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Top Tips for Staying Safe Online

How to protect yourself online

We all worry about sharing, (and storing,) personal data online, however, there are numeorus ways to protect yourself. Below, we list top tips that will help keep you safe.

Staying safe online: top tips

Use more than one password

Though remembering numerous passwords can be frustrating when you have loads of online accounts, altering your password as you sign up for new accounts and/or services will actually help to protect you. Using radically different passwords, (rather than the same one across mutliple accounts,) will help prevent criminals gaining access to details held by numerous companies. To safeguard your security further, you could also use one-time protection, a method by which you receive, (via text message, email, post or the use of a small device,) a unique password to enter each time you login to an important online account. To read about the benefits of one-time protection click here

Be careful when using public Wi-Fi spots

Be wary of accessing sensitive data when using a public Wi-Fi hotspot. Though uncommon, criminals have been known to hack into public Wi-Fi spots in a bid to steal important data. To make yourself more secure when using a Wi-Fi hotspot, you could also download and install a VPN, (virtual private network,) app which jumbles up your online data, making it impossible for a third party to read. Here are some VPN apps you can try.

Make sure you know how, (and when,) the devices you own are accessing the cloud

Ofentimes, mobile devices automatically upload your personal data to the cloud without letting you know beforehand. That means there may be data saved in the cloud that you are unaware of. To avoid data being uploaded, (and potentially accessed by third parties,) without your knowledge, make sure that the devices you own are not automatically supplying the cloud with information

Make sure you know which data is being uploaded to the cloud

regularly update your browser

To protect yourself from the latest virues and malware, make sure that you are using the most up to date version of your browser. To see which browsers are available, (and, to check to see if yours is up to date,) click here