Three essential techniques that can help protect your online privacy

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With all the global racket around NSA’s spying activities, the “six strikes” anti-piracy initiative, and the ever-multiplying targeted ads on the Internet today, protecting your online privacy should remain your number one priority.

While no amount of preparation can prevent a determined hacker from stealing into your system or your online accounts, there are three simple techniques for protecting your online privacy and deterring digital malevolence:

• Make sure that your line to the Internet is secure. People make the destructive mistake of assuming all public WiFi networks are secure. If you can’t avoid using public unsecured WiFi, then at least refrain from accessing your sensitive accounts like online bank accounts and email accounts while on it. Or use a virtual private network, a VPN, which serves as an encrypted tunnel that will prevent hackers and thieves from accessing your data while online.

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• Don’t place sensitive data on the cloud. Although cloud services like SkyDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive give you the convenience of having access to your files 24/7 anywhere, your data, although protected by some layer of encryption, can easily be accessed by the government provided that they come up with the legal justification to do so.

• Take advantage of two-stop authentication. By using this on many of your online accounts, you cover them with another layer of protection. The system requires a short numeric code entered with your password before giving you access to your account. The code comes from an authentication device or a smartphone app such as Google Authenticator, which is available on most smartphones.

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More links and articles about information security and protecting sensitive information can be found by accessing this Twitter page for the InfoSec Institute.

Identity theft: Compounded by social media

One of the biggest problems of a society that relies heavily on information is identity theft, which is stealing and using another person’s identity to obtain access to resources. This is not to say that identity theft is unique to the information age. It is a malaise that has been around for decades.

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However, it is only due to readily available personal information on the Internet that this criminal act is seeing a rapid resurgence.

How far can the dangers of identity theft go?
 
A person’s identity is a marker of all his activities and means. An identity thief steals a person’s personal information, which allows him to assume another identity for personal ends. The thief can steal credit card information to purchase things without the victim knowing, sinking the latter deeper into credit card debt, or perform criminal acts that can potentially put the victim behind bars should he be held accountable for the perpetrator’s actions. Terrorists can also use stolen information and assume the identity of a government official to gain access to restricted government or military information.

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What does social media have to do with it?
 
Social media by itself is not the cause of the recent rise in identity theft—it’s the combination of social media sites’ lack of privacy measures and most users’ proclivity to post all of their personal information online: full names, personal phone numbers, home addresses, or even passwords. Many Facebook users don’t even have their profiles set to private, and this is basically an open invitation to identity thieves.

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Although there is no sure-fire way to prevent identity thieves from getting their hands on others’ personal information, limiting personal information visible online can be a great deterrent.

The InfoSec Institute is one of the US’ leading information security training institute. For more information about the institute, visit this website.