and steal anything they want-such as your passwords or credit card details.

You probably won’t listen if we tell you not to use public Wi-Fi, so the best you can do to stay safe on unsecured networks is to use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN. It will hide your IP address and encrypt your Internet traffic, so no cyber criminals will be able to hack it. IP protection is an formidable ally.

That gets us to the last and best tip.

5. Secure your Internet traffic with a VPN

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are by far the most reliable tools to protect users’ privacy online. A VPN acts as a secure gateway to the Internet: it hides your IP address and sends all your traffic via an encrypted tunnel, so no one, not even your ISP, can see what you are doing online. In practical terms, how to hide IP address comes down to changing what websites and services can see as your network “return address.”

With a VPN account on or “enabled,” you can connect to the Internet without a worry that someone else online is looking over your shoulder. All you have to do is open a VPN account and connect to any of the special servers they offer throughout the world.

Yes, it’s that easy.

Just be sure to choose a reliable VPN provider, such as NordVPN.

NordVPN uses military-grade security protocols to encrypt your data and they don’t keep any logs of your online activities. On top of that, they offer a many extra security features and allow you to protect up to six different devices with one single account subscription.

BONUS: Common Sense.

Last, but not least, don’t forget to use online common sense: Don’t click on pop-ups, don’t open suspicious emails and attachments, don’t overshare on social media, and provide very personal information only when necessary.

National Privacy Test to Protect Your Data

How does your cybersecurity knowledge compare to other people in the world? Are you practicing proper online safety? Are you aware of the risks you face daily and how to avoid them? These are all questions you’ll answer when you take the National Privacy Test.

Created by NordVPN, the National Privacy Test measures your knowledge about digital safety and online risks. Your score reveals how your online safety awareness stacks up against others in your country and in the world. You’ll also get some useful tips as you go through the test.

The National Privacy Test is very simple and completely free. You might be pleasantly surprised at how conscientious you are about cybersecurity–or you may find some areas where your online safety is lacking. Either way, it’s a great opportunity to improve your digital awareness.

Interpreting your score

Once you finish the National Privacy Test, you’ll be able to see your results. Your score is shown as a percentage that represents how competent you are when it comes to online safety and risk awareness.

In order to assess how good your score is, you can compare it to others in your country, gender, age group, industry, and marital/family status. This information is collected at the end of the test, so you’ll be contributing to these averages by answering these final few questions.

How to take the National Privacy Test

Follow these simple steps to take the National Privacy Test:

Click on this link to take you to the test page.
Answer all of the questions honestly, including the final demographic questions. This helps improve the accuracy of the test averages.
Once you finish the test, you’ll be taken to a page with your test results along with the average scores for various groups.
Take a few minutes to go through your responses and evaluate where you need to make improvements to your cybersecurity knowledge.

Taking the National Privacy Test will only take you a few minutes, and it’s certainly time well spent. Knowledge is power. You’ll be able to pinpoint specific areas where your online safety is at risk and can take action to fix them. Revamping your cybersecurity could save you from a future internet threat so you don’t become a victim of identity theft.

All this adds up to better online privacy and security…when you add NordVPN.

Get NordVPN Now