Did you know that you leave your digital footprints behind any time you visit a website?

Just as physical footprints can be tracked, your digital footprints can lead to unauthorized access to your online data and expose you to cyber threats. The onus is on you to keep your private data private. But how?

Keep reading as we discuss some essential safety habits for online privacy.

1. Limit What You Share on Social Media

Smiling Woman Browsing on Computer

Social media thrives from sharing data. Yes, it was created for you to share your data, but don't do that at your expense. While sharing data on social media is also deemed as exercising your right to freedom of expression, you need to watch what you share.

Refrain from sharing personal and sensitive information about yourself. Some internet users have fallen victim to blackmail and even identity theft due to what they shared on social media. Determining and limiting what you share of yourself is a proactive step in the right direction to ensure the privacy and security of your data.

2. Manage Your Privacy Settings

A vast majority of internet users are guilty of neglecting privacy settings on web applications.

Internet browsers and social media networks allow you to customize and personalize your privacy settings, thereby helping you manage what you share and what other people get to see about you.

Managing your privacy settings doesn't just give you security but gives you control. This puts you at the advantage of limiting who sees information about you and what type of information they see. With cyber information theft on the steady rise, you need to manage the amount of personal information the public can access.

3. Protect Your Accounts With Strong Passwords

Your password is a personally generated pass-key that grants authorized access to your data. Hence, anyone who knows your pass-key automatically gains access to your private data.

The easier your password, the easier it is for other people to guess it right, exposing you to cyber threats.

Generating strong passwords is a proactive online safety habit that you need to cultivate. One simple way of generating strong passwords includes not limiting the characteristics that make up your password to just alphabets or numerals.

A strong password mixes alphabets, numerals, and even symbols. For example, / - > !. You can also top it up a notch by using a combination of upper and lower-case alphabets. This makes your password hard to guess and ensures your data privacy.

4. Accept Only Vital Cookies on Websites

There is almost no website these days, upon a visit, that you wouldn't see the "Accept Website Cookies' 'pop-up notification. You have the option to accept or decline the cookies.

Website cookies help a website gather information about the user to help the site tailor the user's experience when they return to the site. Thus, website cookies are a form of e-survey tool.

Unlike the world's famous Danish cookies, website cookies are digital, which means they are far from edible. Website cookies are a collation of small pieces of data belonging to users of a website. These pieces of data are stored on the web browser and can be retrieved anytime by the website.

It is crucial to identify which cookies to accept and the ones you should not accept for your data privacy. Because once those cookies are illegally accessed, every data stored in them becomes automatically compromised. You need to practice the habit of only accepting cookies from verifiable websites.

5. Be Careful With Your Interactions on Apps

Smiling Man Playing on Phone

With the modern saying "the internet never forgets", one must tread carefully so as not to divulge more than necessary in interactions on apps.

When you share too much information on social media apps, you expose yourself to stalking, trailing, robbery, and kidnappings. There have been cases where online users became victims of attackers from sharing sensitive information on apps. So, you need to be careful with the levels and extent of your interactions on these apps.

6. Check the Pre-Ticked Boxes When Signing Up for Services

Many online users neglect the pre-ticked boxes and go ahead to click "Accept", without knowing that they have given the website consent access to their personal data.

For instance, when trying to sign up to get an account with Gmail, you'll see a pre-ticked box suggesting you allow the website to save your password. Without unticking the box, your password is automatically saved by the website, and if the website's cybersecurity gets breached, your password and data stored on Gmail are compromised.

When visiting public sites, be on the lookout for pre-ticked call to action buttons. You should know the implication of going with the pre-ticked option and ensure that the website is at least verifiable.

7. Use Encrypted Apps for Messaging

Using encrypted apps for messaging offers you a much higher security advantage over an individual who messages from unencrypted apps.

Encrypted messaging prevents your data from being exposed to unauthorized third-party hackers, thereby curbing digital eavesdropping. It guarantees your security and lays a strong emphasis on your data privacy. Encrypted apps ensure your data is safe and avert the possibility of your data being accessed, monitored, or even retrieved without your consent. Messaging apps like WhatsApp, ThreeMa, and Signal offer the most secure end-to-end encryption.

Double-checking links or URLs before clicking them is a critical online safety habit to imbibe, especially in this day and age when cyberattacks are prevalent.

Double-checking a link before clicking is an efficient, proactive measure that protects your data from being compromised and hacked through malicious links. Malicious links are solely created to wreak digital havoc. People use them to promote scams, hacking, and cyberattacks.

Clicking random links is a hazardous way to surf the internet. It's the surest way of getting you in trouble with Malwares, Viruses, Spyware, and Ransomware.

anonymous cybercriminals email

Ransomware hijacks control of an infected computer and restricts access to its original owner, who might be forced to pay a ransom to regain access to their own data.

Once a computer system or device is infected with Malware, private information like passwords to your various accounts, bank details, and confidential files can be accessed and retrieved by unauthorized individuals.

Attackers use viruses to disable systems and Spyware to monitor real-time digital activities on an infected system. Having your system infected with any of these puts you in a lot of trouble, and the sure way to avoid this is by double-checking links and sent files before you click them or just avoid clicking an unsure link altogether.

Cultivating Safe Online Habits Is In Your Best Interest

Being proactive with your data privacy and security is the way to go. You can start by being intentional with your interactions online.

Data runs the world; that's why individuals and corporate bodies worldwide chunk in a heavy budget to guarantee the privacy and security of their data.

Cultivating these online safety habits innately enables you to look before you leap and think before you click while surfing the web. Protecting yourself online is your responsibility.