5 Things You Should Stop Doing Online To Maximize Your Online Privacy
Nowadays, the internet has become an essential part of our everyday lives. We’ve all grown accustomed to all of the convenience it brings into our personal and business ventures. But, only a small portion of privacy-oriented users pay attention to the intricate ways of how this process works. The majority of online-goers have become used to certain patterns of behavior without really understanding how certain features work underneath. That’s why, in this week’s Zlog, we’ll take a look at five things most internet users do regularly but should stop doing.
Saving Passwords in Your Browsers
This is such a common feature that most online users forget that there’s an alternative to doing so. But, even though almost every browser comes with this feature, saving passwords is deffinitely one of the biggest things you Should Stop Doing Onlin. In fact, as a service that specializes in helping its users enhance their online privacy and security, we would argue that you should never click on the option to save your password in the browser.
The biggest and most obvious reason why you should never save your password is that the built-in password managers aren’t as secure as users think. The data is usually saved in plain text format without any encryption. This means that with a little time and skill, an intruder can easily get a hold of every password you’ve saved in the browser.
Using Instant Log-in Features
Just like password browser managers, instant log-in buttons are a very common thing on sites owned by Google and Facebook. Although using an automatic log-in does seem like a very convenient feature and a huge time-saver, you need to sacrifice a lot of privacy to enjoy it. Online privacy-enthusiasts who prefer to keep their details as anonymous as possible should stay far away from these features. This is mainly because using instant log-in features will allow companies to build a detailed profile on you. They can later use it to accurately target ads to you and get out more information than you would initially be willing to share.
Leaving Cookies After You Finish Your Session
Most websites need cookies to function properly and allow you to use all of their features. While these tools were very useful when they first came out two and a half decades ago, nowadays they also present a potential privacy risk. This is because they come with barely any encryption that keeps them safe from ending up in the wrong hands. There are several methods of committing fraud through HTTP cookies, of which the most notable are cross-site scripting, session fixation, and cookie tossing attacks.
Since you can’t entirely disable cookies because the site won’t function properly, there are a few options you can go for. You can delete cookies manually every time after you’ve done using a site or use a reliable browser extension that will do that for you.
Scrolling Past T&Cs
Most of us don’t pay any attention when it comes to Terms and Conditions. We see them as just another annoying step in the process of activating a new product or service. But, in today’s environment, just scrolling past pages of T&Cs without paying attention to any of the fine print can cause you serious damage. Fortunately, there are still ways you can get a feel of what the T&C is about, even if you don’t have the patience to read through the entire thing.
While glancing over the Terms and Conditions page, you can only pay attention to keywords such as “information,” “data,” or “third party.” These can be telltale signs that can help you get a better understanding of what you’re about to accept without having to read the entire thing. Besides this simple way of telling, you can visit T&C helper sites that are created especially this purpose. There you can find policies of many services summarized into layman terms.
Easily Sharing Your Email
Unless you plan on actively using your website or plan on committing to a service for an extended period, you should go about sharing your email on every site you create a profile. A disposable email address does require a bit of time to create, but when you have one, you can use any service without having to worry about any of your real information leaking to the internet.
If you’re doing any of the five things we talked about above, your online privacy and security could be at risk. Of course, there are many more potential threats out there that you cannot account for at all times. That’s why, if you’re looking to maximize your online safety, the best way to go about it would be to get a VPN service. Our affordable subscription plans start at only a couple of bucks per month and can go a long way into ensuring your safety and anonymity in the ever-changing online world.
Yaroslav S.CEO at ZoogVPN. Yaroslav is a versatile manager with extensive customer support experience. His historical background and a deep passion for philosophy perfectly complete a real desire to create meaningful content and tech products.
