Digital privacy What is it, how to protect it and what are the risks of not doing it?

After mobile data consumption and internet speedprivacy is undoubtedly the aspect that most concerns 2.0 users today. As telecommunications have evolved, so have the dangers and risks in the network, which can become quite alarming..

However, privacy is something that is difficult to guarantee in the digital world. We know that it is a right that we all have from birth, but with so much data everywhere, it’s almost impossible to keep full control of it unless we’re the sons of Snowden.

But there will always be certain measures that you can take to avoid being a victim of certain problems that plague digital communities these days. If you are interested in learning all about digital privacy, continue reading and bookmark this entry. so that you can consult it whenever you like.

What is digital privacy and what is it for on the Internet?

Digital privacy is, in a nutshell, the right that every Internet user has to keep the information on their devices secret. So far everything is clear but it is a more subjective concept than it seems, since although rules have been established to determine that one content or another should be private, these are not usually met for certain aspects.

The latter happens with our online consumption habits. For example, if you carry out a search on Google for a week in a row on places to vacation, you will notice that the Google Ads that appear on all the sites have to do with this theme. Now, how does the browser know which ads to show us? Well, they use a “plugin” called cookieswhich are like a kind of tracker.

These are “stuck” to our browser and identify us, in this case as “potential clients of X niche”and the ads that we will see next will be closely related to said sector, whether we have searched for hotels, plane tickets, Rome, consumables or whatever.

Is this illegal? Well, the answer is no, since all the postcards that use cookies notify us, and we accept them without paying much attention to them. This is a pretty innocent example of how our privacy is violated on a daily basis.but keep reading and you will notice that it can be much worse.

How does Internet privacy work? main elements

Going back to what was said at the beginning, Internet regulators have established certain guidelines to guarantee the privacy of Internet users. These aspects are the basis of online data securityand it is important that you know them all so that you know what to expect in the future or when you see any of them:

Privacy policies

Privacy policies are a statement or document that every website or application on the Internet must communicate to its users, as well as any subsequent updates that are made, leaving them with total freedom to decide whether to accept or unsubscribe. They make it clear textually how all the data that users handle or provide will be used, processed and stored.

The problem does not essentially lie with them, In fact, they are a very valuable document for anyone who cares about their privacy to determine if it is worth giving up some rights to use a platform.. The real stumbling block is in the users, who in 90% of the time completely ignore these policies and all their updates.

Notice of use of Cookies

Cookies, as we mentioned, are a file that is stored in the cache of your browser or computer, identifying their IP address so that when they re-enter the platform, the user is shown the content they usually see. These are basically used on all Internet sites, such as YouTube or Google itself. The notice of use of cookies is precisely an advertisement in which a platform informs you that by entering its website and using it you are accepting all the cookies found on it.

SSL certificate

The SSL certificate is another of the most important aspects that you should know to know that a platform is protecting your data. SSL is a security protocol that is responsible for encrypting all data that passes through a website. For several years it has become a requirement demanded by European entities for any portal that requests the mail of its Internet users or any other contact information to send a newsletter.

What are the main online privacy risks that users run?

Digital privacy must be one of the main concerns of Internet users today, as this will help them avoid running into certain scenarios that will bring you very bad experiences.

Identity fraud

Phishing is a term used to define a type of computer attack in which a person pretends to be another to carry out certain actions without compromising their identity, or to defame the owner of the stolen identity. This has always been a very common global problem even in the physical world, but since the birth of social networks everything has worsened.

A person only has to know your boyfriend and steal a dozen of your photos from any of your social media profiles to create a new account using your name and image. This simple fact makes it a very difficult attack to prevent. since even people from your circle of friends could do something like this.

Bullying

Harassment is another risk that we are exposed to in the real world, but it has been evolving for some time and almost 90% of the main forms of harassment are carried out through social networks and digital forums. In this sense, harassment can take several forms, the most common would be:

• Bullying: One form of harassment consists of making fun of a person’s physical or psychological defects, even being considered racism and xenophobia if it is done against a person of a particular nationality or race.
• Grooming: This is a form of pedophilia that occurs through social networks. In this case, the harasser would be a person of legal age who harasses and harasses a minor with full sexual intentions. Although it could be confused with sexting, in this case the attacker does not sexually abuse anyone, but rather it is the victim who allows herself to be manipulated and ends up giving herself sexually.
• Gender violence: one of the most common forms of violence in which a person is verbally or physically violent towards their counterpart of the opposite sex.

These are just some of the forms of harassment that can be seen on the Internet, but in general we can, in one way or another, appreciate them all, since the harasser only has to have contact with his victim to harass and attack at will.

sexting

Sexting is a practice that consists of sending each other content of a sexual nature through a chat. While these expressions are completely voluntary, the information they contain can later be used to harass a personeven extorting and blackmailing her in exchange for not sharing her photos, videos or chats on a public social network, or making them reach a family member.

manipulations

A person with enough information about us can easily create a speech convincing enough to manipulate us. This is common in social networks where sexual predators are looking for weak-minded boys and girls to use them as they please. and cause them to send you increasingly compromising information.

scams

Scams are the order of the day on the Internet and many times they don’t even need to violate our privacy to carry them out. Nevertheless, taking care of the security of our data will make it more difficult for, for example, our credit card to be used to make purchases without our authorization.

data theft

As you can imagine, none of this that we have mentioned would be possible if our data is not stolen first. This is the first step to begin to suffer everything else.

Privacy of our devices What are the security problems of these?

One thing we must understand about this topic is that everything starts on our devices, since they are the ones we use to access the Internet, and it is in them where all the proven information that we keep is stored; from our most intimate photos, to our credit card details:

Operating systems

Operating systems can be our main enemies. One of the most used is Windows 10 from Microsoft, which is also one of the most powerful, but it has a factory setting that can cause problems for our privacy. This is in the event that we are talking specifically about desktop computers, but on mobile phones we can also take risks.

Android, for example, has one of the most solid architectures, and in a way it can be considered 100% secure, but there are certain aspects that we must take care of. Applications like Google Maps leave a detailed record of all the places we visitNot to mention that the browsers for these devices are not as secure as on the desktop.

So the first thing you’ll need to do to fix this is install an operating system on your computers that is 100% reliable.

online browsers

Online browsers are your second enemy. These, if they are outdated, usually contain vulnerabilities that are easy to take advantage of by a malicious program. Also, in them we protect many of the passwords of the platforms that we use the most; from social networks and emails, to online games and payment processors.

IP addresses

The IP addresses They are one of the greatest proofs that the Internet is developed to 100% spy on us. These are a number that identifies a computer within a local, metropolitan or international network such as the network we use to navigate. This data may seem harmless, but you will be surprised by the amount of information that a person can obtain from us with this innocent number..

To begin with, a computer’s IP address can be tracked, and subsequently geo-located. That is, whoever knows the IP can easily know where your home is.what is your neighborhood or at least know what city you are in.

Step-by-step guide to improve the privacy of your social networks

Now that you know all the important aspects of online privacy, it’s time to start improving your security and that of all your data. This time we will teach you how to improve the privacy of your data from social networks, since these are undoubtedly the platforms that we use the most on a daily basis:

On Facebook

Facebook is by far the most used social network in the world today. This means that in it we will find all kinds of users. What you should do to avoid bad times is to follow these tips:

• Put your private profile: This social network allows us to make settings so that no one who is not on our friends list can see our photos, publications, much less profile information, so that we can only be attacked by people we know.
• Do not accept strangers: many take this point at stake, but it should not be so. The RRSS are supposed to share our experiences with our acquaintances, not to add to a large list of strangers just to fatten our number of contacts.
• Block potential stalkers: If you did not follow the two previous tips and there is already a person among your friends who tries to harass you, it is best to block him and make sure that you do not continue accepting strangers so as not to have a bad time.

On Instagram

Instagram is a social network very similar to Facebook. In fact, the latter bought it a few years ago and since then it has not stopped growing. The mechanics of both are similar. so the tips you should apply to improve your privacy are as follows:

• Put the private profile: As in the case of FB, on IG we can make our wall available only to those followers that we have accepted among our contacts. In this case, only our photos will be blocked, but the profile information will continue to be available.
• Do not post photos with location while you are there: We know it’s nice to take a photo on Mount Everest and share the location when we upload the photo, but we’re not telling you to stop doing it, just wait to do it when you’re in the safety of your home. There have been many cases in the United States in which a person puts a photo in a nightclub and indicates its location, and then they are approached by someone with whom they had an unfinished business, or kidnapped by some gang looking to make easy money. .
• do not accept strangers: As in the case of FB, it is best to reserve your IG profile for those you trust extremely, since the graphic content that was shared here is very easy to extract your face with a photo editing program and steal your identity without even realizing it.
• Block stalkers: if in this case you realize that the stranger you accepted is stalking you or is spreading his messages by Direc, then use the block option to get rid of him.

On twitter

Finally we close with Twitter, a social network that many consider dead but that continues to maintain a high volume of active users per month. The advice we will give you then they will make you improve privacy on this platform:

• Don’t follow strangers: again the indication is that you do not allow anyone you do not know to enter your contacts on this or any other social network.
• Eliminate the harassers: On Twitter we also have the option to block a contact who becomes annoying or disrespectful.

Twitter is one of the social networks with fewer security filters since in this sense it does not allow users to modify our profile too much, which makes it easy for the platform community to access all our data, photos and other content stored on their serversso the recommendation is to use it little.

Tips to improve the privacy of all my digital devices

Knowing and being aware of what you should start doing on social networks, it is time to go up a level and focus on the measures we must take to increase privacy on all our devices.

So take note and pay close attention:

Use a secure OS

We have already told you that operating systems can be our worst enemies when it comes to protecting our privacy, so our first advice is geared towards changing it. As much as you are used to the interface of, for example, Windows, you must understand that your security comes first, so if it is necessary to break old habits, you will have to do so.

Later we will tell you which are the safest operating systems that you can install on your computer, but for now it is important that you keep in mind that to be as private as possible, you’ll have to divest yourself of the OSes you’ve probably grown up with.

Install a secure browser

The next thing is to install a browser that is as secure as possible. This may not be as difficult for you as changing the operating systembut without a doubt many people are very fond of browsers like Chrome or Mozilla, but in recent years new alternatives have been born that many of these users have tried and they have also been impressed by their versatility.

Delete Cookies

Although cookies are not a direct threat to our privacy, it is important to delete them as soon as possible. Many companies like Google have already indicated that they would be eradicated from their browser to some extent, at least in its desktop version. What you should do is simply disable cookies so that none can be stored in your cache.

To disable third-party cookies in Chrome, for example, what you should do is enter “Setting” and then go to the section “Website Settings”. Once there you must go to the Cookies section and mark the options “Block third-party cookies”as well as “Clear cookies and website data when you quit Chrome”so that all cookies are removed from your browser when you close it.

Always update your OS

If you have decided not to change your operating system, it is important that you at least keep it 100% updated. Many users, especially Windows users, often feel a strong headache when they see that a new update pack arrives in Windows 10, but no matter how long it takes it is important to install them all.

Updates are better than developers do to operating systems to eliminate vulnerabilities that they detect from time to time in their architecture and programming. These vulnerabilities are basically gateways to our privacy., so eliminating them is one of the main needs that we must have. So every time an update comes look at it as a gift.

Install an ad blocker

Internet ads are quite annoying. While those from brands like Adsense are verified to make sure they don’t direct you to malicious websites, there are other networks that don’t respect this. For example, if you go to a pirated adult content website, you will come across a huge number of invasive ads that are not verified at all, so they can lead you off the cliff.

For this reason it is important have an ad blocker in our browsers, which removes them from the screen completely, so that we do not run any risk while we browse our favorite portals.

List of the safest operating systems that guarantee your privacy

What is promised is debt and in the following sections we will tell you which are the software that most respect our privacy, starting with the operating system that we discussed is one of the most important aspects:

Linux

Linux is by far the most secure operating system out there. To begin with, it has far fewer computer viruses than any other, and its structure is designed to protect our privacy. Also, as it is not paid or commercial, but is open source, it has no commitments to any companyso it will have no interest in sharing our consumption data (like Windows).

tails

This is a Linux distribution specially designed for the privacy of its users. It is based on the concept of isolating the execution of applications, running in virtual machines that do not compromise the information that the user uses while running them.

In addition to this, it also uses the Tor network, so all communications are fully encrypted, and there is no way to track them or know your IP address and other data. Although many might think that it is somewhat complicated to use them, the reality is that their interface is not very different from other well-known OSes such as Windows 7, for example, so it will be quite easy to use.

macOS

The second safest OS that we can install on our computer is MacOS. This also has fewer viruses than Windowsand its UNIX base gives it greater privacy and information protection, since the administrator user’s password is required to carry out any installation.

iOS

When it comes to smartphones, the most secure OS by far is iOS. Although in this sense it is not very far from Android, which also has certain interesting features, It must be said that the security protocols of the Apple mobile OS are slightly more powerful.

In case you want to use Google OS, We recommend that you read our Android privacy guide so that you can make your devices much safer with this system.

The browsers you need to explore the Internet safely

The next step is to talk about Internet browsers, these programs that allow us to explore all the pages that exist in the world. These are undoubtedly one of the tools that we use the most on a daily basis. when entering any device, so we need one that guarantees us privacy throughout the rule:

Thor

This is undoubtedly the safest we can use. It works using TOR technology, which consists of a huge network of nodes between which our requests move to camouflage their origin. Every time we make a request for a data packet to enter a certain portal, it is sent to one of the network nodes, which in turn is sent to another node that will finally make the request to the corresponding server.

The secret is that it is virtually impossible to identify which nodes our initial request fluctuated on.which in turn makes it even more difficult to identify the origin of said request, keeping us anonymous to a certain extent.

brave

This is a new browser that uses blockchain technology in its architecture, which gives it a high level of data encryption, so that all communications made by him, are completely secured and impossible to discover.

Download Brave Windows

Download Brave macOS

Edge

Finally we have Edge from Microsoft. This browser has won the battle against all others not only because of its excellent performance and browsing speed, but because of its excellent security protocols, which even include a vpn own without IP leaks so that we navigate in the most private way possible.

The best programs you should have on your computer to take care of your digital privacy

Now we are going to share with you a small list with three essential programs to take care of the privacy of the data on your computer:

• PrivateWin10: this is an open source program that It makes privacy a lot easier in Windows 10, as it allows us to adjust the OS settings to decide what data we want to share with Microsoft and what not, so that we have much more control over all our data.
• Avast Free Antivirus: to be protected it is important to have a program that alerts you when someone malware enter our operating system, so an antivirus is essential. In this case, we have mentioned Avast, which is one of the best, but you will find many more on the market that may be the same or more powerful. If you are interested, check out this article with the best antivirus that you can install on your computer.
• Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit: It may seem that we have something against Microsoft but the reality is that this is not the case. To demonstrate it, we recommend this program developed by them that is not installed natively in your Windows, but that you can download and install for free. What it does is offer an extra layer of security, encrypting certain data so that no hacker can access your information.

The applications you should install on your smartphone to be safe

Now it is time to mention the applications that you must have installed on your Android or iOS to guarantee the privacy of all your data.

Take a good note of the following apps:

Telegram

This is one of the most powerful messaging applications that you can install on your smartphone, being a real competition for WhatsApp since its growth seems to have no end. The interesting thing about this service is that its data encryption is very strong. and all the conversations can only be viewed by the characters that are the protagonists, and not by a third party of any kind.

iPassword

This is an app that allows us to put password to other applications, so that when someone tries to enter one of them, they have to put a pattern or secret key to see its content. It is available for both Android and iOS.

Prey

This is an app that you will want to have it on your mobile if one day it is stolen. To begin with, it allows you to track the smartphone wherever it is while it is turned on, as well as allowing you to lock it or delete data remotely.