Data Leaks are Everywhere—Here’s How to Protect Your Info
The U.S. is affected by the most data breaches every year. Take back control of your data.
It feels like every few months or so, another huge company is busted for either illegally selling user data, or they’ve become the center of a massive data breach. And considering the internet is so enmeshed in our daily lives now, how are you supposed to protect yourself?
Unless you want to spend thousands of hours scrubbing away your digital footprint, there are experts available to help. Incogni‘s sole job is to get your personal data out of places where it shouldn’t be, along with making sure it isn’t sold illegally. Plus, when you sign up for their annual plan with Student Beans, you save 55%, so there’s never been a better time to join.
Use a Private Browser
Cybercrimes are part of the unfortunate reality we live in, which means staying vigilant while browsing is of the utmost importance. If you haven’t already, consider using a private browser to keep all your info safe when online.
According to Incogni, these are the top private browsers for iOS users to keep their data safe:
- Brave broswer
- Avast Secure broswer
- Firefox Focus
- DuckDuckGo privacy browser
- Safari browser
- Aloha browser
- Private Browsing web browser
- Onion browser
Private browsers ensure your activity isn’t tracked and sold to third-party brokers, who make a profit from selling your information.
Learn About High-Risk Websites
Did you know certain websites are more prone to data leaks than others? According to one study done by Incogni regarding new year’s resolutions, certain websites advertising weight loss, exercise, stress reduction, and more are more prone to security breaches.
Educate yourself on how to spot websites that are likely selling your information or tracking your activity. You can even find step-by-step guides on how to opt-out of certain websites mining your information by clicking here.
Actually Read The Privacy Notice You Normally Skip Through
You know all those privacy notices you get when you sign up for apps? Or the cookies you have to agree to when looking at a website? You’re going to want to start paying attention to those.
Companies love to throw a lot of jargon (or hundreds of pages of text dubbed a “user agreement”) at you when it comes to online privacy to discourage you from actually knowing how websites are using your data. While it would be impossible for anyone to wade through all of the legalese, you can at least brush up on what those terms mean.
Check out Incogni’s Online Privacy Glossary to start taking back control of your data and how it’s used.
Hit Up Your Local Government Officials
80% of Americans think the U.S. government isn’t doing enough in terms of data protection and online privacy. That’s a huge amount of people—and not much is getting done in terms of legislation. And this is something that’s affecting everyone: 90% of people have reported being a victim of an online scam attempt at one point in their life.
Considering only 31% of Americans feel like they know how to protect their data, there’s a massive gap when it comes to education and implementing safe data practices. Start petitioning your local legislators to make the changes we desperately need. In the meantime, head over to Incogni’s blog to find loads of resources on how to protect yourself while you’re online.
Outsource the Tough Stuff to the Experts
Did you know it’s estimated it would take over 300 hours of work to go through a single round of opt-out requests? Even if that wasn’t a totally ridiculous amount of work to put in, you definitely have better things to do with your time. So it’s best to use the pros when it comes to the trickier bits of data protection and removal.
When you use Incogni, you’re given a step-by-step update on how your data removal and protection process is going. Here’s a quick overview:
- Day 1: Data removal requests are sent out to all applicable data brokers on their list.
- Week 1: Data brokers start responding while Incogni uses applicable privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA, etc.) to remove your personal information from the databases.
- 3+ months: Most data removal requests are complete and follow-ups are sent out to those who haven’t responded.
Incogni also regularly repeats this process to ensure your data isn’t added again. That’s over 300 hours of your life you have back, along with major data protection.
Remember to save 55% on Incogni’s annual plan when you use Student Beans
This post is a sponsored post in partnership with Incogni.
