Tips to Protect Your Privacy On the Internet #1. Think twice before making your personal information such as date of birth, address, phone number, etc., public; especially on social networking sites. See also: Things You Shouldn't Share Online #2. Treat any unwanted or unexpected email asking for personal information as a phishing attack. Trash such emails, and filter out the sender. See also: What is Phishing and How to Avoid it? #3. Never trust links or attachments in emails coming from unsolicited sources. #4. Avoid unsecured WiFi networks while accessing websites where you have to login or provide your personal or financial information. #5. Create strong passwords with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, special characters, and uncommon words. See also: Creating Strong Passwords #6. Secure your online accounts with two-factor authentication, wherever possible. #7. Review permissions before downloading any application on your mobile devices. #8. Password protect your mobile, tablet, and laptop. Such devices are more vulnerable to theft. #9. Avoid storing sensitive data such as passwords, bank account details, social security number, etc., in USB drives. Even if you should, then get the data encrypted. #10. Never use the same password for different accounts on the Internet. This will ensure the safety of other online accounts if one is compromised. #11. Take regular backups of your important files and documents on external drives or online cloud. #12. When you delete any sensitive data, ensure that it is unrecoverable by any recovery tool. See also: Learn how to delete your data securely #13. Protect your computer from spyware by turning on pop-up blockers, disabling autorun, avoiding inappropriate sites, and verifying free software before downloading them. #14. Spare some time going through the privacy statement of websites to know how your personal information is being treated and used. #15. Prevent unauthorized external devices such as CD/DVD, USB devices, etc., from accessing the data on your computer. Learn about Quick Heal Data Theft Protection #16. Remember to sign out of websites when you are done, especially when you are using a public or shared computer. #17. Identify secure websites before providing sensitive information or making any transaction. A secure website has the 'lock' icon and its URL begins with 'https'. #18. Avoid checking 'Remember me', 'Remember password', 'Keep me logged in' boxes. #19. Protect your computers, mobiles, and tablets with a multi-layered security software. #20. Turn OFF location-tracking services on your mobile device, if they are invading your privacy,