Without hardly noticing, we have entered an era of intense digital surveillance that is already being put to purposes far more alarming than mere digital advertising. In recent years, hundreds of millions of consumers fell prey to data breaches and other digital privacy attacks.
Little bits and pieces of data about people are almost meaningless, individually. But when you can pull it all together, AI techniques can do some remarkable things, such as predictive data analysis and other robust Frankenstein things you can never imagine.
Digital Privacy is a right, not a privilege: So how can you take back your right? Scan through our top 5 picks of how you can browse the internet securely.
Use a VPN for Digital Privacy
To most Ugandans, A VPN is not a new word and what everyone deduces the importance of a VPN is to avoid paying the Over the Top Social media tax and forget that this piece of software can save your privacy online and let you visit all your favorite social media platforms with complete anonymity.
A VPN creates another session between your device, a third-party server, and the public internet. As a result, other users and services cannot trace your activity; your device appears to have the IP address of the VPN server. A VPN, in a nutshell, allows you to:
- To encrypt all data sent and received to protect yourself from hackers.
- Hide your digital traces: surf anonymously to prevent advertisers from targeting you with ads and spam.
- Get around restrictions and firewalls: use a server located in a different region to bypass geo-blocking restrictions on Spotify.
There are many VPN tools out there, but the best VPNs work together with a suite of other security tools to make sure all your needs are covered. We created a list of Bad VPN you should avoid.
Get the right tools to improve your privacy
In addition to a VPN, there are two other essential apps for keeping your online activity private and protected. Antivirus and browser safety tools work to keep your devices free from malware, online snoops, and infected websites.
To keep your devices and browsing history safe, use a browser that can protect you from ransomware, adware, spyware, hacking, phishing, and so much more. Once we curated a list of top five 5 browsers that have the element of digital privacy in mind and you can read through to choose which one is the best option for you.
5 browsers for protecting your privacy in 2019
Always choose apps that use encryption
When you use applications, you expect some level of data privacy. However, the digital space today comes with a lot of drawbacks when it comes to online privacy. The best way to ensure your data and the messages you send through the app are secure is to make sure the app has end-to-end encryption. Encryption will mask all data, protecting it from unauthorized access.
Lockdown your social media activity
Check your Facebook privacy by going to the “Settings” button in the upper right-hand corner. Click on Privacy Settings and review who, apps, platforms and services that can see or use your data. Make sure you have only the right and intended apps connected to your social media accounts and you can read the top 5 social media mistakes we all make and hot to avoid falling into the trap.
What could also escape people’s notice is how frequently a device requires your permission to access information. Anything from your phone’s microphone, your photos, GPS and contacts can be accessed by a third-party application if you’ve enabled that option. If the application does not need that information to function, do not enable any access to your personal data
Do a regular check-up to see if your data is safe
Handy tools like Breachchecker, Haveibeenpwned or BreachAlarm, let you check if you were part of recent data leaks or breaches. It uses a database that has records from almost all compromised data breaches. By running a security check through this tool, you can find out what details were compromised and take action.
