1 - First step to keeping your data safe is to use strong passwords
Having a strong password means that you automatically ruin the chance of anyone guessing your password. Password guessing is, in fact, a tactic used by some smart people who are able to have surprisingly good chances in guessing your password. There are people who specialize in this, be careful.
2 - Back up your data
Keeping your data in a portable hard drive is a very reliable way of keeping your data safe. You can find one here. For today’s Black Friday, that particular hard drive is only 60$ Canadian, it will jump back to upwards of 100$ once the sale is up. A portable hard drive separates your computer from your IP address and keeps your data safe in a random hard drive.
3 - Encrypt your data
If you want to protect your stuff to the max, then this is the way to go. You will receive a key that only you and other people you choose have access to. All the security is randomized and made by a computer. A key made by a complex mathematical process, to ensure security. This will have to be via money, you can’t encrypt your data for free.
AweEraser can help in permanently delete data from hard drive, USB flash drive, memory card, camera, etc, making data recovery impossible.
4 - Use Anti-theft for your devices
This will allow you to track your phone or laptop if lost or stolen. There are numerous apps for computers and laptops. For iPhones, it’s called Find My iPhone.
5 - Bluetooth can make your phone or laptop more vulnerable
You heard that keeping your Bluetooth on 24/7 is not a good idea. Not only does it drain your battery like no other, but it also makes your gadgets more targettable to hackers and people who you don’t want accessing your stuff.
6 - Public Wi-Fi is a no go
If you don’t keep your important data in your hard drive, do not use public wi-fi. It is known for ruining your privacy. It is the really easy route for hackers to take to obtain credit card info and generally sensitive information that they shouldn’t be accessing.
7 - Always update your gadgets
According to Apple and a few other big companies, one of the biggest advantages to updating your stuff is to keep your data secure! It’s not always about the little cool things they add to your phone. Better safe than sorry, always update your laptops, computers, and phones.
8 - Privacy Settings is key
Via your phone or laptop, you can greatly decrease the chance of getting hacked by tweaking your privacy settings. Privacy settings allow you to decide how much information you want to be out to the public. In order to maximize security, choose the least amount of data sharing and protect you from permanently delete data.
9 - Backup your data
This is the most overlooked method in order to keep your data safe. This is a great method because it guarantees a new copy of everything you want a copy of. The only downfall is, it doesn’t protect the sensitive data that you want to keep to yourself. You are able to back up your data on any device, I recommend you do it now before it’s too late. Having another copy of all your data elsewhere seems like a really good idea.
10 - Use a firewall
Another underestimated tactic. A firewall protects you from those horrible links, that will destroy your privacy within a matter of seconds. If your firewall is on, it will tell you every time when you’re about to click on a link, whether it’s safe or not.