Secure Surfing: Using The Internet Carefully

You can put money on the fact that almost every home has an internet connection. Without it, our lives transform back into the pre-2000 era. We’re starved of information, we can’t connect so readily with our friends and family and we’re not as entertained as we are now. Who would have thought that there would be so many brilliant things to come out of just one invention? It’s truly an amazing time to be alive and witness this evolution in our cultures and civilizations.

In reality, the internet is very young. This is perhaps why our perception of what the internet can do, is augmented to our personal experiences. You can teach a grandfather to search the web and find items he would like to purchase. However, if you asked him whether or not he knows what cookies and browsing data are, he would most likely be puzzled for an answer. The internet is a tunnel into our homes. Although we take more than we give, the internet is still somewhat of a dangerous place. This is why you need to treat as a push and pull system, something that has to be balanced in your life.

Don’t get too familiar

In order for the buying process to be more fluid and enjoyable, businesses and Google have worked together to make a ‘autofill form’ features for search engines. As many websites will require a login process before you can buy something, consumers have to go through an account and password login authorization. If you have selected to use the autofill form feature in Google Chrome, the browser will save all your account details for each website that you use. All you need to do is click login and you will be inside your account, so you can continue shopping. However, this spells trouble because it does not require human input to type your account details in.

As your details have been saved in the browser engine itself, this means that hackers can steal that information from you. They can do this by using malware and spyware programs that open without you knowing of their presence. Another way hackers can steal your information is by simply attacking the website you use regularly. For example, hackers can mimic the features of the login pages of websites. When the browser matches your details to the individual boxes or fields where your details are placed, unbeknownst to you, by clicking on the login button you will have given away your details to hackers. These are just two reasons why you should never use any sort of autofill form features, that saves your details. Everything from emails, passwords and credit card details should always be freshly typed to login to accounts and purchase items. 

Not always fun and games

Gaming is one of the best things to happen to modern computing. The need to create and sell video games to millions of people around the world has transformed how we look at and use the internet. Games require a lot of packet data transfer, and thus speed and consistency of connections is so vital for internet service providers. While the need for faster and faster internet is rising in the background, in the forefront there is a need to know what kind of risks there are in online gaming. Gaming websites of all kinds, also feature many autofill form features for browsers. If you’re gaming in an online casino, this becomes a very delicate matter as real money could be lost if your details were to be stolen.

Take a look at the various ways to adhere to Password safety and best practices, while you’re online gaming. In the article, it shows what an established and trusted gaming website will look like and what a website that has risks, will look like also. Cookies is one of the more interesting topics because it’s essentially a memory bank for the websites you go to. They will save user data, so pages can load quicker but this means a user footprint is required from you. Usually, such websites will sell your data to marketing agencies, a piece of your privacy has been taken from you. 

Social media settings

Social media has given us a wonderful new age of communication. We can speak with anyone from around the world at any time. We can share views and opinions on the things we like. It’s common for entertainment programs to have their own hashtags, which many people use to express their opinions on storylines and characters. However, every social media website has its own standards of privacy. In recent months and years, this has come under a lot more scrutiny by the general public. It’s been widely accepted that Facebook shares user profile information with companies of all kinds. This is a very serious issue as your privacy is not something that should be put up for sale.

Whether you’re on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, go into profile settings. Go through the privacy settings options very carefully and decide which ones you would like to turn off. If you would rather not share your location to the public, turn off geographical posting. This will not block your city and country from being shown in your tweets and comments.

Eye spy

If you’re on a laptop or perhaps you have a separate webcam device, remember to switch it off when you’re not using it. Hackers have been known to bust into webcams and spy on individuals in the comfort of their own home. Block your in-built webcam if you primarily use a laptop or tablet. Using a little bit of black tape will do nicely. If you have a webcam device such as a Logitech C992, then switch it off and unplug it for when you’re not using it. 

The internet has really quickened our progress in many ways. However, it’s not without its own unique challenges. Users must be aware of how precious their privacy is and not using the autofill form features in browsers, is one less thing to worry about.