Data Privacy Day 2019: Wakeup Call to Protect Online Privacy

28^th January should be celebrated as “Privacy RIP Day” instead of “Data Privacy Day.” Especially after what we saw in 2018 regarding massive data breach incidents.

Moreover, there is no surprise that organizations like Facebook and Google have compromised million to billion amount of data.

You may not know, though, is that Google runs hidden trackers on 76% of websites, and Facebook, on nearly a quarter.

This means that every online activity you do, Google and Facebook is probably watching you. Even if you are Android user 42.55% of free apps on Google Play Store could share data with Facebook.

Moreover, 61% of apps tested by the University of Oxford revealed that they automatically transfer data to Facebook the moment user open the app.

Therefore, on this Data Privacy Day, with the help of this article, I will guide you how you can still regain your privacy by changing the pattern of using the internet.

What is Data Privacy Day?

Data Privacy Day began in Canada and USA in 2008 as an extension of Data Protection Day in Europe.

For the very first time, Data Protection Day observes on January 28, 1981, when it becomes an international event officially to safeguard data and privacy.

Now Data Privacy Day is officially led by NCSA (National Cyber Security Alliance) and with the support of multiple privacy consultants globally.

To address and align with current online privacy challenges in a most proficient and meaningful manner. Data Privacy Day is the event to give a strong wakeup call to secure your online privacy.

Every year NCSA spreads awareness among online users and organizations regarding why online privacy is significant for them since the online world get more dependent on data.

NCSA leads their privacy campaign with the help of official slogan “STOP.THINK.CONNECT.”-The international online privacy, safety and security event.

Why is Data Privacy so Important These Days?

In this modern world, online privacy now matters of life. In the recent scenario, privacy threats are not just that your financial information could be compromised.

Use of technology like AI and Machine Learning has all the potential to analyze everything. Moreover, individuals, organizations, and government to control you use this massive amount of data.

From your salary, relationships, living standards to your traveling plans, business and so on, everything is monitor by giants of online world such as Google and Facebook.

This is all happening because we are not giving the amount of importance that we should give towards safeguarding online data.

Dark online entities, on the other hand, take benefit from the situation by breaking into our online accounts and take whatever they like.

I guess there is no one whom we can blame except ourselves. This is why “Data Privacy” is important these days.

Data Privacy Best Practices

Say Goodbye to Weak Passwords

Strong passwords play a vital role in protecting your online data. Say goodbye to simple and obvious password right away. Passwords like “123456789” or “pasword123” are easy to break by hackers.

Try to set unique passwords for your online accounts. Lowercase, uppercase and special characters are the best ingredients to create unbreakable passwords.

Secondly, make your habit to change them frequently. However, it is difficult to create strong passwords continuously. For this use reputable password managers to protect your online accounts.

Use Paid Security Tools

Do not put your privacy at risk by using free security tools to protect your device. This year make a promise to yourself to use paid security tools for devices and regain your online privacy to the maximum.

Use Reliable VPN Services

VPN service is another way to keep yourself anonymous from the eyes of data hunters. However, it is difficult to find out which VPN service is best to use. Since there are hundreds of VPN provider out there.

Personally, for me, Nord and Express are one of the best VPN services when it comes to performance. However, I will still recommend you to prefer NordVPN over ExpressVPN since it is not a part of 5, 9 and 14 eyes countries.

Use Secure Alternatives to Facebook

Try to live a life without Facebook to protect your online privacy. There are tons of secure alternatives to Facebook out there. Use them to get rid of data tracking and monitoring by Facebook.