All your online activity generates a trail of data. Websites, apps, and services collect data on in many cases, you can control how you share your data with a few simple steps. Sometimes, this includes personal data, like your Social Security and driver's license numbers. It can even include data about your physical self, like health data – think about how a smartwatch counts and records how many steps you take.
While it's true that you cannot control how each byte of data about you and your family is shared and processed, you are not helpless! In many cases, you can control how you share your data with a few simple steps. Remember, your data is precious, and you deserve to be selective about who you share it with!
Steps to help you manage your data privacy:
- Know the tradeoff between privacy and convivence.
- Adjust settings to your comfort level
- Protect your data:
- Create long unique passwords for each account and device.
- Turn on multifactor authentication wherever it is permitted.
- Learn how to identify phishing messages.
- Turn on automatic device, software, and browser updates.
For more information about Data Privacy Week, visit staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-week.