Updated January 10, 2023
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Dust Off the Cobwebs
With Spring on the way, it’s time to start dusting off….well, dusting off everything. As well as cleaning out the cupboard under your stairs you should also think about cleaning up your online presence as well as your website. Over the course last year you might have signed up to numerous mailing lists, websites, and services, update your computer, bought a new smartphone, and much more. Your data is spread across the internet. So, take some time now to clean some of it up.
Limit Your Exposure
Online security has always been important, but now we have more information than ever online. So making sure your important online accounts are secure is vital. If you’re not already using a password vault like LastPass, we think you should be. But regardless of that, you should be updating your passwords at least on a yearly basis. Especially for accounts containing your financial or personal information.
We would also recommend that if you are using the same password for multiple websites (which we recommend you shouldn’t) that at the very least you have a different one for the more important accounts. Many data breaches happen from less “important” accounts but once the information is out there, more valuable accounts are hacked into. Put simply, don’t use the same password you use for Facebook on RomanticDates.xyz.
Backup Your Data
Writing this article one week after losing all the data from my phone, I now value the concept of backing up my data. Make sure you do it regularly. Backup both your phone and your computers. You might never need it, but if you do, you’ll be very thankful that you’ve backed it up.
Photos of Documents
Another useful thing to have is backup copies of important documentation saved somewhere secure online. For example photos of your passport photo page, or of insurance documentation. While photos may not be enough to help you out if you lose the original documents, they can help with getting them replaced or if you need some information from them when they aren’t to hand.
Updates
And finally, make sure you update your software. While endless security updates might sound boring, they are important. If you’re not updating the software you’re using you could be putting all your apps/ devices at risk. So make sure you regularly download the updates that are sent to you.
Spring Cleaning
If you do all of the above, you should have a healthy online life for the rest of 2018 and you won’t need to worry too much until 2019 at least! How do you try to keep your data safe online? We’d love to hear what you think about online security.
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