We all have a high dependency on internet connectivity when we're at home or at work We use the Internet to, for example, communicate, shop, bank, play games, and we use tools like Microsoft365 to complete our work tasks. A lot of personal information is shared on the Internet (voluntarily or not) and it's valuable to cybercriminals. Give yourself an immediate cybersecurity boost with these tips:
- Use privacy focused web browsers. Browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, which provides tracking protection by default. Avoid browsers such as Google Chrome, as they look to pass your details to advertisers.
- Practice private browsing. The first thing you can do to help keep your data private while using the Internet is to use the private browsing functionality on your web browser of choice (e.g. InPrivate on Edge, Private Browsing on Firefox and Incognito on Chrome). Some browsers respect your privacy more than others, but private browsing ensures your browsing history, cookies, any information given, and site permissions when you close the session.
- Use tracking blockers. Private browsing only ensures your data is kept private when you close the session. Tracking blockers block websites' attempts to track your sensitive information while you're using the web in the first place. Oh, and make sure you enable the blockers to work on private browsing sessions. Look for "strict" settings to enable in your browser.
- Clean up after your browsing session. If using private browsing isn't practicable for you, you can use your browser settings to clear, for example, your browsing history, download history, cookies, and site permissions.
- Use privacy-focused search engines. Some search engines respect your privacy more than others, but using privacy-focused search engines can minimize the amount of tracking data that are collected while you're searching on the web, such as DuckDuckGo. Avoid search engines such as Google, who collate your searches and data.
- Use temporary email accounts. Private browsing sessions clear any saved information entered into a form from the browser, but email addresses may still be kept by the sites into which you entered them. Temporary email addresses allow you to register for an account with a site and/or service and complete any registration checks before being deleted.
- Use a virtual private network (‘VPN’). Using VPN solutions masks your IP address from the sites you visit and encrypts your data so it can’t be deciphered.