The posts you interact with, the sites you browse, and the things you are talking about are being heard and seen online. Social media platforms and search engines use this data to understand your preferences to push content and ads accordingly.
But apart from these, others can be snooping on you as well. Therefore, it is best to be aware of what you reveal about yourself. Sharing your home address with a representative from the Cox internet customer support number or the helpline of your ISP is one thing. But sharing your whereabouts on the internet is completely different and can land you in trouble. Therefore, it is best to change your browsing habits and take measures to protect your identity online.
Here are the things you can do:
Do Not Reveal License Plates and Addresses
Whether you are posting a photo on Instagram, a short video on TikTok, or a Snapchat story, make sure that your number plates and addresses are hidden. The posts you add to social media reach a lot of people. Your friends, colleagues, and even their friends can see whatever you post. Also, online friends can be all types of people. Revealing this info can put your safety at risk. It may reach a stalker or someone else who means to harm you.
It is best to carefully view every photo and video you are about to share. If your car’s number or home address is visible, do not upload those posts. It is best to crop the portion that reveals your personal info or cover it with stickers. This way you can avoid sharing such info.
Never Share Whereabouts
A lot of social media users have a habit of checking in to different places on social media. Sharing locations on Snapchat and other social networks and even sharing status updates and stories of such locations account is the same phenomenon. The problem with doing this is that people would know where you are. You may be approached by someone who you don’t want to see. Also, people can know that you are not at home. In any of these situations, you can put yourself at risk.
When you have fun somewhere or at some event, you can upload photos and stories the next day. This way, you can share exciting posts on social media without sharing your current whereabouts. Also, it is best to disable the location sharing option on Snapchat.
Create Anonymous Accounts for Rants
If you use social media accounts to rant about your job, institution, or anything like that, it may cause you trouble. Hiring managers may look you up on social media before having you onboard. Even if you said something years ago, it may come to haunt you. Searching for your name along with words from anything you said can bring posts from years back.
So, what you should do instead is to be careful when saying anything online. It is best because people online won’t have much against you. But if you still want to rant, it is best to create anonymous accounts. Do not reveal your name, photos, or anything that can trace back to your identity. Also, avoid sharing anything too specific. In this way, you can enjoy using the platform of your choice for rants.
Use VPNs for Browsing
When you are browsing the internet, there are many harmful websites you may come across. There are sites called exploit kits that can make you install malware and ransomware. Therefore, it is best to be careful while browsing such sites like not clicking on shady offers.
Installing and using a VPN connection can mask your trail. A VPN can cover your online trail and save you from unwanted eyes. Therefore, getting a VPN connection is advisable for safe browsing and protecting your identity. Get a subscription to a service and do not use the free version. The free versions make your connection slow and may gather your browsing data. So, it is another thing you should do to protect your privacy.
Set Multiple Factor Authentication
Unauthorized access to your accounts is one of the worst things you can imagine. To save yourself from such a situation, it is best to set strong passwords that include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. Such strong passwords are difficult to guess.
Further, you can enable two-factor authentication on all your profiles. This way even if someone finds out your password, they will still need the OTP (one-time password) to break into your account. And that password is only shared to your email address and phone number. So, your OTP can save you from a lot of unauthorized logins and other issues.
