Lifestyle

How To Be Safe Online

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In a world where technology pretty much dominates our day to day lives, online privacy is very much at the forefront. From the apps on our phones to our personal laptops and iPad’s, we seem to only increase our chances of falling victim to hackers and fraudsters. So how can we be safe online and protect your online privacy from the dark side of the web? 

Online Privacy

Anti-Virus/Anti Spy Ware Software

It’s one piece of software that you should have activated on all of your devices and that’s a firewall. Firewalls are important because they block most attempts at hacking or allowing a virus to infect the device you are using. If you don’t have one then you leave yourself wide open when surfing the web, so get one! There’s plenty that offer the software at one cost for multiple devices so there’s really no excuse.

 

Avoid Dodgy E-mails

It’s one of those things you’d think no one does but more often than not, cases of viruses or individuals getting scammed out of thousands of pounds tends to be via e-mail. Things to look out for when it comes to ‘dodgy e-mails‘ are checking the email address itself. Often official looking e-mails will have minor changes to the email address to throw you off.

Never give any bank details or personal details over e-mail especially when it comes to your online banking or websites that hold your payment details like Amazon or eBay.

 

Online Shopping

Most of us shopaholics have converted to shopping online rather than spending our time wading through clothes aisles or doing thousands of steps trekking up and down shopping centres on multiple levels.

Always check the website to see if it’s secure and has been approved by relevant bodies such as Trust Pilot.

 

Change Passwords Regularly

I can already hear you urghh-ing from your seat. It’s a mundane task but regularly changing your passwords on all sites that hold financial or personal information is important for your online safety. I know we’re not meant to write them down but there’s only so many I can keep track of, so I have them in various places that only I know about.

 

Use Finger Print & 2 Step Log In’s

The response to strengthening our online security has also recently led to finger prints and 2 step log in’s. Finger prints are being used on a lot of our mobile apps nowadays if your phone and app both have the finger print option to log in.

The 2 step log in is an extra layer of security to protect your account. It’s on my e-mails and online banking and it sends a code to my phone when I’m logging in, which I then have to input to get into my account. Sometimes it can be a pain if you don’t have your phone to hand but it’s definitely made me feel a lot safer with the apps I use on my phone.

If you have any tips of online privacy, let me know what you feel is a good tip for keeping your personal details safe in the comments below.

 

*Disclaimer – This is a collaborative post. All words are my own.

Online Safety

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