Maintaining Digital Security on Data Privacy Day

January 28th is National Data Privacy Day, an awareness day set by the National Cybersecurity Alliance to encourage all digital dwellers to be mindful about protecting their online personal information.

As our livelihoods gravitate more and more towards the digital world, it’s important to make sure the data we keep on our various accounts is not openly exposed to hackers. As an article by nationaltoday.com states, “Our increased reliance on digital technologies to manage every facet of life necessitates the need to rethink what we share about ourselves, when and where we share it, and who we are sharing it with.”

The need to maintain our digital security grows as technology advances and becomes more sophisticated, and just a few simple user-facing steps can prevent dangerous incidents and cybersecurity breaches:

• Recognize data privacy as an instrumental aspect of daily life, regardless of what industry you work in or what you use digital technology for. A screen easily blocks any sense of danger, attributing to a feeling of immunity, and understanding that non-physical threats are still threats can keep you on alert and give you the sense of caution you need to recognize potential online risks.
• Always update your devices’ systems when prompted. Making sure your smart devices use the latest software will automatically install the most up-to-date security for the systems, more easily preventing mass and low-level attacks.
• Remember to reset any of the routers in your home. “Routers that enable wireless devices to connect to your home internet service are vulnerable to hacking, too — if you rent a router from your internet provider, call them to see if you are eligible for a new one or for help to update your current router’s settings,”  advises the Nationaltoday.com article.
• Update the passwords on any of your online accounts. Ensuring a different password for each account will prevent hackers from accessing all your profiles and data, keeping your information safe. Nationaltoday.com suggests that “if you have a lot of accounts and find it challenging to keep track of all those different passwords, consider subscribing to a password generator tool that generates random passwords for each one of your accounts but requires you to only remember ONE.”
• Update your device’s privacy settings. “Regularly review and update your web browser’s privacy preferences, delete any cookies, and clear the cache,” says the article. This is a simple step easily forgotten by computer users. Instead of skipping past the privacy settings of a new device or website, take a moment to check if you really want certain data exposed.

Ensuring data privacy may sometimes feel like a hassle, but the risks are too great to just sit back and ignore potential threats. “In the hands of cybercriminals, your stolen data will be sold… to hackers and spammers who, at best, will annoy you with relentless spam, and at worst, gain access to personal identifiers like your social security number,” which can then be used to purchase any number of goods or services, or flat out empty your bank account.

This Data Privacy Day, take a few extra steps to keep your information and your livelihood safe. Capitol Tech offers many degree opportunities in cyber and information security, where you can learn about and develop smarter ways to ensure data privacy. You can even go further and investigate the motives and common tactics behind cyberattacks with our new Master of Research degree in Cyberpsychology. Many courses are available both on campus and online. For more information, contact admissions@captechu.edu.