Stay Safe Online!

Staying Safe Online

Staying safe online for most users, is quite simple. All most people need are adblockers, a nice vpn (surfshark and mullvad are great for this) and a bit of vigilance.

The following are some basic rules to follow.

• 1. NEVER use your real name online, unless absolutely neccessary (like your bank or some government organization). Using your real name is extremely simple to avoid and will help tremendously in keeping yourself private.


• 2. Use a VPN when on public and unsecured networks, once again a common sense point, using a VPN tunnels your data through the server of the VPN provider, ensuring that the your info is encrytped. (contrary to what people say, VPNs are not infallible, VPN's ONLY hide what information you are viewing, someone monitoring connections to a network can still see your IP BEFORE you connect to the VPN, they are more than good enough for the average person, but remember to be careful even with one.)


• 3. Make sure to scan your PC for viruses every once in a while, once again very basic advice (malwarebytes is what i would recommend). And dont pay for antivirus services, its not worth it.


• 4. Try not to leave a paper trail, what I mean by this is try to avoid putting pictures of your home, school or transit routes online. I have personally found multiple people through the things they post online. It is truly much easier than you would believe to find someone, especially if they live in the same city as you.


• 5. Use a privacy centered browser, most people use google chrome or firefox(like myself), however a privacy based browser can help mitigate websites tracking you, brave is a good options for this.


• 6. Never sign up for accounts on piracy sites, you should never need too, and most certainly never enter personal details such as home address or credit card/banking info.



I know this advice was very basic, but basic steps are all most users need to protect themselves from being spied on and tracked by business and organizations alike.