Digital devices provide great convenience to our lives. Today, we are more connected than ever. By 2020, more than 30.7 billion devices will be connected to the internet. You are continuously generating data about yourself and others. Your personal information, such as your behaviors and preferences, is the fuel that makes these devices work. Data Privacy Day, held annually on Jan. 28, is an internationally recognized day dedicated to creating awareness about the importance of privacy and protecting personal information.
5 things you can do now to manage your privacy:
- Personal Information is Like Money. Value it. Protect it. Be thoughtful about how your personal information is collected through apps and websites.
- Own Your Online Presence. Learn about and use privacy and security settings on your favorite online games, apps and platforms. Set the privacy and security settings on at least one service and/or device to your comfort level for information sharing.
- Share With Care. Think before posting about yourself and others online. Consider what a post reveals, who might see it and how it could be perceived now and in the future.
- Lock down your login. Choose one account and turn on the strongest authentication tools available, such as biometrics, security keys or a unique one-time code through an app on your mobile device. Your usernames and passwords are not enough to protect key accounts like email, banking and social media.
- Keep a clean machine: Update your security software, web browser and operating system to have the best defense against viruses, malware and other online threats.