Sunday 30 April 2017

Tips to Improve Your Online Privacy

The term Internet privacy or online privacy refers to the privacy and security of your personal data that is available online. It includes different technologies and techniques that can be used to protect sensitive data and prevent any unauthorized access to it. Online privacy is important as your information could be misused leading to identity theft and online frauds. Many sites indulge in the online tracking of user activities. While this is primarily to provide a better user experience, you may not realize how much information about you is available to these sites leading to privacy risk. Here is a list of tools that you can use to improve your computer security and online privacy.

Browsers

Did you know that from a privacy point of view Firefox is one of the safest browsers to use? Most browsers collect a lot of user data. This includes popular browsers such as Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer. Some of these browsers do allow you to surf the net incognito. Take a look at other browsers such as Tor and Midori for a more private browsing experience. You can also use browser add-ons for enhanced security. Some popular add-ons are https everywhere and disconnect. These add-ons can help keep you safe from online eavesdroppers and reduce privacy risks.

Search Engines

There are search engines beyond Google and Bing that track far-less user data than their popular counterparts. You can try DuckDuckGo which is a search engine that is gaining increasing popularity.

Messaging

Popular messaging app WhatsApp now allows you to encrypt your messages. Make sure your contacts also switch over to encrypted messaging as it will work only when both sides involved in the conversation use encrypted data. Given that WhatsApp is free and so is its encrypted messaging, there is absolutely no reason why users should not opt for this.

VPNs

When you browse the net directly, a lot of your online activity is available to your Internet service provider. However, you can avoid this by using a VPN. A good VPN can go a long way in enhancing your privacy protection.