How To Monitor Your Information Online

by Mary R.

How To Monitor Your Information Online

How Do I Monitor My Information Online?

The internet has indeed opened doors for multiple opportunities but, in the same manner, it has also opened doors for frauds, hackers, and scammers. With daily information posted on social media, the increasing dependency on websites and applications, we have become complacent with our online privacy and security.

Often times, we take the security and privacy of information for granted and forget to monitor our online information. A few steps in the right direction can save you from hackers and fraudsters. For people who use the internet daily, monitoring information is a necessity. We have made a list of 5 ways in which you can monitor your online information. 

Don't handle sensitive information over Public WiFi:

Information such as social security numbers and banking details should not be shared online. This information should be shared with an individual or firm personally. Sending such information over an email or phone might prove to be harmful. It could lead to identity theft or monetary theft. You have to be careful about sharing such information, and sharing it over public WiFi is a big no. Public networks make it easier for people to hack into their bank accounts. If you have to sign in to your banking accounts use your phone's hotspot. It's a secure way to monitor your information. 

How To Monitor Your Information Online

Creating Strong Passwords for all of your accounts:

With the increasing array of apps and services, it can become hard to keep tabs on all the passwords. But there's a reason these applications need strong passwords. Without them, your accounts could be used by anyone, and hackers can easily be able to access them. Data breaches happen, no matter how secure an application or website claims to be. If you use the same password for all accounts, and one of the companies fall prey to a data breach, a hacker could gain access to all your other accounts. So it's important to have unique passwords for each app. Use a high-quality password manager those are lifesavers. 

Be Smart With Social Media:

We all might be in the same boat as far as social media is concerned. We can't stop sharing things that we find interesting, and we are all guilty of sharing things trolling for likes. It could prove to be deadly. Social media has privacy settings. Use the privacy settings to limit who can see what. Make sure you remain inactive to the public, and that your personal information is shared only with your close friends. And when you want to share something personal next time, make sure whether it's safe to share or not. Make the smarter choice, monitor your social media sharing to ensure privacy. 

Monitoring Information Online
Deactivate unused accounts:

Think back, are there any unused accounts on websites that you don't need anymore? If you still remember the credentials of those accounts, go back, deactivate the accounts. We get multiple emails daily, some bank statements, and other sensitive information. These unused accounts have all of our past emails that weren't deleted. And if someone ever hacks into them, we might not notice until it's too late. It's better to get rid of these accounts. 

Beware Of Phishing scams:

Phishing is an old trick, but a huge part of the online population remains to be unaware of it. It is the hunting ground for scammers and fraudsters. A scammer could send you an email posing as a reputed firm, and provide you with a link to reset your password for the reputed firm's software. When you click on the link, you might install malicious software unknowingly. It allows the scammers to collect information from your device and could lead to identity theft. 

We have seen what happens when you don't monitor your online information. It further proves the need for online information monitoring. Make sure you tackle these things first and remain in control of your information online.