We know we’re in for a future of rapid growth and technology has been exceptionally fast in the 20th and 21st centuries. In this fast-paced digital world. Our personal life is highly dependent on technology and we no longer can step out of our houses without being followed by them. Every single day another, innovative startups and firms are coming out something more advanced in an attempt to win the consumer war against another company. This is driving the rate of advancement faster and faster each year. For example, our phones track our location every second, while apps such as Lyft and Uber are kind enough to ask for permission to track our location. The big four- Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple keep a close eye on our daily activities and even recommend items and activities based on our likes and the data they’ve gathered on us. With increasing cybersecurity threats and incidents like Equifax hack, a huge necessity has raised to safeguard your digital footprints. We spend most of our time online and on our phones, meaning more of our events like sending personal or work-related emails and messages, sharing thoughts and memories on social platforms, your purchase decisions, and behavior which altogether carries an immense amount of data. When these amounts of data are mishandled or put into the wrong hands will lead to malware extortion, identity theft, and even more serious outcomes. 5 Quick Tips To Protect Your Privacy Online To start, did you know that databases from companies such as Google, Facebook, and many more store all of your information? These companies store data that you have deleted but once anything is put out onto the internet, it stays there forever. Consumers in the digital age are worried about privacy and thankfully there is a wide range of privacy solutions available that could make your identity safe and secure. For example, you can protect your personal information by using DeleteMe service from Abine Inc. which prevents you from entering into databases that are being run by brokers to sell your personally identifiable info. Here are some useful privacy tips for your mobile phone. 1. Sticking Strictly to the App Store: The custom app store in the Mobile phone offers reasonable protection against malware and threats. It regularly scans the app store installed programs to ensure that they remain harmless to the device. Generally, outside sources might feel safe, can’t promise that same kind of protection. 2. Try to limit social media exposure: Understand that it is always wise to limit the information you share on social media, regardless of what the site asks for on your profile. Try to Fill out the absolute minimum amount of information that is necessary to stand out from being a target for advertisers and hackers. 3. Keeping Your Software Up To date: Software updates are like vaccinations for your smartphone and updating your smartphone’s software helps in keeping your data safe. It also let’s be a step ahead of hackers and exploits spreading across the internet. 4. Before Installing, Research the App / Company It harms if you install apps based on the marketing gimmicks and advertisements. For sure, some might fetch your data and leave you at risk. Researching about the app that you are intending to install is the most recommended practice and this helps to safeguard yourselves from data breaches and privacy issues. 5. VPN While Using Public Networks If you find a local free Wifi connection available in the coffee shop you check-in, you will never prefer using your data plans. But remember, public networks are public and if you want to check your account balance or looking for cool products on Amazon, wait until you get home. Because even an amateur hacker can use public Wi-Fi to spy on other users very easily. Using a virtual private network (VPN) can help you in encrypting your activity so that no one on the public network can track it. Five Apps to Safeguard Your Privacy Smartphones in this digital age are the most preferred tools for a single stop payment, personal health monitor, social collaboration machine and a lot more to go. It will be a huge crisis if your smartphone gets hacked because this serves to be a single large database with all your information. Here are some great tools that you could leverage to safeguard your privacy: 1. Abine’s Blur An exceptional super privacy application that seamlessly offers next-gen online privacy protection capabilities. Blur application is a one-stop privacy shop that helps you easily generate strong passwords for your accounts, mask your email identity credit card number to prevent fraud. 2. Kaspersky Antivirus Having an Antivirus app installed might be the very first line defense layer of your smartphone against hackers or any intrusive entities. Kaspersky is a key player in this and its products are robust where it runs in the background, constantly scanning for incoming malware or other threats. This application also has options to locate your device if it’s lost or stolen and put codes on specific apps to prevent people from physically peeping on the content. 3. DuckDuckGo Leading Search engines are tracking our data for every millisecond and when we realize the same, it will put is in a discomfort zone. DuckDuckGo is a privacy-based alternative where it does not store any user data or personal information. This app forces the websites to use an encrypted connection and with DuckDuckGo you can avoid being targeted for advertisements. 4. Wickr Are you a social freak and worried about your messages and information shared? Here is Wickr – Labeled as “the most trusted messenger in the world,” It enables the users to send/share pictures, videos, audio, and files with complete, absolute privacy. This application encrypts messages via unbreakable peer-to-peer encryption that allows the intended receiver to decrypt the message. 5. ExpressVPN Express VPN is a go-to app that can encrypt all internet traffic flowing to and from your device. This app turns out to be an ultimate necessity when you consider connecting to a poorly secured Wi-Fi network or come through a suspicious site that could trace your privacy. Have an idea to build a privacy app that could turn into a billion-dollar business idea? Consult with the Silicon Valley’s top-rated tech experts for a free consultation at Call 408-621-8481 or email team@sdi.la