Here's How To Protect Yourself When Online
Privacy is one of the most important aspects of our lives. But, unfortunately, now more than ever, thanks to technological advancements, it’s easier than ever to invade if one is not careful enough. From invasive advertisers to Big Tech to hackers, many are trying to take any bits of your personal information and use it to their advantage and rarely your benefit.
As a result, new companies, organizations, and items have been created for the past several years to protect individuals better. For those interested in finding better ways to protect their privacy on the world wide web, I have gathered some tools and products to help you achieve that.
Proton Mail is an email provider based in Switzerland and protected by Swiss privacy laws. It’s different from other email services, such as Gmail and Outlook, as they aim to protect your privacy better. By default, emails you send and receive are encrypted, meaning that no one, not even Proton, can see the contents of the email, though they do not encrypt the subject line of the emails. Proton Mail also has no ads, making it much easier to review your email and ensuring no third-party services will send you emails. One recent feature that they added was an anti-tracking feature. Any emails you open, if trackers are trying to see if you opened them, Proton will block them for you, further ensuring your privacy.
You can create a free account with Proton Mail, though there are some limitations, such as the number of emails that can be sent in a day and limited storage. You will need to pay for one of their subscription plans if you need more storage or looking for other features and have the option to pursue a monthly, yearly, or two-year plan.
If you are not keen on making a new email address or paying for one, you should check out SimpleLogin. SimpleLogin is an open-source email service that allows you to create email aliases. An email alias is still an email address you can provide to individuals, use to sign up for accounts, etc.; however, any emails the alias receives will be sent to the forwarding email address inbox. For example, let’s say your email alias is 1234@simpelgoin.com, and your regular email is 5678@gmail.com. You use the alias to sign up for a shopping account. Any emails they send you will go first to the alias and then be forwarded to your Gmail. This can better protect you from phishing and spam and protect your regular email address because they will never know your actual email address.
With SimpleLogin, you can create a free account and have up to 6 email alias for one email address. With each email alias, you can write notes about which ones are used for what and disable aliases you no longer use. Also, with SimpleLogin, you can reply to the emails you receive and send emails from aliases, allowing you to protect your regular email address.
Note: Proton (the same company behind Proton Mail) purchased SimpleLogin in 2022.
If you need more than six email alias, you will need to upgrade to the Premium option, which is $30 a year or $4 a month. However, whether you pursue the free or paid option, it’s a tool I highly recommend.
Camera Covers
Many of us have laptops with cameras. Unless you have a laptop with a camera cover (such as HP or Lenovo), your camera is always uncovered and staring back at you. Many of you are probably used to it, but I recommend covering the camera because your camera can get hacked and turned without you even knowing. Yes, even though you know that your camera is on because of a small bright light next to it, it can be disabled, and you wouldn’t even know it. Also, if you think about it, it is weird that your camera is facing you all the time when on your laptop. This also applies to phone cameras as well, front and back.
That’s why you should get a camera cover that covers it when not in use. That way, if it were to be hacked, no one would be able to see you or anything behind you. You can find camera covers online, the biggest selection being on Amazon. Whichever one you pick, make sure it covers the camera but that it also doesn’t damage it as well.
Virtual Private Network (VPN)
You probably have heard of this or used a VPN before, but generally speaking, a VPN is a tool that creates a secure, private network that can hide your IP address and makes it harder to track and identify you. They can also be used if you need to access online tools for your job or organization. In addition, using a VPN makes it harder for anyone to know your exact location and see what you are doing online, therefore protecting your actual location and browsing.
A VPN can and should be used with WiFi, especially public WiFi. Though these WiFi’s are free and easy to connect, a VPN should be attached to them as they are unsecured and can make it easy for anyone to see what you are doing online and make it easier to steal your information. VPNs allow you more security when on public WiFi.
If you do use a VPN, stay away from free VPNs. Although they are tempting, many of those free VPNs will collect that information and use it for their benefit, therefore nullifying one of their purposes of them. Instead, VPN providers such as ProtonVPN (the company behind Proton Mail) and Mullvad VPN are generally recommended. Although you must pay for them, they are usually reasonably priced and ranked as some of the best VPNs. However, do your research and see which VPN is best for you.
For more information about VPNs, check out the following link.
ublock origin
ublock Origin is a browser extension that blocks ads and stops those invisible trackers from snooping on you. Now every website you visit, you will not be greeted by annoying ads or pop-ups and be protected from any trackers behind those ads. This allows you to browse the internet distraction-free as well. The ad blocker will also work with YouTube, so no more waiting for the ads before watching the video. When the extension is in use, you can click on it and see how many ads and trackers have been blocked.
The browser extension is only available for Firefox and Chrome, but it is good. If you are interested in other ad-blocking browser extensions, check out this link.