When you’re casually surfing the web, you don’t pay that much attention to security. You might think that browsing social media is completely harmless. Then, after clicking on a suspicious ad, you start noticing emails coming your way.
Suggested videos keep coming up, new ads from the same company, and it starts becoming weird. If an agency isn’t targeting you to force you to try and sell you a product, then you might be the target of an online criminal trying to steal all of your data, especially your passwords. Click here to read more.
Of course, the Internet today is much more secure than it was a couple of years ago. However, that doesn’t mean that online crime has gone down. In fact, it has only gotten smarter. We’re going to give you some tips on how to stay anonymous and keep all sensitive information to yourself. That way, the chances of you being hacked will be smaller since no one will even know of your online presence.
Use private mode
Most people use the Google Chrome browser, which has an incognito mode. This is one of the best things to do if you want to avoid targeted advertisements, and it helps make your surfing a bit more anonymous. The way it works is quite simple. Whenever you go to a new page, you need to accept cookies.
These cookies have a bit of data that can be used to make loading faster, and it contains the skeleton of the webpage. For example, opening up Facebook for the first time might be slow on your computer, but after it loads once, every other time it’s going to load faster. Follow this link for more info https://www.csoonline.com/article/2975193/9-steps-completely-anonymous-online.html.
The cookies in the background are responsible for this process. However, they also have a negative side. If you search for a product, these cookies can give that info to social media platforms and Google, which then start showing you personalized ads based on the data.
If you use Incognito mode, you can avoid that. These platforms won’t collect that much data, and your browsing will be hidden from the pages, as well as your history. Your internet service providers will still be able to see what you’ve been browsing, but that’s not a huge concern.
Hide your location
One of the most important things, when you’re dealing with sensitive data is your IP address. This is the easiest way in which what you’ve clicked can be tracked back to you. That’s why Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) were invented. They mask your IP by sending it to different locations around the world.
VPNs have servers around the globe, and the IP shifts from one place to another, making it impossible for anyone to know where you are. The program itself doesn’t keep any records of what you’ve done, which makes you completely invisible.
The newest features can make you appear like you’re in a completely different country than where you live at the moment. This means you can do pretty much anything. If you live in the United States, you can mask your IP as you live in a third world country.
Most of the time, there are no online piracy laws there. You can download your favorite movies, music and watch shows that aren’t available in your country at the moment. In the end, no tracks lead back to you. Click on this link for more info.
Try avoiding the top search engines
If you use Google’s products, then you should feel like someone is looking over your shoulder at your phone or computer. Bing, Yahoo, and Google are the three biggest search engines. They’re the best, and they’re free to use, which means they have to get something from you in return.
The thing they need is data. They have info about your name, phone number, birthday, gender, email addresses, location, as well as cookies. This means they can track every website you visit and will give you personalized results to shift you into buying a certain product or thinking a certain way.
The documentary “The Social Dilemma” showcases this process quite vividly. DuckDuckGo is a great alternative to all of these because it’s an independent search engine. Everyone in the world sees the same results, and they don’t keep any records of what you have been browsing. Visit this link for more info https://www.businessinsider.com/explainer-here-is-why-you-should-never-use-free-vpn-2020-12.
A few final words
Whenever you’re in a public place, don’t connect to free Wi-Fi. Some attackers may be lurking on free hotspots, and make sure that you never enter important passwords when you’re connected on a public network.
It’s better to use your own data, even if it might cost a little bit more. At least you’ll know that all of your credit card information won’t get stolen. Cyber-crime is getting smarter, and it’s quite easy to get connected to a network setup from a hacker.
