Ways hackers can violate your online privacy

The world of technology is always evolving and so is our relationship with the
internet. Back in the 1990s, the only thing you seemingly had to worry about
was your email. Then, you started banking online and now, your smartphone's
connected, you have Facebook… and pretty much your whole life is online. And
you're always being tracked. Your entire browsing history is stored by your ISP,
tracked by Facebook and perhaps other advertisers. Even your IoT devices might
be reporting on you. So, keeping things private is already quite a big ask — even
before the hackers get involved…

What information is available to hackers?

You may not have realized quite how much of your personal information is
available on the internet. Let's have a run through some of the types of
information that's there, and why hackers might be interested.

1. PII - personally identifiable information. This includes your name, address,

email address, SSN, tax number, date of birth, medical records, educational
 records, employment. There’s lots in this type of data that a hacker could use
to steal your identity. It might include details of purchases that you've made
on Amazon, or investments made with an online broker. All of this private
information could be used to compromise your other online accounts, too.

2. Emails, SMS, and instant messages are all kept on servers somewhere. There
might be plenty of information in your emails that you don't want the world
to see - confidential business documents, love letters, details of your bank
accounts. And hackers will also be interested in your contacts, because if
they can get hold of those, they can send phishing emails to everyone you
know.

3. Your browsing data includes cookies, ISP logs, and browser plugins that
might store data. It's useful to advertisers, and with the advent of Big Data, it
might be more useful than you realize.

4. In real time, you may be using the internet to make a Skype call or for video
conferencing. Are you sure that no one's listening in?

You may not even realize that some of these details have been stored. Or you
may be annoyed by the way Facebook wants to tell your friends what you've just
bought or listened to, or the way the LA Times is showing you ads for something
you looked up two weeks ago.

Hackers are always evolving their techniques. For instance, phishing has been a
standard method for over a decade, which involves sending fake emails that
either ask you to connect to a spoofed website that looks like one you trust or
that have links that install malware on your computer. But now, fake links on
social media and hacked social media accounts are also serving as ways to
intrude on your privacy and steal your data.

Public Wi-Fi is a marvelous thing, letting you work from any Starbucks, but it's
also a huge security vulnerability. Unprotected hotspots give hackers yet another
way to break into your device and steal your data. Given that hackers are a
massive threat to your online privacy, what can you do about it?

Use a VPN to protect yourself against hackers

Public Wi-Fi doesn't require authentication to access it. That's great for you, and
it's great for hackers, because they don't need any authentication either. They
 can use Man-in-the-Middle (MTM) attacks to steal your data, or - in some cases
- they can even set up a 'honeypot' Wi-Fi hotspot to suck your data up.

If you need Wi-Fi for your laptop, it may be a better idea to share your mobile
4G connection by setting up your mobile as a Wi-Fi hotspot and letting your
laptop connect to it securely.

Better still, use a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which creates a private gateway
to the internet for you.

How does a VPN prevent hacking?

By redirecting your internet traffic to disguise your IP address, it makes it

impossible to track you. And by encrypting the information you send across the
internet; it stops anyone who wants to intercept your information from being
able to read it. That includes your ISP. So, a VPN is a really good way to protect
your privacy online.

A VPN isn't just good for your online privacy and security; it has a couple of
other advantages. It can allow you to visit websites that may be blocked by the
Wi-Fi provider - in some places, that includes Facebook and Twitter. And
because it can access geolocation blocked content, it can be useful if you're
traveling abroad and want to access financial accounts which may be blocked to
'foreign' users.

You can get free VPNs - but they can come with strings attached. If you really
want to protect your privacy online, you should use a premium VPN; it's worth
paying for.

How encryption protects your privacy

You might also consider using encryption to protect your online privacy. In fact,
you're probably doing that already to some extent, since businesses that handle
your data will sometimes encrypt it. Your bank, for instance, probably uses
encryption on its website, through SSL and TLS certificates.

If you see a padlock at the start of your browser address bar, the link between
your browser and the server is encrypted. If you're filling in a form without the
padlock, a hacker could attach a malicious program to the server that hosts the
website that could listen in to your communications and steal your data. If
:
 you're filling it in with SSL/TLS, no one can listen in.

Another way of telling whether a website is using SSL/TSL is if the URL begins
with https:// rather than http://. HTTPS is a much safer protocol than HTTP.
Remember, though, the encryption just protects your communication. Once
your details are sitting on the company's server, they could be vulnerable to any
attack on the company's network.

It's also worth knowing that phone calls on Skype are 100% encrypted - as long
as they're 100% made on Skype. But if you make a Skype call to a regular phone
number, the link over the PSTN (ordinary phone network) isn't encrypted. That
could allow someone to listen in. You can also take advantage of encryption for
your messages on Facebook, using 'Secret conversations', if you're on an iPhone
or Android smartphone - but not on your PC or laptop.

One of the reasons WhatsApp has become so popular is its end-to-end

messaging encryption. Other apps offer encryption but don't turn it on as
standard. Look for the setting to turn it on - why on earth would you not want
to?

You might also be interested in using Tor, an anonymous, encrypted browser

network, to avoid having your browsing history tracked. Investigative journalists
often use Tor, as do NGOs who are working in hostile environments. However,
:
 Tor is not perfectly safe; it has been known to deliver malware, and it's still
vulnerable to 'man in the middle' attacks.

Encryption is a great bonus when you want to protect your privacy online. But
governments don't always agree. Some are trying to force tech providers to
include a backdoor allowing security agency to access the data. The problem, of
course, is that as soon as you leave a backdoor open, hackers will try to get in.

Reduce your digital footprint to protect your

privacy
When you're thinking about how to protect your privacy online, it's worth
thinking about whether you might want to reduce your digital footprint. We're so
used to posting photos online, telling our friends what we've just listened to or
where we've been on social media… We don't always think where that
information is being stored or what it could potentially be used for.

That may mean resisting some of the suggestions social media and other sites
make, such as tags for people you were with. It might mean turning off location
services for some of your social media. Pruning your online presence can be
quite helpful in protecting your privacy. You can also think about the following
ways to reduce how much of your personal information is available on the web,
and to whom:

Keep your social media private and restrict your Facebook posts to friends
only rather than allowing anyone on the internet to access them.
Tighten up who can send you friend requests, from 'anyone' to 'friends of
friends' for instance.
Turn off location, face recognition, 'interests' buttons, and advertisers on
social media. Some social media platforms will actually post your location
online whether you want it to or not - that's not great for your privacy, and
advertising "I'm not home" to burglars is a big safety risk. Or you can just turn
off geotagging by turning off the GPS in your phone.
Unsubscribe from old email lists that you don't want to be on. Consider
using a secondary email address for one-off purchases, inquiries for
insurance quotes, and so on. Keep your personal email free for your friends
and family.
:
 Be careful with Internet of Things (IoT) devices which monitor your
personal habits - password protect them, run them on a separate guest
network so they can't be used to gain access to your internet accounts, and
remove older devices or ones you don't use from the network.
Feel free to redact. If you want to show you've passed your driving test, for
instance, you might well want to post a picture of your test result - but have
the sense to obscure your address, phone number and other identifying
information in the photo.
Check up on what is being done for you automatically. Some people don't
want Google to automatically log travel plans in their calendar, for instance.

Remember that social media did not get started as an advertising business. It got
started as a service that individual users felt made their lives more enjoyable. All
these tips may sound like hard work, but they're just a way of reclaiming social
media as a fun service, rather than a drain on your privacy.

Protecting your privacy with anti-hacker software

There is now a wide range of software available for you to protect your online
privacy and security. Some is aimed at preventing websites from tracking you,
some at stopping hackers from installing malware on your PC; some is available
as extensions for your web browser, while some requires separate installation.
Perhaps calling it anti-hacker software is going a bit far - it won't stop a
determined hacker but using such software can make it very difficult for a
hacker to get into your computer or get access to your data.

For instance, browser plugins can be used to stop websites from tracking you.
Facebook tracks you while it's open even if you are not on the site at the time,
gathering your browsing history to use in serving up targeted ads. That's an
innocent enough purpose perhaps, but Facebook's data collection and sharing
practices have often been under fire, so consider protecting yourself.

Use a good anti-virus and anti-malware software. If a keylogger Trojan manages

to install itself on your PC, goodbye online privacy! Cleaning up your PC or
phone from time to time is also a good idea; make sure no hacker programs are
listening in.

You might also want to download an app that can erase your phone's data if it is
:
 lost or stolen. If you sync Google devices, you can already remove the data from
any device remotely. Don't let your contact list or banking apps get into the
hands of hackers - just wipe the phone.

It's not strictly anti-hacker software, but a good password manager is worth its
weight in gold. Using strong passwords and different passwords for different
accounts and networks is what we'd recommend as a basic precaution for
anyone who wants to minimize the risk of intrusion - but it's not that easy to do
if you have multiple accounts to secure. Using a password manager helps keep
your accounts secure; just make sure you've secured your password manager
itself with a strong password.

You could install all these protections separately. Alternatively, you can take
advantage of Kaspersky's Total Security, which packages all the protection you
need into a single bundle.

How to keep your privacy secure

Protecting your online privacy means keeping your devices and networks
secure. We've already mentioned some ways to do this - such as using a good
password manager. However, here are some additional tips that can help you
protect your privacy against hackers:

Enable two factor authentication on your accounts. For example, when

you use PayPal, you'll get an SMS message to verify each transaction. Other
accounts use biometric markers such as fingerprinting, patterns, or even a
physical fob or dongle to provide a second method of verification.
Don't download unofficial apps on your smartphone - use the Apple App
Store or Google Play.
Watch out what permissions you give to smartphone apps. If a word
processing app wants to use your camera and microphone, location info
and in-app purchases, as well as access to your Google account, question it
and investigate why.
Uninstall software and apps you no longer use or need.

Disable 'run as administrator' on all your devices, and don't root or jailbreak
your phone. This means if a hacker does manage to gain control of a
program, they won't be able to get control of the phone or change the
:
 settings and probably won't be able to install software on your phone or
computer.
Keep all your software up to date. Hackers regularly find new vulnerabilities
in out-of-date software and operating systems.
Deactivate the autofill option. It's a time-saving feature, but if it's
convenient for you, it's also convenient for hackers. All the auto-fill info has
to be kept somewhere, such as in your browser profile folder. This is the first
place a hacker will go to look for your name, address, phone number, and all
the other info they need to steal your identity or access your accounts.
When you have a particularly sensitive transactionto make use a VPN or
private browsing mode.
Phones are small, and easy to misplace. They're also favorite targets for
thieves. Ensure you have a screen lock and, as mentioned above, install
software that can wipe your phone if it's lost.
Configure your router with a secure new router name and password. If you
change the password, using WPA authentication, you've made it less likely
for someone to hack your router. But why change the username? Simple -
most usernames show the type of router or the network it's running on.
Change it to something else (preferably not your name, though) and you're
depriving hackers of that information, too.

Remember to log out! When you've finished using an account, log out of it.
When you leave your accounts running in the background, that's a major
security breach. Fortunately, most banks now log customers out after a
certain time. But the big threat to your privacy doesn't come from them - it
comes from social media.

These tips should help block all the little backdoors that hackers like to use to
get into networks, apps, and devices. Together with the other actions you've
taken - reducing your digital footprint, using a VPN, and using encryption - they
should help keep your private life the way you want it: private.

Finally, if you care about protecting your online privacy, make sure you keep up
to date on cybersecurity. New threats are always emerging, and new ways of
dealing with these threats emerge in response. Just as you'd update your
computer software, keep your brain updated by checking in with the IT security
community every so often, and check out the latest articles here at
:
 Kaspersky.com.

Related links

Identity Theft Prevention Tips for Facebook Users

Privacy Exposure Online…what’s the worst that could happen?

Major Celebrity Hacks and How They Can Affect You

How to Avoid Public Wi-Fi Security Risks

Protecting You, Your Family &
More
Get the Power to Protect. Discover
how our award-winning security
helps protect what matters most to
you.
Get FREE Tools
There’s a wide range of FREE
Kaspersky tools that can help
you to stay safe – on PC, Mac,
iPhone, iPad & Android
devices.
We’re Here to Help
Helping you stay safe is
what we’re about – so, if
you need to contact us,
get answers to some
FAQs or access our
technical support team.

Who We Are Get Your Free Trial Stay in Touch

Find out why we’re so committed
to helping people stay safe… online
and beyond.
Try Before You Buy. In just a
few clicks, you can get a FREE
trial of one of our products –
so you can put our
technologies through their
paces.

Home Products Small Business Products

(1-25 EMPLOYEES)

Kaspersky Anti-Virus
Kaspersky Small Office Security
Kaspersky Android Antivirus
Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud
Kaspersky Internet Security
All Products
Kaspersky Total Security
:
 Kaspersky Security Cloud
Medium Business Products
Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection (26-999 EMPLOYEES)

Free Antivirus Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud

All Products Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business

Select

Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business

Advanced

All Products

Enterprise Solutions
(1000+ EMPLOYEES)

Cybersecurity Services

Threat Management and Defense

Endpoint Security

Hybrid Cloud Security

Cybersecurity Training

Threat Intelligence

All Solutions

© 2022 AO Kaspersky Lab. All Rights Reserved. • Privacy Policy • Anti-

Corruption Policy • License Agreement B2C • License Agreement B2B India

Contact Us About Us Partners Blog

Resource Center Press Releases Sitemap
: