Privacy on the Internet: How to protect it

Nowadays, a large part of people's lives takes place on the Internet. Privacy on the Internet is often not taken into account. However, one's own data is extremely valuable and should be protected in the course of various measures for privacy on the Internet.

If you don't want to become a transparent person, you should therefore consider a few tips. After all, you still want to retain control over your own data. In times when tracking, targeted advertising, data trading and Internet blackmail are the order of the day, it is important to think about protecting your privacy on the Internet.

Protect privacy on the Internet: This is why data protection is so important

It is not without reason that the laws relating to data protection have been revised several times in recent years. The digital transformation runs through every area of life, so that user data enters the world of the World Wide Web via a wide variety of channels. This data is often extremely sensitive and includes, for example, health data, bank details or other private information. In the event of a hacker attack or data leak, this data can be disclosed.

In the worst case, email accounts are hacked, giving cybercriminals access to all data. It is not uncommon for complete identities to be stolen on the Internet. Because of this, users should always think about their privacy on the Internet and ask themselves what information they provide on which sites.

Internet privacy: What happens to data on the World Wide Web?

Anyone who looks for certain things in a search engine must be aware that this is not without consequences. The Google search engine remembers the search and tries to present the user with advertising tailored to it. It is similar in the social networks.

But why do companies try to display suitable advertising? The better the advertising fits the user, the more likely he is to buy the displayed product. This is how Google and the social networks earn money.

Privacy on the Internet is quickly forgotten. However, you can only maintain privacy on the Internet if you take appropriate precautions. This includes, for example, using a search engine without tracking.

One thing you should be aware of - the Internet never forgets. Although there is a right to "be forgotten", everyone knows that things posted on the web may well take on a life of their own, which can affect privacy on the Internet in the long run.

Useful tips for improved privacy on the Internet

It is important to know that the data you enter on the Internet belongs to you. Privacy on the Internet must therefore always be a priority. Especially in social media, it is important that you protect your privacy on the Internet.

After all, social media are there to present yourself. For this reason, you can make settings for data protection and security in most networks. To protect your privacy on the Internet, you should first and foremost disguise your own identity by using a pseudonym.

By setting up a separate email for social media and making your contact information invisible to others, you're doing good groundwork and preserving your privacy online. Likewise, limiting visibility can be a good way to protect your online privacy. If you limit the visibility, you tell Google that your profile should not be crawled.

Thus, the profile does not appear in the search results bar of the search engine. In general, you can define who can see which information of the profile. In addition, you can set who can see the posts.

It is not uncommon to use a social network for several years. Therefore, there may already be some posts on the profile. It can't hurt to scroll through your old posts to hide them from outside users if necessary. Anyone who discloses personal information on social media should think carefully about what they share and who can see it before posting.

With regard to privacy on the Internet, it is generally true that one should be rather cautious. If you enter your data on a website, you should only provide the most necessary information. It makes sense to enter an email address that does not suggest that you are the person behind this email address.

Depending on how you feel about data protection, you should consider for yourself what you want to disclose on the Internet. Passwords, address, phone number, and bank data usually have no place on the Internet. If the device is used by several people, you should also regularly delete the search history or use an anonymous search engine that saves you the constant deleting.

It is also advisable to update software regularly - especially when updating the operating system, which often closes various security gaps. This makes it more difficult for hackers to access the user's data.

Privacy on the Internet: Typical signs of a data leak

There's only so much you can do yourself to protect privacy online. Likewise, companies must ensure that data is kept secure. It is not uncommon for so-called data leaks to occur, in which a site is hacked and user data falls into the hands of cybercriminals.

In this case, the data has been stolen, published or destroyed. In most cases, users are alerted to a data leak by an email from the hacked site. Those who quickly change compromised data, mostly passwords, are on the safe side here.

However, you should also be careful with such emails - after all, they could also come from cybercriminals who have sent them to registered users via the site. Under no circumstances should you give your phone number or click on a link. To protect your own data and privacy on the Internet, you can call the company directly to find out whether there really has been a data leak.

In order to maintain your privacy on the Internet, you have to take some measures and must not carelessly disclose your data. A good option is a VPN (Virtual Private Network) - a VPN allows anonymous browsing, whereby the identity is obfuscated and entries are encrypted.