January 28 every year is celebrated in many countries around the world including Canada as the Data Privacy Day. This day raises awareness about the impact technology is having on our privacy rights and underlines the importance of valuing and protecting personal information.
Data privacy for individuals means reviewing privacy settings on social media, being mindful of entering data into websites, and taking ownership of one's online identity.
The internet is full of data about you and me. Whenever we play a game, shop, browse websites, or use any of the numerous apps, our activities and some of our personal information may be collected and shared. This also applies to our connected devices such as smart TVs, phone trackers, GPS, security cameras, wearables, and smart appliances. These devices make our lives pretty convenient but also keep our “digital footprint” on the internet afterwards. The Internet of us (based on our shared information) and Privacy define our online presence. It is therefore critical to learn how to protect our information and guard our privacy online.
The following tips will help to protect your online privacy:
Use long and complex passwords or passphrases.
These are often the first line of defense in protecting an online account. The length and complexity of your passwords can provide an extra level of protection for your personal information. Avoid using the same password for multiple websites, accounts, or apps. Use a password manager to manage numerous passwords.
Take care what you share.
Periodically check the privacy settings for your social networking apps to ensure that they are set to share only what you want, with whom you intend. Be very careful about putting personal information online. Remember, what goes on the Internet, usually stays on the Internet.
Go stealth when browsing.
Your browser can store quite a bit of information about your online activities, including cookies, cached pages, and history. To ensure the privacy of personal information online, limit access by going "incognito" and using the browser's private mode when necessary.
Using Wi-Fi?
If only public Wi-Fi is available, restrict your activity to simple searches (no banking!) or use a VPN (virtual private network) when necessary. The latter provides an encrypted tunnel between you and the sites you visit.
Should you trust that app?
Only use apps from reputable sources. Check out user reviews or from other trusted sources before downloading any app that is unfamiliar.
Has your privacy been compromised?
Change the password of any site or app that you believe may have been compromised. If you reuse passwords for multiple sites you should change them all to make sure your information is safe.
Visit the EIT Help Desk if you have any further concerns.