Fraud has affected a significant portion of Americans, with 26% falling victim in the past year. Consequently, safeguarding data privacy has become more crucial than ever. Governments worldwide have responded by enacting legislation aimed at ensuring the security of customer data. Adapting marketing strategies and handling customer data intelligently may become necessary with the introduction of new laws and regulations.
If you’re concerned about upholding data privacy in 2024 without detrimentally affecting your digital marketing efforts, we have the solutions you need. Here we will talk about protecting data, personal, work, or commercial, as well as preventing online fraud.
Tips to Protect Your Data Privacy in 2024
#1 Set Up Two-Factor Authentication
This is confirmed by one of the latest SEC Twitter hacks, which cost retail traders $80 million in liquidations. The SIM recovery method still works and only 2FA can protect you. Most likely, your bank already requires this – when you log in from a new location, you need to enter a code sent to your cell phone via text message. Ensure that this feature is enabled on all your accounts by checking your account settings.
#2 Encrypt Your Data
Using a VPN service is one of the most effective ways to safeguard your data. A virtual private network, or VPN, allows you to choose a server and location for connecting to the internet. This technology has been used since 2005 and is extensively tested and secure.
The best providers, such as VeePN, employ high-grade encryption protocols like OpenVPN, IPSec/IKEv2, and L2TP/IPSec to ensure end-to-end encryption for your data. VPN can also change virtual location. If you enter the correct Android fake location settings, you can unblock almost any site, streaming service, or platform. This means that your data is encrypted and tampered with when using a VPN, making it incomprehensible to anyone attempting to intercept and exploit it.
#3 Avoid Using Public Wi-Fi
Using public Wi-Fi is as convenient as autofill and can help you save data or avoid charges. However, it’s important to be aware of the risks that come with public and free Wi-Fi in places like airports or restaurants.
Most public Wi-Fi networks are unsecured, making it easy for hackers to take control and intercept your connection. They can monitor the websites you visit, access your accounts and passwords, or even install malware to track your activity and steal your data, even after you’ve stopped using public Wi-Fi.
#4 Backup Your Data
Backing up your data is one of the most fundamental yet often disregarded tips for data protection. In essence, it involves creating a duplicate copy of your data to safeguard against loss, theft, or compromise of a device, ensuring that your vital information remains intact. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Nationwide, an insurance company, highlight a concerning statistic: 68% of small businesses lack a disaster recovery plan. Failing to restore your data promptly can result in significant financial losses; in fact, Gartner’s research reveals that this downtime can cost companies up to $300,000 per hour.
#5 Review Privacy Policies
Four out of every five Americans rarely read the privacy agreements they sign. Understanding how organizations collect, store, protect, and utilize personal data is crucial, even though it may be difficult to navigate privacy policies.
If you feel uneasy about a company’s privacy policy, avoid agreeing to it. Concerns about data collection have led more than half of Americans to decline using certain products or services offered by the company.
#6 Enhanced Tracking Protection
To safeguard users’ personal data on Firefox in Android, Enhanced Tracing Protection (ETP) allows the blocking of third-party cookies. Similar features exist in other browsers like Safari and Google Chrome. Although the primary goal of Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox is to phase out third-party cookies by the end of 2024, marketers should still familiarize themselves with these tools as many customers rely on them for secure browsing.
Safari features its own privacy tool, Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP). This tool leverages on-device machine learning to block cross-site tracking while maintaining website functionality. It also minimizes the transmission of data to third-party search engines, masking location data, and cookies sent with search data.
#7 Stop Search Engines From Tracking You
Your search engine gathers a vast amount of personal data about you. And for 92% of us, Google is the search engine we rely on. The owners of the two largest search engines—Google and Bing—also operate popular browsers; Chrome and Edge, respectively.
To enhance search engine privacy, the initial step involves deleting your data.
- For Google: Access the My Activity dashboard and delete all your data.
- For Microsoft: Clear data separately from Microsoft Edge and Bing.
- For Yahoo: Manage your search history to delete data.
Unfortunately, eliminating all tracking on Google is not possible. Alternatively, you can switch to an online search engine that prioritizes privacy.
#8 Monitor Activity
Monitoring across accounts, reports, activity, and tools is crucial. Detecting a cyberattack, like an abrupt surge in data upload, doesn’t resemble everyday activity. Monitoring aids in uncovering inconsistencies, protecting your data, and preventing cybersecurity breaches.
To achieve this, it’s best to employ tools explicitly designed for monitoring user, device, and network activity. Numerous options exist, such as Nagios Core for monitoring network activity, Apps Tracker for tracking app usage, or Kiwi Application Monitor for receiving notifications when apps execute external programs. These tools provide real-time notifications and instant kill switches, ensuring the safety of your data, regardless of the stakes involved.
Conclusion
Your privacy is necessary only for you, it is not beneficial for everyone else. Companies can profit from your personal data in various ways, and therefore they seek to collect and analyze it, or even sell it. If you don’t want your personal information to get shared, protect yourself with the tips listed above.
