3 Effective Ways to Protect Your Digital Presence Online
It seems like every few months or so, another major data leak will make the news. These breaches are not just impacting mom-and-pop companies; large websites and businesses like LinkedIn, Target, Yahoo, and many others have suffered leaks at the hands of cybercriminals.
Fortunately, it is possible to take a proactive approach to these cybercrimes and protect your digital presence online, as well as your sensitive information like your Social Security number, banking information, and more. For example, the following three products and services can help to keep your personal information as safe as possible.
An Identity Protection Plan
When you think about cybercriminals working around the clock to try to access peoples’ personal data, you could very easily get a good case of the creeps — and for good reason. Fortunately, you don’t have to stay up all day and night watching your accounts for any issues; an identity protection plan will do this for you and more.
For example, LifeLock offers identity theft protection that uses innovative technology to keep your credit, good name, and finances safe. If something is detected, it will send you alerts to let you know, and if identity theft does take place, the company will help resolve the issue. As a bonus, this type of service is very affordable; you can check out the LifeLock plans and prices and then choose the best fit for you and your wallet.
Get a Password Manager
Most websites require both a user name and a password; as you probably know quite well, the password is typically supposed to be about eight characters long, with capital and lower case letters, at least one number, and a symbol. If you regularly visit more than one site, you might be tempted to use the same password over and over so you can have a good shot at remembering it. Of course, this practice is frowned upon because if a cyber crook gains access to this single password, he or she will have a field day accessing all of your accounts.
To help prevent this from happening, you should invest in a password generator tool, which will create complex and random passwords that even the most clever cybercriminal will not be able to guess. LastPass will automatically create the password for you, and then securely save it for you. You can then access your passwords from any device, as long as you correctly log onto the LastPass website.
Say Sayonara to Google
Major search engines like Google will track your searches and then send you ads that pertain to your online activity. To help avoid this and keep your online activity as private as possible, change your default search engine to DuckDuckGo. This free download will offer you privacy protection that will allow you to search for whatever you want to buy online without the browser keeping tabs on what you are doing.
These Digital Watchdogs Can Be Your New Best Friend
You have worked hard to build up a good credit score and you pay your bills on time. The last thing you need is for your personal data to be accessed and used in nefarious ways—but you also deserve to spend time online without having to worry. By investing in an identity protection plan and password manager and downloading a new default search engine, you will figuratively have three digital watchdogs at your service, helping to keep your online presence safer and more secure.
This article has been published in accordance with Socialnomics’ disclosure policy.
