How to Protect Your Personal Information from Cybercriminals?

Your personal information is an important part of your privacy. If your data falls into the wrong hands, it might cost you loses in terms of financially, reputational, and damage. Data is breached every day, especially in today’s world of cyber terrorism and cyber war. Every day, millions of users’ data is compromised over the internet, and threats are increasing daily. Here are some best practices to protect your personal information online.

1: Always create and use strong passwords

While creating passwords for your online presence, stay focused on the complex passwords rather than considering your easiest numbers, such as birth dates, graduation years, etc. A strong password means using lower- and upper-case letters, numbers, special characters, or any extra symbols and changing it over time. Sometimes, people use the same password across multiple sites, which is not a good practice.

Remember, you should not use the same password across multiple accounts (banking apps, shopping accounts, social media accounts). Moreover, you should also use 2-step verification on your email account, which can protect your account from online criminals.

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Moreover, if you cannot remember passwords, you can use these apps to save them for later use.

• Google Chrome
• Firefox
• iPhone iOS
• Android
• Mac
• Microsoft Edge

If cyber-criminals access your email account or hack your password, they could:

• Access your private information, including bank accounts.
• Share emails and messages with others on your behalf.
• Reset all your accounts and use them for their benefits.
• May use your information for blackmail purposes.
• Use information to treat yourself and your family members.
• And many other cases can happen to you.

Below are the recommended apps or websites that can store all of your passwords.

• KeePassXC (Desktop version)
• KeePassTouch (iPhone)
• KeePassAndroid (Android)

2: Use 2-factor authentication:

If you want to keep away cybercriminals from accessing your information, even if they have your passwords, here comes two-factor authentication(2FA) or in other words, two-step verification(2SV). In 2FA technique, a one-time password(OTP) is sent to your verified phone number, email address or authentication app. This one-time password consists of six digits or longer and expires automatically. Sometimes, it might ask you to use biometric technology like fingerprint scanning or facial recognition to verify your identity.

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Tip to Remember:

To generate temporary code, Google Authenticator is a 2FA encryption-based secure app.

You can use the 2-step verification link for the following apps here:

• Microsoft Account
• Gmail
• Amazon Account
• Apple ID
• WhatsApp
• Yahoo
• Outlook
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• TikTok

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3: Always keep software and apps up to date:

Criminals look for loopholes and weak points to exploit your access. Therefore, an update to your programs, apps on computers, tablets, and smartphones, is needed for the time being.  Software updates typically add patches and protection against security and vulnerability threats.

There are many ways you can update your programs.

• You can automatically set updates in the Operating system.’
• You can secure internet browsers (Chrome, IE, Firefox, etc.).
• You might have seen; mobile apps can be updated from the Google Play Store when needed.
• Try to remove any unnecessary files or apps that may cause harm to your system or phone.
• Always remember to download trusted and secure apps, because many apps carry viruses and other coded files to track your data or interfere with your data.
• While installing software, keep in mind to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of the software.

4: Back up your data

Most of us lose data due to not taking care of our backups. Backing up your data in a secure location may help you retrieve that if needed in future. There may be many reasons why you need to back up your data.

• If you need to copy your data from one location to another.
• You might lose your device
• Sometimes, the data on your smartphone or device is inaccessible
• Viruses like ransomware may corrupt your data or make it inaccessible
• Your hard drives may need replacements, etc.
• Backup means to make a copy of your data, which can be stored in any safe location like cloud storage, or any removable media, e.g. USB stick, SD Card, or any portable external drives.
• As a rule of thumb, you need to save your valuable data frequently.

Moreover, for cloud storage, you can use the free storage of these applications:

• Apple iCloud provides 5GB of free space
• Google Drive provides 15GB of free space
• Microsoft OneDrive provides 5GB of free space

5: Find a Secure network

You might have noticed that Wi-Fi is freely available in some public places, like train stations, subways, hotels and shopping malls. These free Wi-Fi networks are not secure, and cybercriminals may intervene to access your data while you are using the same network. There are many ways, if you want to secure your information while using public networks:

• You need to turn off auto-connect
• You need to avoid accessing sensitive accounts
• Disable file sharing and AirDrop
• While surfing the browser, use HTTPS websites

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6: You can use a VPN to protect your data

You may use a mobile hotspot if you connect your laptop to public networks because, mobile hotspot uses WPA2 encryption to secure your data. Moreover, use a VPN that uses an encrypted tunnel between your device and the internet. Alternatively, connect to VPN at the first moment while using any public network.

There are many ways to protect yourself while using a VPN. For that reason, you might need to choose a trusted VPN, e.g., NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN.

You may visit to download these trusted VPNs.

• ProtonVPN (app and desktop)
• ExpressVPN (app)
• Windscribe
• TunnelBear
• NordVPN
• Surfshark (app and desktop)

7: Watch links and attachments

When using public networks or browsing online, it is vital to watch links and attachments. Most of the time, we receive lots of spam or junk emails, too, which contain malicious links that look like a trusted website. But remember not to open those links or download any attachments, because they may contain a virus or other malicious files. There are many ways to find malicious links, including:

• Avoid clicking suspicious links
• Do not open email attachments from unfamiliar senders
• Look for signs of phishing, like poor grammar, urgent requests or greedy links
• Keep your email filters
• Keep any antivirus software updated

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8: Do not overshare on Social Media

Most of the social media platforms access your details like your location, daily habits, or any financial activities to cybercriminals. Protecting your information while posting on social media accounts is very important. You need to understand the privacy settings and other security features of any social media account before you use it.

There are many ways to overcome the problem of oversharing on social media:

• Investigate before posting anything
• Try not to share your sensitive data like home address, travel plans or phone number.
• Limit your public audience by using strong privacy settings
• Do not reveal photos that contain ID cards, documents, etc., in the background.
• Review your friends list or any groups you have joined and remove suspicious contacts.
• Educate yourself about phishing tactics and social engineering.