{"id":133306,"date":"2022-11-18T01:13:51","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T09:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/?p=133306"},"modified":"2023-03-28T23:01:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T06:01:24","slug":"privacy-identity-and-device-protection-why-you-need-to-invest-in-all-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/privacy-identity-protection\/privacy-identity-and-device-protection-why-you-need-to-invest-in-all-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Privacy, Identity, and Device Protection: Why You Need to Invest in All Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

Protecting your devices with antivirus is a great start, yet it\u2019s only one part of staying safer online. With the way scammers and thieves target people today, you need to protect yourself too\u2014specifically your identity and privacy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Threats have evolved over the years. While hackers still wage malware attacks on computers, tablets, and smartphones, the devices aren\u2019t the ultimate target. You are. The personal and private information created and kept on your devices have tremendous value because scammers and thieves can use it to steal your identity, open credit cards in your name, and commit all kinds of identity theft and fraud.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet just as using antivirus protection can keep you safer online, using privacy and identity protection will keep you far safer still. Let\u2019s look at how all three can work in concert.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Privacy protection\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Privacy protection focuses on keeping your information from getting into the hands of advertisers, cybercriminals, and data brokers who want to use it for\u202ftheir benefit.\u202fTo boost your online privacy, consider a few thoughtful additions to your daily browsing, email, and social media routine.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, think carefully about your social media habits.\u202fDo you\u202fpost\u202feverything about your day and childhood, pin your location, and share photos of documents that\u202finclude your full name, birthday, or address? You may want to consider\u202fcutting back\u202fon\u202fwhat you broadcast on the internet, especially if your account is public for anyone to view.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, while your friends and family may love your status updates, cybercriminals love them more.\u202fAfter only minutes of snooping, cybercriminals can glean enough personal details about you to impersonate you or target a\u202f<\/span>social engineering<\/span><\/a>\u202fattempt at you.\u202fTo keep your private information more private, limit what you share on social media, pare down your follower and friend\u202flists\u202fto only the closest people, and if your social media account platform supports it set your account to private.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One more way to protect your privacy is to\u202fuse a\u202f<\/span>virtual private network (VPN)<\/span><\/a>. A VPN allows you to remain far more anonymous online by shielding your location and device information, along with the data passing along your connection\u2014which includes things like your passwords, account information, and other sensitive info.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A VPN offers further protection when you\u2019re logged on to a public network, like those in coffee shops,\u202flibraries, and transportation hubs.\u202fCybercriminals often lurk on non-password-protected Wi-Fi networks and\u202feavesdrop on people paying bills or online shopping\u202fto steal their\u202fcredentials.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, criminals aren\u2019t the only ones who intrude on your privacy. Online data brokers collect thousands of data points on millions of people, then post bits of that information for anyone to see and offer far more detailed information for a price.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who buys this information? More legitimate purposes include people conducting background checks, journalists, law enforcement, and, largely, advertisers. With such in-depth information, advertisers can target highly specific audiences with their ads, all based on personal information that can include shopping habits from customer loyalty cards, health data from fitness apps, and information scraped from public social media posts\u2014just to name a few of the umpteen sources they draw from.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet data brokers won\u2019t discriminate. They\u2019ll sell to scammers and thieves as well, who can then use that personal information to help them commit identity fraud and theft.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, you can do something about this. <\/span>Personal data cleanup<\/span><\/a> can scan some of the riskiest data broker sites and show you which ones are selling your personal info. It can also provide guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites and can even manage the removal for you. And because data brokers continually update their data, personal data cleanup will continue to monitor those sites and help you get your information removed should it crop up again.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In all, if you feel that your privacy shouldn\u2019t be up for grabs, a personal data cleanup service can help.<\/span><\/p>\n

Identity protection\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Another\u202fform of protection focuses on keeping you safer from <\/span>identity theft and fraud<\/span><\/a>. Here, thieves will steal personal and account information to rack up charges on existing credit and debit cards, open entirely new accounts and lines of credit, or impersonating the victim themselves for employment, health insurance coverage, or to commit other crimes in someone else\u2019s name.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A few forms of identity crime include:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n