Sunday 28th January is National Privacy Day, and in the spirit of keeping our customers’ information to themselves,
we wanted to share a few easy tips that help you take control of your data:
1. Make your passwords secure
Firstly, don’t use anything simple like ‘Password’ or your birth date. Use a mixture of multiple words, numbers, and characters, to create unguessable complex passwords.
Also, it may be a pain, but using the same password for every account is one of the quickest ways for hackers to access your sensitive information, so make each one unique.
You could keep them in a safe, secure location in your home, or use a password management app, like 1Password or LastPass, to keep them in a secure digital environment.
2. Look for the padlock
Whenever you’re offering your personal information online, whether setting up an account or making payments, make sure to check for a padlock in the address bar of your browser, or the URL starting with ‘https’ – proving the site is secure to modern standards.
3. Be careful with your Cookies
Cookies aren’t always sweet treats – companies save cookies on your devices whenever you visit their website. You may also have seen pop-ups asking if you consent to cookies, so if you don’t want a business knowing about you, make sure to deny all the permissions.
4. Consider using a VPN
A Virtual Private Network, or VPN for short, encrypts your internet connection and hides your IP address, making it really hard for any ‘snoopers’ to track your online activity and view your personal data.
This is especially important if you’re ever using a public Wi-Fi network, like at a cafe or airport, preventing the internet provider from collecting and selling your data (unless you have to give it to access the service in the first place).
5. Keep retail accounts private
Social Media and gaming services may ask you to connect your retail accounts for rewards. While this may seem positive, you’re potentially providing all that information within those accounts to other parties that may sell it or use it to send more targeted advertising.
