Five ways to protect your data right now.

It seems that data about data theft appears almost every week - data from leading companies, millions of logins and passwords, credit card numbers become the prey of intruders. Of course, you as a private individual cannot stop hackers or protect data that you yourself transfer to companies from theft, but even the simplest actions can reduce the potential damage from such hacks.

1. Give passwords to robots
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Despite the fact that the human brain can remember quite a lot of passwords, more often we do not hesitate to use only one. Therefore, we often use the same password on several sites, and this is a very bad idea. Once a hacked site has stolen a database containing email addresses and passwords, a hacker may try to use them for authorization on other sites. This is a huge problem because many of us use the same passwords on Facebook, Google, Twitter, or online banking accounts. Suitable solution - use a password manager, a program for a computer or device that will randomly generate long passwords for each site you visit and synchronize them between different devices. For example, you can try one of the most popular password managers 1Password and LastPass.

2. U2F keys - use two-factor authentication where possible

Another way to protect your accounts, to be sure that if someone finds out your passwords, they will not be able to log in with their help. To do this, you only need to enable two-factor authentication, this additional feature is already available on many popular sites and services . On some sites, this looks like an extra step in which you need to enter the case number sent by the service to your phone, or launch a special smartphone application that generates one-time authorization codes. Relatively new and, for the most part, a simple version of two-factor authentication is the U2F key , a device that looks like a USB flash drive that you put into the USB port before logging in to a new computer. Such devices cost about $ 15 and can be used to significantly increase the security of your gmail account. It is likely that in the coming months and years, other large companies will add support for u2f keys.

3. Turn on disk encryption

If you lose your tablet or phone on which disk encryption is not enabled, the finder will be able to get all your data from the device. On iPhone and iPad, disk encryption is enabled by default, and for Windows, Android, or MacOS, you will have to enable it yourself.

4. Close your webcam.

The software used by criminals, stalkers and mostly dark personalities allows them to access your webcam without your knowledge. Of course, this does not happen all the time, but scary stories are quite real and scary . One simple sticker will allow you to use your webcam when you need it.

5. Encrypt your phone calls or text messages.

Voice and text services used by operators are also not secure and can become a spy target. To do this, do not even need to have very expensive equipment. All this means that your own government, with the same success as criminals, hackers, and stalkers will be able to listen to your phone calls and read your messages. Some mobile applications that work over the Internet, which you have already got used to using, are safer for private conversations with lovers or colleagues, and it’s not necessary that you need to enable or search for features to achieve even more security - FaceTime from Apple and WhatsApp on Android both are good. If you need a more serious level of protection, there is a great free Signal application available in the Apple App Store.