How to Protect Yourself Online

Most of us spend a lot of time on the Internet, whether for work or play, the first thing many people do over their morning coffee is connect to the internet. This has become part of the normal morning routine; wake up, get a coffee, check the news, your email, social media and then start your day.

Following Edward Snowden’s recent comments regarding online privacy; “We learned that the internet is under surveillance, our activities are being monitored to create permanent records of our private lives – no matter how innocent or ordinary those lives might be.” He joined various tech firms including Google and Mozilla to campaign for stronger privacy rights online. This is in the wake of Snowden’s revelations just over a year ago on the US government’s online surveillance programs. Where it was revealed that the NSA (National Security Agency) had undertaken numerous global surveillance programs in secret; accessing and collecting millions of people’s personal data.

So how do we know when we login to our email and social media accounts that our data is secure? Every time you login, you input personal details such as your name and password, which gets sent away to connect to your accounts. Now you don’t always know where this information goes, or who views it. This is much more of a concern when you connect to an unsecured internet connection away from home. So how to protect yourself online?

One way to make sure your connection is secure wherever you connect, is to use Le VPN. This secures your connection and makes sure your information remains private. It allows you to join a secure connection with a location of your choosing. You can use Le VPN wherever you can access the internet, anywhere in the world and you’ll always be safe in the knowledge that your personal information remains personal.

Identity fraud is a growing concern that can affect anyone, fraudsters can use any information about someone in an attempt to take out loans, credit cards and open up new accounts in another person’s name. There are numerous ways these people can access your information, unfortunately there is no one ultimate solution to protect yourself. But being vigilant and careful is the most important; not keeping personal, sensitive information online is a good first step. Never publicly display your address or telephone number, and always make sure the internet connection you are using is secure and trusted. A lot of public wifi zones are not password protected, leaving access for anyone to join. This is great in that anyone can access free internet on the go but if you need to check sensitive content like emails and bank accounts, it can be risky. Protecting yourself with Le VPN is easy and beneficial, helping you deal with your online privacy and security, wherever you connect.