If you are reading this, there’s a strong likelihood that you are worried about maintaining and protecting your online privacy.
Or perhaps you are someone who constantly frets over the possibility of negative online feedback from customers?
Or maybe you’re part of a big team, or you handle sensitive personal information that’s intertwined with emotional family connections?
If any of these situations ring true, it’s about time you gave serious thought to how you disclose your personal information on the internet.
Rethink how you share your personal information online
You might think that the internet makes it easy to find just about anyone you want to locate. What if you want to remain private? You have the right to keep your personal information away from strangers who might bother you or invade your privacy.
You can’t always hide your work-related details, such as your professional email, work phone number, or LinkedIn profile. Although, you can protect your personal details, such as your cell phone number, home address, personal email address, and other basic information.
To keep your personal information safer, follow these steps:
MORE: GOOGLE’S NEW FEATURE REMOVES PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM SEARCH RESULTS
Steps to maintain your online privacy
Make your social media accounts private
-
-
Update your Facebook privacy settings
-
Update your Google privacy settings
-
Update your X privacy settings
-
Update your TikTok privacy settings
-
Update your Instagram privacy settings
-
Change your profile photo to a non-identifiable one
Once your accounts are private if you really want to maintain anonymity when it comes to strangers online, change your profile photo to a non-identifiable one.
Use a photo where you can’t see your face, and don’t use a picture of you with your family – that makes it even easier. Many people change their Facebook cover photo to a family photo and never change it again. Cover photos are automatically set to public for the world to see, so use a photo you’ve taken of some scenery while on a trip – something that isn’t identifiable to you.
MORE: HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SOCIAL MEDIA SCAMMERS
Change your name on social media
How to change your name on Facebook
- Settings & privacySettings
- Name
- Review change
- Save changes
Make sure across all platforms, you change both the display name and your username if that’s an option.
MORE: HOW HACKERS CAN CRAFT AN ATTACK SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILE
Update your software
If your browser, operating system, or apps are out-of-date, the software might not be safe from hackers. To help protect your account, keep your software updated.
Invest in data removal services
A service like Incogni can help you remove all this personal information from the internet. It has a very clean interface and will scan 195 websites for your information and remove it and keep it removed.
Special for CyberGuy Readers (60% off): Incogni offers A 30-day money-back guarantee and then charges a special CyberGuy discount only through the links in this article of $6.49/month for one person (billed annually) or $13.19/month for your family (up to 4 people) on their annual plan and get a fully automated data removal service, including recurring removal from 175+ data brokers. I recommend the family plan because it works out to only $4.12 per person per month for year-round coverage. It’s an excellent service, and I highly recommend at least trying it out to see what it’s all about.
Use the code: CYBERGUY at checkout to get an exclusive discount – click here.
Use strong and unique passwords
strong passwords
Kurt’s key takeaways
In today’s digital age, you must reassess how you share personal information online to protect your privacy. By making social media accounts private, updating privacy settings, using non-identifiable profile photos, and considering name changes, you can maintain anonymity. Investing in removal services can also help automate the process of removing personal information from the internet, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
How do you currently protect your personal information online, and are there any additional steps you plan to take after reading this article? Let us know by commenting below.
FOR MORE OF MY TECH TIPS AND SECURITY ALERTS, SUBSCRIBE TO MY FREE CYBERGUY REPORT NEWSLETTER HERE
Copyright 2024 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved. CyberGuy.com articles and content may contain affiliate links that earn a commission when purchases are made.