Security is something we all need to live safer online lives, yet many of us have thwarted our best efforts to be safe and make good choices before we can even start. So whether you’re trying to help educate your children about healthy online behavior or trying to figure out what changes you can make to improve things for yourself, these are the most important things you can do to change things around for yourself.
Change Your Passwords to Something Secure
The least secure passwords are phrases like Qwerty123! But it goes beyond just the common top row letters: this format of words, numbers, and then symbols is one of the most commonly cracked passwords out there.
Avoid any passwords that are just numbers or just letters, and change things up. It’s best if they’re entirely random and not memorable, you can store them somewhere private to you or even save them to your browser if you’re on a computer only you use. Something more random will serve you well.
We avoid purely number-based passcodes because there are only ten possible numbers that can be used, and there’s no variation of those numbers like there are letters. With letters, you can capitalize or lowercase them, meaning there are 52 possible symbols already. From here, combining them with random numbers and symbols throughout will ensure you’re as secure as possible.
Be Aware of How You Post and Have Posted, Online
Unfortunately, many people give up a lot more information than they should. College students will post about ‘dorm life’ while being incredibly public with which school they go to, which is basically like giving someone your address. Do searches on your name, and include simple things like the street you live on to see if your information comes up. If it does, you can request this information be removed or delete your posts to take it down. Make sure your phone number and address aren’t listed publicly anywhere and be careful about who you give this information to.
Even if it’s an old address, take it down. Any information can be used to find you or figure out where you’ve moved to, which can lead to identity theft or other problems.
Pay Attention to What Links You Click
We all have to learn eventually. Unfortunately, some of us find out about digital security far after we should have. This makes things like an IP address look-up nerve-wracking because you’re unsure what sites to trust. Be aware of what links you click and if you need to research the link. Hover over the blue, and see if it leads to whatever site it says it leads to, and if you don’t recognize the company: google it to be safe. These behaviors will protect you in the long run.
Everyone Can Make a Change Towards Safety
We all deserve to be able to feel safe and secure online. Whether that means you’re making large changes to shift your life around, or you’re changing your behavior instead so that you can predict what information will be available in the future: these changes are important to take.