How to Effectively Protect Your Information Online

For every app and website we access, portions of our data and personal information are collected often with the intention of providing a more customized user experience, which can have the benefit of improved efficiency. In the new digital age of artificial intelligence, it's now more important than ever before to have a few digital health habits established to protect your personal data, including the following:

1. Think Critically Before Sharing: Every photo and video contains small details about our lives, such as the car we drive, the places we visit, and the view from our backyards. Sharing conversations we've had can also give the internet details about family members and friends that we may not have intentionally wanted to share. Any information we share online can be tracked, saved, and rediscovered by people you wouldn't want to know said information. This can often be prevented by asking yourself: "What information am I sharing in this photo, video, or text?" Double-check to ensure that addresses, card information, and other sensitive data isn't identifiable.
2. Read Privacy Policies: Privacy policies are long, carefully worded documents that are skipped by most users. However, these documents contain the intentions of the website and how they intend to utilize your data. These policies often state what data is being collected and saved, if your data is shared with 3rd party companies for advertising purposes, and if and when your data is deleted for enforced security. By reading privacy policies, you may discover some apps and websites aren't as secure as you once believed.
3. Ask Questions & Speak Up: Thankfully, if you have questions or concerns about an app's privacy policy and data collection policies, you can contact the company and website managers directly and ask for more information. This helps to create a trail of information, as well, in case you believe your data isn't being protected as promised.  Knowing your digital protection rights is essential!
4. Set Secure Passwords: Two-factor authentication and secure passwords that don't rely on easily found information, such as the name of your dog or your child's birthday, are the first and foremost step anyone should take to protect their data, both internally and externally. A secure password contains 20 characters or more, a healthy mix of numbers, letters, and symbols, and is often updated periodically. Consider signing up with a secure password management system to keep your passwords stored safely.
5. Make Privacy Setting Adjustments: Our privacy protection is equally reliant on the permissions we give to websites. You can go into the privacy settings on websites and apps to customize what they have access to on your device. You're also able to disable cookies and pop-ups. The important thing is to never rely on the default settings and to take a few minutes to think if every app or website you use needs access to your contacts, camera, location, and other common permissions.
6. Protect Your Devices Externally: Having two-factor authentication and secure passwords is a great start, but it's also important to be safe about the other devices connected to your phone or computer. Flash drives, hard drives, and other hardware that comes from an insecure source could contain malware. It's important to only download secure software and use trusted hardware, as well as establish child protection blocks on devices to keep your children's identities safe.
7. Use Public Wi-Fi Sparingly: Public networks often don't require a password, which leaves every device connected to that Wi-Fi network susceptible to data harvesting by other connected devices. This is a common way to gain access to saved credit and debit card information on mobile devices, which puts you at a higher risk for credit card fraud.