by Muyiwa Matuluko

It’s a scary jungle out there on the internet. Anonymous bullying and trolling abound and highly sensitive personal data continue to leak out in droves. Even celebrities aren’t left out.

But do not fret. Here a 4 easy precautions you can take to avoid your personal data leaking out.

Avoid Weak Passwords

A bulk of the time people’s personal accounts or data are compromised on the internet, it usually comes down to weak passwords like – “ilovejesus”and “123456”. Avoid weak passwords, find out how to create unhackable passwords.

Go ephemeral or delete

Even if you believe your recipient is trustworthy enough, the stranger who is lucky enough to have direct access to your device may not be so benevolent. When you want to send sensitive details (such as a photo of your debit card number), you can use ephemeral services like Snapchat, or timed messages on BBM, so that once the recipient receives it, its detailed after a specified time frame.

Do not share in the first place

If you don’t want them leaking, do not share them in the first place at all. Technology can only go as far as protecting your private data, if it already fell in the wrong hands in the first place.

Disable cloud syncing

If you don’t want them out there on the internet, don’t share them. Lots of people are sharing personal photos everyday without knowing them. And it’s not just iCloud accounts. Apps like Dropbox and Google+ are, by default, syncing all photos taken on your device, without your knowledge. You want to disable auto-syncing so you can manually choose what to sync. There’s also the option of uninstalling these apps or avoiding “the cloud” altogether.

Muyiwa