90% of consumers have privacy concerns regarding social media.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nWhile marketers, data aggregators, and the government are gathering and analyzing extensive amounts of personal data, you can still control and protect your personal data to a certain extent. Here\u2019s 12 security tips to help you protect your personal data, whether you\u2019re online shopping, online banking, or using social media.<\/p>\n
Personal Data Security Tips: Online Shopping<\/b><\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Use Familiar Websites<\/b><\/p>\n
When it comes to online shopping, it\u2019s best to use a trusted website rather than selecting a random website with a search engine. If you\u2019re familiar with the company and website, it\u2019s easier to avoid scams.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Find the Lock<\/b><\/p>\n
Don\u2019t purchase anything from a website that doesn\u2019t have SSL encryption installed. SSL encryption is shown with a padlock icon beside the URL in the address bar or at the bottom of your web browser. Also, make sure the website starts with HTTPS:\/\/<\/i> instead of HTTP:\/\/<\/i>.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Check Your Statements<\/b><\/p>\n
If you shop online regularly, always check your electronic statements. If you notice a suspicious charge, call the credit\/debit card issuer immediately. Often, you only have 30 days to notify the credit\/debit card issuer of any suspicious activity, after that, you may be liable for the charges.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Avoid Public Wi-Fi<\/b><\/p>\n
If you must use public Wi-Fi to shop online, use a virtual private network (VPN) to browse the Internet securely. A VPN will send your traffic through a secure network, encrypting your data while you\u2019re connected to public Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n
Personal Data Security Tips: Online Banking<\/b><\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Be Suspicious of Banking Emails<\/b><\/p>\n
A financial institution should never ask for login details via email. If you receive an email from your bank, and the email asks for login details, it\u2019s most likely a phishing attempt. Never provide login details for online banking accounts via email.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Use a Strong Password<\/b><\/p>\n
Always use strong passwords, especially for online banking. Create your password with a mix of upper and lower case letters, special characters, and numbers. Also, avoid using common words and phrases. And avoid using your name, date of birth, or initials.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Choose Two-Factor Authentication<\/b><\/p>\n
Most banks will offer two-factor authentication, which is a process involving two stages, such as a password and a code generated on your mobile device, in order to verify your identity. Try to find a bank account that enables some type of two-factor authentication for online banking.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Set Up Account Notifications<\/b><\/p>\n
Some banks offer the ability to set up text or email notifications regarding bank account activities. For example, if a withdrawal is above a specified amount, the bank will notify you via text or email. This allows you to resolve suspicious activity immediately.<\/p>\n
Personal Data Security Tips: Social Media<\/b><\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Be Careful with Applications<\/b><\/p>\n
When an application requests permission to access your data, think twice. If you allow an application to access your data, an unknown party can access your information at any time, even if you\u2019re not using the application.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Update Your Security Settings<\/b><\/p>\n
Check your privacy settings and make sure you\u2019re adequately protected. Chances are, you\u2019re sharing more information than you\u2019d like to share. Always choose the most secure options and update your security settings on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Use Caution with Links<\/b><\/p>\n
When you receive links in messages from your friends or family, treat the links as you would treat links in email messages. If you\u2019re suspicious, contact the person to make sure they sent the link before you open it.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Type the Address<\/b><\/p>\n
Avoid clicking links to social media websites through emails or other websites. Often, cybercriminals create phony links and pages to steal account information. Always type the address into your browser.<\/p>\n
For more personal data security tips, give us a call at {phone} or send us an email at {email}. {company} can help you protect the privacy of your personal data, whether you\u2019re online shopping, online banking, or using social media.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Do you worry about the privacy of your personal data? If so, you\u2019re not alone. According to a study conducted by Harris Interactive, which surveyed 2000 consumers, privacy concerns associated with personal data are fairly common. For example: 93% of consumers have privacy concerns regarding online shopping. 90% of consumers have privacy concerns regarding online…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-techtips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
12 Imperative Security Tips to Protect Your Personal Data - IT Services in Virginia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"12 Imperative Security Tips to Protect Your Personal Data - IT Services in Virginia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you worry about the privacy of your personal data? If so, you\u2019re not alone. According to a study conducted by Harris Interactive, which surveyed 2000 consumers, privacy concerns associated with personal data are fairly common. For example: 93% of consumers have privacy concerns regarding online shopping. 90% of consumers have privacy concerns regarding online…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IT Services in Virginia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-04T16:48:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Online-Privacy.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve West\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve West\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/\",\"name\":\"12 Imperative Security Tips to Protect Your Personal Data - IT Services in Virginia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Online-Privacy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-04T16:48:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-04T16:48:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/33156c118f002b88019c3fc70441bf79\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Online-Privacy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Online-Privacy.jpg\",\"width\":398,\"height\":431},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"12 Imperative Security Tips to Protect Your Personal Data\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/\",\"name\":\"IT Services in Virginia\",\"description\":\"Ntegra IT\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/33156c118f002b88019c3fc70441bf79\",\"name\":\"Steve West\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cc273f166c78aca895198956663df42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cc273f166c78aca895198956663df42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve West\"},\"description\":\"Ntegra IT is devoted to providing reliable Computer Support to businesses that want to improve productivity and profitability. We deliver custom designed Network Services that better map to your business, so you can stop worrying about your technology and get back to achieving your business goals.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/author\/swestntegrait-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"12 Imperative Security Tips to Protect Your Personal Data - IT Services in Virginia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"12 Imperative Security Tips to Protect Your Personal Data - IT Services in Virginia","og_description":"Do you worry about the privacy of your personal data? If so, you\u2019re not alone. According to a study conducted by Harris Interactive, which surveyed 2000 consumers, privacy concerns associated with personal data are fairly common. For example: 93% of consumers have privacy concerns regarding online shopping. 90% of consumers have privacy concerns regarding online…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/","og_site_name":"IT Services in Virginia","article_published_time":"2014-03-04T16:48:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Online-Privacy.jpg"}],"author":"Steve West","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve West","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/","name":"12 Imperative Security Tips to Protect Your Personal Data - IT Services in Virginia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Online-Privacy.jpg","datePublished":"2014-03-04T16:48:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-04T16:48:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/33156c118f002b88019c3fc70441bf79"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Online-Privacy.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Online-Privacy.jpg","width":398,"height":431},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/12-imperative-security-tips-to-protect-your-personal-data-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"12 Imperative Security Tips to Protect Your Personal Data"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/","name":"IT Services in Virginia","description":"Ntegra IT","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/33156c118f002b88019c3fc70441bf79","name":"Steve West","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ntegrait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cc273f166c78aca895198956663df42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cc273f166c78aca895198956663df42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steve West"},"description":"Ntegra IT is devoted to providing reliable Computer Support to businesses that want to improve productivity and profitability. We deliver custom designed Network Services that better map to your business, so you can stop worrying about your technology and get back to achieving your business goals.","url":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/author\/swestntegrait-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Online](\"https:\/\/ntegrait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Online-Privacy.jpg\")
Do you worry about the privacy of your personal data? If so, you\u2019re not alone. According to a study conducted by Harris Interactive, which surveyed 2000 consumers, privacy concerns associated with personal data are fairly common. For example:<\/p>\n