20 Tips to Help Protect Your Online Privacy

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Let’s face it, when we get online and access the Internet, we’re vulnerable to security threats. Whether we’re online through a modem, a DSL line, cable or wireless, there are risks involved. There are computer viruses, malware, adware, spyware, identification theft and general privacy issues. In addition to protecting our computers, we now have to protect our smart phones and other mobile devices. Additionally, online privacy is an issue that anyone who accesses the Internet has to deal with these days. Here are 20 tips to help protect your privacy on the Internet:

1.) Don’t post personal information like email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, etc. online.

2.) Use passwords that contain a mix of letters, numbers and special characters.

3.) Change your passwords frequently and keep them private.

4.)  Create a throw-away email account that you can use for mailing lists, forums etc. If it gets spammed, delete it and create a new one.

5.) Be diligent about opening emails and clicking on links.

6.) Never reply to spammers. (You’re verifying your email address.)

7.) Install, update and regularly run security software (anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-spam).

8.) Install software/apps on your mobile devices to track theft and protect yourself from viruses, spam and malware.

9.) Install updates to your software (operating systems, WordPress, Joomla, Drupla, SQL, and related plugins, extensions, etc.)

10.) Install a firewall appliance (such as a broadband router) as well as firewall software. Used together, you have a higher degree of protection.

11.) Be wary of wireless connections in public places like coffee shops and airports. Other people on the network could possibly access your information.

12.) Be conscious if the website that you’re on is secure. The URL of a secure site begins with https:// rather than http://.

13.) When you’re on a social networking site (Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc.), be aware of your privacy settings. Oftentimes, the default is to be public. Change your settings to fit your personal needs.

14.) If you have children, install parental controls and monitor their online activities. Teach your children to never share personal information online. (Joining the same social networking sites that they do and becoming their “friend” is a good idea too.)

15.) Be cautious of what “apps” (applications) you authorize to access your accounts and occasionally check the apps you’ve authorized to see if any can be removed or blocked.

16.) Before you do business on a site, make sure you read (and understand) their privacy policy to make sure that your data is not being shared or sold.

17.) Don’t automatically consent to the collection, use or storage of your personal information.

18.) Make it clear that you do not wish your information to be disclosed to any third party.

19.) Replace antiquated software that has been discontinued and no longer supported. 

20.) Host your websites with a reputable vendor that has a reputation of proven security mechanisms and routine security practices.

What are your thoughts? I’m sure there are many more tips and ideas of ways we can protect ourselves online. What are your favorite ways to protect yourself and your family from having your computers and mobile devices compromised?

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Author: Sherryl Perry

Welcome! If you're looking for help building an Internet presence that fits your needs and works for you, you're in the right place. I blog common sense articles about WordPress, social media and SEO. My goal is to help small business owners and entrepreneurs understand their core business. Together, we can develop and implement business strategies that make sense to you.

69 thoughts on “20 Tips to Help Protect Your Online Privacy”

  1. Great tips ahead Sheryll! It is really important to be more secured online and of course the privacy is a must because hackers are intelligent enough to destroy all the things we have online.

  2. I guess one of the most important thing to do in order to protect yourself is to keep your password as a secret. There are times that we entrusted our passwords to somebody. Then if there comes a time that things aren’t going right, some petty quarrels are there, then there’s a high chance for a person to mess-up one’s account using the password given to him/her.

      1. You’re right! Making a temporary account could be the best choice for a person not to give his/her own password. Anyway, this is an issue not because we don’t really trust somebody rather, we simply need to protect our interest.

  3. Good coverage on this subject, I did an article about how to stay safe online but you covered it better. Good work.

  4. A great way on how to protect ourselves from dangers brought by online transactions. Nowadays it is important for people to be fully aware of what may happen to them if we are not responsible in doing transactions online. This post helps me a lot in ensuring my safety by doing online works.

  5. Hi Sherryl,
    Great tips.Online privacy is a very important issue these days and I like your tips especially the points related to passwords and personal details.We should be carefull in selecting and changing passwords.

    1. Hi Pete, Thanks for joining us. For years, I worked at a large non-profit and there was one department that I was constantly battling with. One woman in particular always kept her passwords written down on post-it-notes that she would leave out on her desk. It wasn’t until I told her that anyone could use her computer to send a nasty email to her boss (or something much worse) when she finally started listening to me. I still shake my head in amazement. 🙂
      Sherryl Perry recently posted..As a Sole Proprietor or Entrepreneur Where Do You Turn for Support?My Profile

  6. These are great tips. Taking precautionary measures before any type of online activities is something that’s quite unavoidable now. These days spammers disguise themselves to rob our money and valuable data.

  7. It is hard for small businesses. They need to be social and post real names, addresses, phone numbers and their place of business. This does invite problems, but you got to do it if you want business.

    Use good spam filters, keep your place of business secure and be careful who you do business with. You don’t want to get mixed up with the wrong people when your information is out there.

    1. It can be challenging for small businesses to maintain an online presence while still handling the day-to-day business. Unfortunately, most of my 20 tips are necessary. The cost of not protecting yourself online is necessary. Small business owners are already up against time constraints and having to be diligent about privacy and hacking issues just adds to our burden. Thanks for your input.
      Sherryl Perry recently posted..Can Anyone Really Follow 131,000 People on Twitter?My Profile

  10. I used to make a little money from email spam on the site (should I admit that!) and I can tell you that your point about replying is a good one. Even if you just fire off an annoyed reply saying not to email you again you have proven that there is someone picking up the email at that address!

  11. In today’s time where social media is at its peak it is indeed a right move to protect yourself online. I’m also using a different emails for business and personal use and the changing of passwords is kind of a habit for me.

  12. Well, my blog was hack last month, though the hacker did not do much in my dashboard only placing a file hidden in one of my folder with advertising images using my blog URL to link back to a wordpress site, I do not know how this person do that, but luckily I hire a hacker team of 3 people to clear this hack for me.
    It took about 3 days of work to find the folder that contain all the advertising pictures. All thanks to Andy from comment Luv that actually alert me as my comment Luv plugin doesn’t work because of the hack file that’s blocking it.
    It was a lesson I learn that even I change my password weekly, people are still able to log in to my site and this is how dangerous it is when you are expose online…

      1. I’m not sure, just that my commentluv plugin suddenly didn’t work and then I contacted Andy for help, he access my commentluv plugin and saw some links blocking my site and linking back to pages that had images located at wordpress.com, so he alert me that my blog might had been hack, and that’s how it happen…

  13. Great post…! Nice to connect with another Online Networker.. Went through your blog and I should say there’s some really good content here… Wish you all success and let’s stay connected! – Sidz

  16. As far as #16 is concerned, if a portion of that document reads, “We MAY share your personally identifiable information with some of our corporate partners,” you should interpret that to mean, “You WILL be spammed, and most likely be sent unsolicited mail via post, by third parties…”

  17. Hi Sherryl,
    I have something to add about wireless connections in public places (coffee shops…). You can simply use a VPN and you are safe. A VPN will encrypt your connection so no one can see what you are doing. You can get one for like 2-3$ per month so it might be a good idea if you use public wifi a lot 🙂
    have a good day,
    Anita

  18. You know, as much as time passes, we still fall victim to so many of these web traps. Some of these are incredibly obvious, but people still fail to protect themselves. For example, I have a friend who recently replied to a spammer by calling them a a-hole. That caused havoc on her inbox and spammed her entire contact list with emails about male enhancement. Thanks for the reminders, Sherryl.
    Dennis Salvatier recently posted..Compromise is King?My Profile

    1. Dennis, Thanks for reminding us to not reply to spammers. That must have been a nightmare for your friend. Yesterday, I spent close to 4 hours restoring my brother-in-law’s computer. He had clicked on a link on Facebook and got a particularly nasty virus. In addition to corrupting his operating system, it had disabled the CD Rom drive. So, initially, you couldn’t even boot the computer from that.
      Sherryl Perry recently posted..If Your Website Was a Wheel – Is Your Blog the Hub or a Spoke?My Profile

  19. Sherryl, aloha. Great list and good to have on hand to share with others. Thank you.

    Sherryl, recently I started using a service which I quite like. It has a paid and free version; I am using the free version. It is unsubscribe.com

    What it does is “analyze your Social Networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) to find applications you have installed which might have access to your data without your knowledge, are companies or developers with a negative reputation or are applications that you no longer use.”

    We don’t think of all the apps we have opened when we commented on someone’s blog. If you use it, you will see exactly what I mean. Sherryl, I still had apps opened for a blog that I had no commented on for months.

    Another feature it has that I like is that now when I go to open a new app, it will tell me the security level. If I still want to use the app, briefly so I can do something, I will allow it and then, as soon as I finish with it, unsubscribe.

    Do check it out and let me know what you think. Until next time, aloha. Janet

  20. Thank you Sherryl. There really is a lot that we can do to protect ourselves. I recently googled my name and my business name. Google showed a map that had my home address on it. I changed it immediately. It’s scary how things we don’t necessarily pay attention to can haunt us. Each of your suggestions is valuable.

      1. You are right Sherryl. Parents are worried not just about their children’s identity but all those hidden dangers that we don’t even know to look out for. It seems as if we get a handle on protecting ourselves, and then a new threat emerges without us even knowing to look for it. Even Facebook doesn’t make new policies clear. We have to work hard to keep ourselves educated. Blogs posts such as yours make a vital difference in keeping all of us in the loop.

        1. I really enjoy and value your parenting advice Keyuri and often share your articles on Facebook. The Internet has really raised the level of diligence that we need to protect our children online. It’s imperative to keep a close eye on their accounts and online activity.
          Sherryl Perry recently posted..Google Panda and Website Load TimesMy Profile

        2. That’s really a fantastic list, but it’s not easy to implement all those 20 tips – unfortunately it is also a bit time consuming. I was also wondering if anyone can recommend a good and free anti-virus program for PC. THanks a lot.

          1. Robert, Lots of times Internet Service Providers will offer free access to anti-virus package to their customers. That might be the best bet for you. If not, I suggest going to CNet.com and doing a search. They have reviews and recommendations. I’ve never run into a problem downloading software from their site.
            Sherryl Perry recently posted..How to Ping Your Website Blog and When Not ToMy Profile

  21. Great list Sherryl. I’ve been a victim of spam and hacks before so I know all too well unfortunately of the horrible effects they can have on you. Actually lost my first site due to my lack of knowledge with protecting my information and my sites. Hard lesson to learn for sure.

    I just recently be told as well to expand on your point with giving access to apps (this is done a lot for twitter), is that you should be going into your applications settings and revoking the access afterwards. This applies to other apps such as Gmail as well.

    Thanks for the list… very useful stuff as always! 🙂

    2. Thanks for that great collection of internet security tips. I also use Firewall plugin for my WordPress blog to protect it against attacks from hackers. The plugin is free and can be downloaded from the WordPress.org website.

  22. I never thought of making a throw-away email before so thanks for that advice. I am an avid facebook user. I log in to my account everyday and the very threat to one’s account there recently are the appearances of suspicious website and video links.Most of the links have illicit contents or images. I’ve never tried clicking on one but,sadly,some of my friends do and all of a sudden they’ll be horrified in discovering there are malicious posts on their walls they didn’t post and private messages sent to their group of facebook friends that they never sent themselves.

  23. It is not easy to protect our privacy especially online…This is maybe because of people who are experts in hacking and invading privacy of other people…Thank you for the tips here…

  24. With all the social networks our privacy is in jeopardy. Also, if you participate in forums be sure not to post personal pictures or data. And if you connect through a public wireless connection be super cautious with the sites your access, there are people inside the public network who could steal your passwords.

  25. Computer viruses and malware really bugs me. Its really irritating. I checked your list and find it useful in some ways. Can you recommend me to a free software that will able to detect these kind of viruses?

    1. I really don’t know of any free anti-virus software to recommend Jessica. (Personally, I use Kaspersky which is not free but it’s worth the cost to me for the protection that it provides.) Some ISPs (your Internet service provider) like Comcast offer free anti-virus protection. It’s possible that you’re eligible to download a version of a well known anti-virus program. Maybe someone else here has a suggestion.
      Sherryl Perry recently posted..3 Steps to Protect Your WordPress Blog from HackersMy Profile

  26. Hi Sherryl what is the secret to getting rid of your social media overlay, it’s really irritating as I cannot read your posts easily. I find it very offputting.

    1. Diane,
      What do you mean by my “social media overlay”? I recently changed my share plugin and I tweaked a couple of other things on my blog. If there’s a problem viewing my site, I’d like to address it immediately. What browser are you using and what is happening when you view my blog?

      Thanks for letting me know! Anytime anyone notices a problem on my site, I appreciate hearing about it.
      Sherryl Perry recently posted..Low Cost Resources Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs Can AccessMy Profile

  27. Sherryl,
    Good suggestions. When you’re in business, though, it is a difficult to decide how much information to give out and how much to hide. You do want prospects to find you. Also, there is so much inflormation about you in different directories — even in the white pages — that is sometimes a losing battle to have any privacy.

    1. That is the dilemma Jeannette. How much info is too much? Like you, I want prospects to be able to find me. The approach I take is to limit the amount of personal info that I share but I don’t generally hesitate to post any info about my business or my qualifications. I just always keep in the back of my mind that any time I hit the submit button (unless I’m confident that I’m logged into a secure environment), I’m sharing with the world – forever. Hopefully that approach will keep me out of trouble.
      Sherryl Perry recently posted..Can Bloggers Learn a Lesson From Watching American Idol?My Profile

  28. Great and complete list Sherryl. What else can we do? However, having said that if for some reason a hacker get their sight on us we are in for a nasty surprise:-)

  29. Funny you should mention changing passwords. I just changed a few accounts last night. Which, is usually a good thing. But, I keep trying to use the old password and I can’t login. I hate that part of trying to remember the new one, but it’s worth it in the long run. There sure is more concern with security and privacy than there used to be.
    Ray@dolphin tutorials recently posted..Cloudflare 1 week reviewMy Profile

  30. Hi, Sherryl.

    Your list makes me wince because I am not sure if I am doing all the things you mentioned except the password thing. I am not too good about technical things, so I leave all that stuff to my boss. 😀 But, I bet my boss knows about this privacy stuff, so I am kinda appeased a bit, but not quite. 😉

    I’m super glad you shared this, though. A lot of people will benefit from this. Not just me.

    Hope your week is going well. 🙂
    Kim

    1. Hi Kim,
      It’s reassuring to be able to rely on someone else for security at work. (I miss the days when I had staff who took care of all the IT stuff and I didn’t have to do it myself.) I’m sure you must have a personal computer and possibly a smart phone that you have to safeguard. I believe we’re going to be hearing of more and more people who don’t realize that they need to safeguard their phones (until they run into trouble).

      Thanks Kim. I’ve had a very productive week. I hope your week is going well too.
      Sherryl Perry recently posted..20 Tips to Help Protect Your Online PrivacyMy Profile

  31. A very thoughtful list Sherryl. Apps are most concerning, and annoying in my opinion. The apps oftentimes request full range of our profiles, friends, and such. Reading their long list is quite scary. In fact, I’m waiting for them to ask to sample my DNA!

    Have a great week!
    kathleen@midlife recently posted..10 Eat Your Peas and Thank You TipsMy Profile

    1. “Sample my DNA!” – LOL Kathleen. I know exactly what you mean. The apps that most concern me are the ones coming from friends on Facebook. I would gladly vote for your grandchild’s photo but do I really need to give access to a brand who sells baby products to vote?
      Sherryl Perry recently posted..Google Panda and Website Load TimesMy Profile

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